Destinations
Boating Among the Apostle Islands
Locals say, when speaking of Lake Superior, “The lake is the boss!” There’s good reason for this. Lake Superior is generally considered to be the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, stretching approximately 350 miles west to east and 160 miles north to south. It’s the coldest and deepest of the […] Read More
The Complete Listing of Marinas and Locks on the Inland and Gulf Intracoastal Waterways
Destination: Grand Lake, Oklahoma
Its official name is Grand Lake of the Cherokees, but Grand Lake suits it just fine. This is a big body of water — 59,000 surface acres and 1,300 miles of shoreline — meandering through the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in northeast Oklahoma. The lake was created in 1940 with the completion of […] Read More
An Apalachicola Holiday
On the dock behind the Apalachicola Maritime Museum, which is stuffed with artifacts from the town’s storied past, I board the Starfish Enterprise, the facility’s 40-foot catamaran. The museum offers a variety of eco-tours, including the three-hour one I’m taking today that travels through the Apalachicola River Basin. Accompanying us is the museum’s founder […] Read More
Dardenne Slough: Hiding in Plain Sight
It’s a great irony that the city of St. Louis, known for over two centuries as a center of riverfront commerce and culture, today has no marinas or docks for pleasure boaters. In fact, if someone described a 6.8-mile stretch of waterway with 10 marinas and 1,167 slips, rack storage for hundreds of boats, […] Read More
Cruising Through History on the James River
Several years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, English settlers were already living on a tract of land nestled on the James River near Richmond, Va., establishing a plantation that would become known as Shirley. By 1619, tobacco was being harvested on that land, and today, farming continues, making Shirley America’s oldest business. […] Read More
Profile: Island Cove Marina & Resort in Harrison, Tennessee
Island Cove Marina Manager Terry Kelley had just been served lunch on March 2, 2012, when he answered his phone to hear “We have been destroyed!” A few minutes later he arrived at the marina to find tornado devastation. “Docks sunk, turned upside down, boats blown off trailers, boats destroyed, nine docks lost, power lines […] Read More
Profile: Bay Springs Marina
If you were to Google the phrase “best kept secret on the Tenn-Tom,” you might land on Bay Springs Lake and Bay Springs Marina, located at Mile 412. The marina opened to the public in 1984 while the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was still undergoing excavation by the U.S. Corps of Engineers in what is considered to […] Read More
The Complete Listing of Marinas and Locks on the Inland and Gulf Intracoastal Waterways
Making the Great Lakes Greater
Here’s a recipe to consider: Take several thousand square miles of rugged Canadian forest, remove trees and people, relocate untold numbers of moose, bears and the like, add water and stir. Voila, a sixth Great Lake. Serves 50 million people. Imagine if it were possible to cook up in short order what Mother Nature took […] Read More