Cruising the USA

By Legacy User

September 30, 2012

3 minutes to read

By Patricia Borns, Globe Correspondent 
 You fly and drive across it, hike it and bike it and ski it, but have you considered cruising the United States? The country has more than 25,000 miles of navigable waters accessible by small ships. Here is a list of some of the places you can go. 
 Pictured: Lime Kiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island in the Pacific Northwest.
Alaska
 In Juneau, the 36-guest Safari Explorer departs, but was one of 14 itineraries offered by InnerSea Discoveries, which spends more days inside Glacier Bay National Park than any other cruise line. American Cruise Lines offers cultural and historical Alaska. Guests on a recent Inside Passage trip were invited to a bonfire with villagers who shared their stories over hot chocolate. 
Pictured: Coastal and inland cruises allow travelers to see domestic sights from a fresh angle.
Pacific Northwest
 The Pacific coast is relatively untapped by larger cruise companies, most of whom combine it with their Alaska itineraries. Local operators such as the Baileys based in Friday Harbor offer a more intimate view. Their 12-passenger Pacific Catalyst immerses you in Washington’s San Juan Islands. InnerSea’s Safari Quest offers an option for 22 guests to take high tea in Victoria, British Columbia, tiptoe through the Harmony Island tidal pools, orca watch off Jedediah Island, and island hop in the San Juans. 
Pictured: Orca on watch in the cold Pacific Northwest waters.
Great Lakes
 New Englanders since Henry David Thoreau have loved Michigan’s Mackinac Island on Lake Huron, the centerpiece of Great Lakes itineraries. Blount Small Ship Adventures orchestrates a 14-day passage around the lake. One moment Chicago’s Navy Pier lies panoramically before your lounge chair; the next, Manistee, a forgotten timbering town, unfolds its Victorian-era charm. 
Pictured: Lake Superior beckons on a Great Lakes itinerary.
New England
 New Englanders live in one of the world’s most attractive cruising grounds, yet many have never seen it from the water. Two American Cruise Lines ships take to coastal Maine. But the state’s wilder islands must be seen with local charters. On the 13 ships of the Maine Windjammer Fleet, adventurous salts can try their hand at sailing while seeing puffins off lonely Matinicus Island. 
Pictured: Small charters and big ships explore coastal Maine.
Hawaii
 Hawaiian waters are full of oceangoing liners, but only one small ship operator, InnerSea, overnights here. Safari Explorer cruises the leeward coasts of Hawaii, Lahaina, Maui, and Molokai, giving guests as much play time in the water as possible. They snorkel in sea turtle and coral habitats, paddleboard and kayak, and swim by night with giant Pacific manta rays. In west Maui, they sail a hand-carved Polynesian voyaging canoe. 
Pictured: Hiking on Molokai is playtime off a cruise ship.
Midwest
 The big wheels of riverboats are turning again. The 150-guest Queen of the Mississippi looks vintage, but it was built and launched this year by American Cruise Lines. Its itineraries go almost everywhere on the Mississippi River, touching nine states from Minnesota to Louisiana. The “Walkin’ in Elvis’s Footsteps’’ cruise is a nod to Memphis, whose mayor loaned the steamboat company $33 million to restore the ship if they would locate and hire in his town. Guests will groove to famous Elvis tribute bands and tour a Christmas Graceland. 
Pictured: The American Queen plies the Mississippi River.
Mid-Atlantic
 Sailing the Maryland coast with American Cruise Lines, travelers discovered Annapolis, the hamlets of Cambridge, Oxford, and St. Michaels, and Tangier Island, where families still eke out livelihoods harvesting soft shell crabs. The route from Philadelphia to Washington offers even more Chesapeake, with a glide onto the Chester River and a visit to Mount Vernon on the Potomac. 
Pictured: One Chesapeake Bay bounty is soft shell crabs.
Southeast
 Tide is the shaper of the southern Intracoastal Waterway, where the big ships cannot go. Three American Cruise Lines vessels touch the most beautiful and historically important harbors, from Charleston south to Beaufort in South Carolina, Savannah, Ga., and Fernandina, Fla. A second itinerary emphasizes the Atlantic barrier islands, including Jekyll, the former summer digs of J.P. Morgan; Hilton Head; and, optionally, Sapelo, an almost undeveloped sea island. 
Pictured: Intracoastal sailors may see a shrimp boat in Georgia.