The harbor is convenient; the setting is beautiful; the protection is good.

The entire passage, generally referred to as the Annisquam, is frequently an attractive alternative to the trip out around Thatcher’s Island.

The cove offers adequate protection for most summer conditions, good swimming, and a view of the Atlantic over Brace Rock that can be striking.

With its location halfway between Annisquam and Rockport, Folly Cove is a convenient stop on most Cape Ann itineraries.

Gloucester has a vibrant shoreside community whose cultural origins span the maritime world. It’s a particular favorite of ours when the weather turns dismal.

The dramatic shorelines near Magnolia are only a short diversion from the routes along Cape Ann.

Inside the slim well-protected harbor may be the prettiest shoreline attached to a full-sized town in all New England. The yacht club, private boat houses, boat yards, town docks and thickly placed moorings make an unambiguous impression.

From its beginning as a fishing outpost, through its years as America’s premier yachting harbor, to what is now the North Shore’s least accessible commuter town, Marblehead has evolved with its face to the sea and its back to the land,

The Misery Islands supposedly got their name after a local shipbuilder, harvesting timber, spent three days stranded by a December storm in the 1620s. We’ve never visited the islands in December, but from May through October, we’ve found them unanimously pleasant.

Rockport seems to exist just this side of magic realism. A narrow cut between rocky headlands provides the setting; a man-made breakwater forms the harbor.

The most famous voyage into Salem harbor is that of Nathaniel Bowditch, commanding a three-master homeward bound from Sumatra. Crossing the rock-strewn waters of Salem Sound, even in clear weather, should inspire appreciation for the navigators of Bowditch’s era.

Thacher Island gets its name from one of the earliest and still more poignant shipwrecks on the Massachusetts coast.