This week’s dream: The great American boat trip
A great American road trip sure sounds appealing—until you consider this summer’s crowded roads and packed campsites, said Stephanie Vermillion in National Geographic. “Luckily, there is another epic U.S. adventure that few know about.” The Great Loop is a 6,000-mile nautical journey that circumnavigates the eastern third of the continental United States, taking boaters up the Atlantic seaboard, across the Great Lakes, down inland rivers to the Gulf of Mexico, and then around Florida. Fewer than 200 “loopers” complete the journey annually, and most are retirees who travel in big motorboats. But some loopers journey by sailboat, and a growing number of families are living the dream, too.
Though the Loop can be completed in two months, it’s typically done in a year, said Beth DeCarbo in The Wall Street Journal. You can start anywhere, but it’s best to travel the northern portion during the summer. Come fall, loopers head south via the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee rivers. They overwinter in Florida, then sail up the East Coast in spring. When Ben and Laura Stein traveled the loop with their daughters, ages 9 and 12, the family’s 57-foot yacht served as a mobile classroom, with New York’s Hudson River, for example, prompting lessons on the American Revolution. Retirees Larry and April Smith have completed the loop several times, and each trip yields new discoveries. “Never in a million years did I think we’d end up living on a boat,” says April. “We love this lifestyle. The small towns and the people are incredible.”
“The beauty of this route is that your unique experience is shaped by the choices you make along the way,” said Brian Lind in PassageMaker.com. Take your time to explore ports, towns, and historical sites as you travel. One backwater gem is Columbus, Miss.—“the perfect stop for pure Southern charm.” Another highlight: Tilghman Island, Md., “an ideal place to take in Chesapeake Bay.” If the Canadian border reopens in coming weeks, venture into Ontario’s Georgian Bay, because the Grotto at Bruce Peninsula National Park “makes a great day stop.” The Grotto is a pool of turquoise water framed by a limestone cave, and it’s “a perfect place to swim and explore.”
To learn more, visit GreatLoop.org or WaterwayGuide.com, a site that offers planning tools.