As every Mainer knows, to truly discover the character of Maine and her people one must approach them from the water. Well-known photographer Christopher Little and his family do just that during a summer sailing trip along the coast of Maine, and their discoveries unfold in both words and stunning photographs in The Rockbound Coast. Sailing from Eastport to Kittery in a 40-foot wooden sloop named Consolation proves to be the perfect way to explore Maine coastal life. Accepted as insiders (often by admirers of the beautiful Consolation), Christopher Little and his family are welcomed into the small island communities. They visit an eighty-seven-year-old woman who tells them that in her whole life she has only spent two weeks away from Corea (population 375), the town in which she was born. They spend an afternoon on Matinicus (population 56), where "one ox-cart width" is still a legal term. And Christopher goes lobstering, long before dawn, with a father-and-son team from Cutler Harbor. During three months aboard ship, the Little family learns the Mainer's terms to describe the thickness of fog (the worst being the dreaded "dungeon thick o' fog") and the turbulent history of the exploitation and preservation of Maine's coast. They weather sunny afternoons as well as fog-filled mornings, and at the very end of the voyage they must face a hurricane. Christopher Little is never without his camera, capturing every local personality and every change of light and landscape. His one hundred and fifty full-color photographs vividly reveal the majesty of Maine's coast and the distinctive personalities of the "down easters" who live there. Part travel memoir, part family adventure, and part unconventional guidebook, The Rockbound Coast informs and entertains. A unique collaboration of words and images, this elegant book will capture the imagination of readers who have never seen the coast of Maine, and rally the pride of those who are already devoted to it.