Maybe the question should be: "Where do you want to go?"
Want to take your boat through downtown Chicago? Cruise right by the statue of Liberty? Visit New York City? Or would you prefer cruising along the beautiful cypress lined Waccamaw River or South Carolina's undiscovered Low Country portion of the ICW, where you will see egrets, eagles, hawks, osprey, peacocks, sea otters, deer, dolphins, and even alligators? Fact is, from big cities to small towns, fishing villages, and enchanting Vistas, you will cruise thru creeks, swamps, and so undisturbed and uninhabited you will think you're the first human to ever be there.
It all comes to life somewhere between Miami, Montreal, Mackinac, and Memphis. You can even boat to Louisville, KY and on to Pittsburg. You can boat from Oklahoma City to Ocracoke and on to Ontario.
Starting in New York, Locks will lift your boat to almost 900 feet above sea level on your way to Canada's Georgian Bay & North Channel. From New Orleans to New York, from Mackinac Island to Mobile, America's Great Loop will take you and your boat past Castles and Cathedrals, Mountains and Marshlands, Giant Cypress trees and Civil War battlefields. You will cruise along rolling hillsides, lush vineyards, Antebellum mansions, century old towns and enchanting riverside Vistas.
Along the way you will cruise through exceptionally beautiful waters with pristine sandy beaches and possibly depending on your route, pink granite freshwater islands populated only by pine trees and a few bears. From hundreds of Lighthouses to hundreds more fabulous waterfront restaurants, this is a yearlong adventure with such amazing beauty it has inspired countless writers, musicians, novelists, poets, photographers, and a few thousand boaters before you.
This voyage will take you to or through American history as well as 20 U.S. States and 2 Provinces of Canada. In fact, you can take the Gulf ICW to New Orleans, Galveston, Houston, Corpus Christi, and the beautiful Padre Island at the border with Mexico.
Question is. . . Where do you want to go? Hannibal, Missouri, maybe, or Minneapolis/St. Paul?
Averaging 6,000 miles for most of us, America's Great Loop connects you to over 20,000 miles of safe inland navigable waterways. . . And the very best news of all? Following "The Looper's Companion Guide" you can do it all without ever facing the perils of a wide-open sea, without ever having to cruise thru the night, and without ever a worry of getting lost.
So where do you want to go? Chesapeake Bay? Baltimore? Washington DC, the Smithsonian? Arlington Cemetery? Vietnam Wall Memorial? Whatever you want to see, wherever you want to go, chances are pretty high, if it's in North America, America's Great Loop can take you there.
