Friday, March 29

Browsing: Destinations

About 40 miles east of Ketchikan, Alaska, Misty Fjords is one of the most beautiful cruising destinations around. Part of a national forest, the Misty Fjords National Monument is a land of ice-blue lakes, dozens of waterfalls, snow-capped peaks and glacial valleys. Plus, salmon, bears (lots of bears), eagles and other wildlife. I was there many years ago on a Grand Banks cruise and have always wanted to go back. Laura Domela and her husband, Kevin Morris, have just left there on their Nordic Tug 34 Airship, and have posted some great pictures and blogs about their trip. She’s a…

One of the most historic boating communities in the United States, Marblehead, Mass., dates to 1629 when the first European settler decided to call it home, although a Pilgrim from the Mayflower had arrived three years earlier and started fishing across the way. With its harbor protected by a deep peninsula, Marblehead was soon a thriving fishing village in its own right, and the locals were so successful that it was said that the streets smelled of cod. By the time of the Revolution, Marblehead was one of the most thriving towns in the colonies, largely because its privateers brought…

A lot of the time, it seems, we cruise to Miami and Biscayne Bay on our way to somewhere else – the Keys, say, or the Bahamas. That’s a shame, because there’s a lot to do right there. Take a look at Biscayne Bay National Park, for example, that’s alive with fish and aquatic wildlife and is the home of vast, multi-colored coral reefs. Then, when you’re off the boat, you’ll still have Miami, Miami Beach and Coconut Grove, just to mention a few highlights, at your beck and call. On the water, the Biscayne Bay park is one of…

Uber, the fast-growing ride-sharing service, is taking to the water. Now, with the UberBOAT app, you can call your own boat to carry you around Croatia’s major tourist islands. The company says that several hundred people have used the service since it was started six weeks ago. If UberBOAT is successful in Croatia, it could move to Greece, Spain and the Caribbean. In the Croatia version, users can choose a one-way trip or an “adventure,” where you get to choose your own route. UberBOAT has about 60 boats there, and the company’s goal is to meet customers within 15 minutes…

It’s no secret that the Connecticut shoreline, particularly in the Old Saybrook to Mystic area, offers some of the best cruising on the east coast, with a combination of national and maritime history and a large selection of welcoming large and small marinas. And that’s before you head up the Connecticut River to Essex, which was burned by the British in the War of 1812 and is now the quintessential small New England town, or Hamburg Cove, just up the river a bit, one of the best gunkholes anywhere, in my opinion. But now that area is attracting more attention.…

A great fresh-water summer cruising destination, the Thousand Islands dot the St. Lawrence River between New York State and the province of Ontario, straddling the invisible border between the U.S. and Canada. It’s an area where you could easily spend a few days, or an entire summer, navigating – slowly – among the granite islands that have been there since the Ice Age. Some are large, generally meaning a few acres, and some are small; one is the size of a billiard table. Large or small, the rocks surrounding them are real; you definitely want to stay in the well-marked…

If you’re cruising in the Keys with your family, here are some great ideas from Drew White, the resident expert at Cannons Marina on Longboat Key. White spent summers there as a kid himself, and now lives there. You may have your own list, but here’s a good place to start: 1.Eat on the dock at Robbie’s Restaurant in Islamorada, and get a bucket of fish to feed the tarpon. 2.Visit the Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key, where there are hundreds of small deer. 3.Swim with the dolphins at Theatre of the Sea on Islamorada, a mini-theme park.…

A few years ago, at the end of a charter vacation in the San Juan Islands, my youngest daughter, Liz, and I put in to Rosario Resort Marina. It’s on a small protected bay off East Sound, which almost cuts the fairly large Orcas Island in half. We were on a Grand Banks 36 from NW Explorations in Bellingham, Washington, and had already been cruising up in South Pender Island and then Roche Harbor. Rosario was going to be an easy, last night stop on our way back to Bellingham. It was all that and more. East Sound is long,…

Here’s a great list of the 12 best beaches in the Caribbean, at least in the opinion of U.S. News & World Report, which specializes in rating these kinds of things. Not that I’m one to disagree, since I have only been to a few of these; they all look terrific to me. It’s not hard to imagine dropping the hook off any of these beaches and taking the dink in for some exploring and sunning on shore. Many of them also have waterfront bars or other attractions in case the lure of some of the most beautiful sand in…

Like many cruising people, I’ve been to the British Virgin Islands many times, and I think I know my way around. Well, turns out I was just getting started. I found plenty of new places on this insider’s guide to the best of the BVI from someone who grew up and still lives there, and I can’t wait to go back to try some of them out. Here, for example, you’ll find the best anchorage, the best beach, the best watersports, the best snorkeling (at The Indians, pictured above), the best hidden gem, the best hiking trails, and the best-kept…

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