Five years ago, we sailed on a Maine Windjammer out of Rockland, then stayed for a few days visiting friends. It didn’t take long before we’d bought a summer house there. Here are just a few things we love about the region.

Breakfast at Home Kitchen Café. (Should I have the Irish Bennies or the Sinnie French Toast?)

• Work by local artisans. (Among my favorites are glass by Richard Remsen, photography by Peter Ralston, pottery by George Pearlman.)
• Steamers and lobstah at any local pound.
• Watching the schooners sail past the Rockland Light.
• Wood-roasted oysters and the world’s best mac-and-cheese at Shepherd’s Pie.
• Visiting the Belted Galloways.
• The Farnsworth Art Museum (and soon, the new Center for Maine contemporary Art.
• The Monhegan Ferry.
• Hotdogs at Wassas.
• Owls Head Transportation Museum
• Hunting for bargains at Something Blue (in Rockland) and Serendipity (in Camden.)
• The homemade gnocchi at 3 Crow.
• Gazing at the sea.
• Buying hand-knit baby sweaters, seaglass earrings and other gifts at the Blue Yonder shop at the Rockland airport.
• Art films and concerts at The Strand.
• Arriving and departing on Cape Air.
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A vintage convertible -- the quintessential Cuban ride

For most Americans, whether to go to Cuba is a matter of legality. Does their trip qualify? The events of 50 years ago that led to the U.S. embargo are a distant history.

In Miami, where are I live, whether to visit Cuba is a moral and community question. Families remain torn apart, and the wounds of lost lives, homes, businesses still feel fresh to so many.

If you do go, my advice is to travel mindfully. Wander about; wave and smile. Take a cycle taxi or one of the motorized Coco taxis, and talk with your driver. Eat in private restaurants, called paladars. Stay in a casa particular — a local home, where you’ll see how Cubans live and put income directly in their pockets.

Yet even here, attitudes are shifting. With so much in flux in both the U.S. and Cuba, this spring was my time to go.

You can read about my trip and see photos and videos in my story for the Miami Herald.