Elizabeth City, North Carolina, USA

Retired, with two dogs and a boat. For them, it must be a dream come true. The Pasquotank River and the re-purposed Elizabeth City waterfront make a beautiful backdrop for the day's activities. The captain and his first mate may be navigating the Intracoastal Waterway with enough time to explore some of the Albemarle's tidal creeks. [2020]

Harborton, Virginia, USA

Harborton is one of the most picturesque towns on Virginia's Eastern Shore. It has retained a post office (and, therefore, an identity) of its own. It also seems to be proud of its postal history. To see more of Harborton's postal identity, check out Geographically Yours Welcome today. The entire month is devoted to postmarks and post offices of Accomack County. [1992]

Camden, Maine, USA

These boys must now be on the verge of retirement, and they may not even live in Maine any longer. Wherever they are, though, just think how much reminiscing they must do about all the fun they had reeling in the crabs right from the Main Street docks in Camden, one of Maine's classic coastal villages. [1974]

Panyee, Thailand

A successful place generates a literature of its own, a corpus of stories that eventually get put to paper. Such is the case with the floating village of Panyee. Want to know how unique life is here? Read The Floating Field (2021) by Scott Riley, which is about how a group of boys, in the 1980s, built their own soccer field out on the waters of Phang Nga Bay. [2011]

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Anchor Cities of Megalopolis: Baltimore. Fifty million people (one out of six American) live in Megalopolis. Its dominance of the U.S. economy was established centuries ago, and it has held. In fact, wrote Jean Gottmann, in no other place in the world are there so many large cities so close to each other. It's a constellation as unique as that tall ship. Get it? [2021]

Larnaca, Cyprus

Breakwater lights guide mariners into Larnaca's fishing harbor. If your walk brings you harborside after the boats come in, expect the freshest fish in the Mediterranean at the fish market. On the other hand, you and your rod could keep walking to the end of the breakwater, where you could reel 'em in yourself. [2004]

Cardiff, Wales, UK

Cardiff's Mermaid Quay was developed over two decades ago. To the new waterfront was brought the Helwick Sands lightship, where it became a "floating Christian centre." Light towers have long been a favorite symbol of Christianity. Alas, the ship has since been moved to a harbor in England. [2015]

New London, Connecticut, USA

What were the largest whaling ports in the country in the mid-19th century? New Bedford, Nantucket, and New London, ranked by number of voyages. That's why you see one whale after another (or just their tails) all over New London. Today, the ships on the waterfront are likely to be ferries: to Long Island, to Block Island, and to Fishers Island. [2021]

York, Maine, USA

York is located on the Gulf of Maine, which has a shoreline renowned for three elements of basic physical geography: (1) its hard-rock geology, (2) its land-water interdigitation, and (3) its famously large tidal ranges. Can you see evidence of all three along the waterfront here? [2008]

Mystic, Connecticut, USA

The Charles W. Morgan has been on the water since 1841. Not only is it the nation's oldest whaling ship, it is the only one left of the wooden fleet that numbered almost 3000 at its peak. The Morgan is probably the number one reason to visit Mystic Seaport, but you can also study seventeen other historic vessels while you are there. [2018]

Mystic, Connecticut, USA

Wooden lobster pots used to adorn the wharfs of every coastal village in New England. Now, Mystic Seaport honors those lobstermen of old. These traps were dropped overboard, with their locations marked by colorful buoys. Lobsters, attraced by salted herring, crawled in through the hole but could not escape. Modern traps are made from coated wire. [2018]

Stockton, Maryland, USA

What is that house doing there in Pikes Creek Marsh? And, it's on land that has been set aside as a wildlife management area. When will we realize that human settlement should not take over unique habitats that provide what we call today "ecosystem services" and which used to be called "natural capital"? [2020]

Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Palms for Palm Sunday, but now we learn that palm trees are not much of a carbon sink compared to other trees. Miami, in fact, is replacing some of its palms with broadleaf trees that also provide more shade. Do you think that trend will spread to Honolulu? [2011]

Cape Charles, Virginia, USA

Loveworks Connect: First things first: Please notice the Chesapeake Bay waterman checking his traps. Then, notice how the letter E reflects what he is doing. Perhaps you could write a fairy tale about the waterman and the crabs. Why? Because it is Tell a Fairy Tale Day! Or you could fall back on Chessie, the Chesapeake Bay monster. [2020]

Portsmouth, Virginia, USA

Loveworks Connect: Portsmouth is all about water: You can hardly get into the city without taking a bridge or a tunnel. It is also about the Navy. So, we should note that on this date in 1781, the French Navy captured the HMS Romulus and used it to blockade the Chesapeake, making a victory at Yorktown possible and ending the Revolutionary War. [2020]

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The city is Toronto. What's the name of the lake? Superior or Huron or Michigan or Erie or Ontario? Deep, large lakes are rare around the world. When they do occur, it is always in the plural, and they are always in the middle of great (as in the three largest) continents: North America, Africa, Asia. Why? [2010]

Port Royal, South Carolina, USA

As the sun sets on the summer, let's reflect on what an unprecedented summer it has been. Tomorrow ushers in a new season; hopefully, one that will bring back some normalcy. [2008]

Koper, Slovenia

If you take only a quick look at Slovenia on a map, you might conclude it is landlocked. Not so. A finger of Slovenian territory projects south to the Adriatic Sea, where the seaport city of Koper is located. It's only five miles from the Italian border, so don't be surprised if Italian is heard almost as often as Slovenian. [2008]

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Views in every direction from the Sydney Tower are spectacular, including the one across Garden Island to Bradley's Head Lighthouse. The harbor is serrated by a series of peninsulas, and ample blue space tempts tons of sailboats into action. [2006]

New York, New York, USA

Intrepid means fearless, which captures the resolve of New York City to meet Covid-19 head on. The USS Intrepid is practically next door to the Javits Center, which is being temporarily transformed into a 1000-bed hospital for non-corona cases. [2017]