The U.S. East Coast: Surf and Turf

New Hampshire has only 19 kilometers of coastline and short summers, all the more reason Shauna Fraser takes every opportunity to be by the sea. In the sheltered harbor of Rye, Shauna also targets inner attitude with yoga on a paddleboard.

In southern Maine, Mike LaVecchia produces surfboards entirely from wood. To achieve good handling characteristics, he has adopted processes from boat building. With lumber dealer Allan Higgins, we head into Maine's vast forests and then to Moody's Diner, for whose specialties regulars drive a hundred miles or more.

The secluded Penobscot Bay is approached daily by Tomás Sowles. Whether it's mail or building materials or even dogs - he transports everything that needs to go to the islands in his Cessna.

The bay is a paradise for lobsters, which are more numerous here than anywhere else off the coasts of the USA. This is due in no small part to strict fishing regulations, as Geneviève Kurilec-McDonald explains. She swears by salt herrings as bait.

And then there is David Moses Bridges, who is reviving an old craft of his tribe. He builds canoes out of birch bark, just as his ancestors once did. In the meantime, Indian summer has arrived.

Warm late summer days, the dry clear air and the occasional night frost give the leaves an incomparable color. At no other time is the magic of the American East Coast so present.