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Boats and ferries - recommend your favorite water-based trips please

Replies: 29 - Last Post: Jul 25, 2012 1:22 PM Last Post By: moongoddess

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Usher73

Usher73 avatar

Jul 21, 2012 3:28 PM
Posts:  3,451

15

Take the Badger across Lake Michigan between Ludington, MI and Manitowoc, WI.

DubinNYC

DubinNYC avatar

Jul 21, 2012 3:53 PM
Posts:  474

16

Hyannis to Nantucket

mrpenney

mrpenney avatar

Jul 21, 2012 4:43 PM
Posts:  6,129

17

Houghton to Isle Royale, Michigan, aboard the only ferry owned by the National Park Service.

Cape May to Lewes.

--M.

CascadeBob

CascadeBob avatar

Jul 21, 2012 5:59 PM
Posts:  1,806

18

Queen of the West paddle-wheeler on the Columbia River in Oregon/Washington/Idaho - Portland to Leweston, Idaho http://usarivercruises.com/destinations/northwest/

krnten

krnten avatar

Jul 21, 2012 6:10 PM
Posts:  2

19

Thanks for all the recommendations!

SDBH

SDBH avatar

Jul 21, 2012 6:51 PM
Posts:  50

20

Lake Erie - Long Point, Canada to Put-In-Bay and Middle Bass Island to Sandusky, OH...crosses Lake Erie, connecting Canada and the United States and has stops on a couple small islands.

trekker502

trekker502 avatar

Jul 21, 2012 8:32 PM
Posts:  2,024

21

I also recommend the Navimag Ferry through the Chilean Inside Passage to Puerto Natales in the Patagonian Alps. You can then take a bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate and El Chalten, then a shuttlebus and ferry across the Alps back to Chile. Or, you could take the bus to Tierra del Fuego/Ushuaia, and catch a boat to Antarctica. There is even a popular sailing ship to Antarctica.

Also the Alaska Marine Highway from Bellingham, Washington, through Alaska's Inside Passage and past Glacier Bay and Yakutat and to Whittier in the Prince William Sound. There is a ferry from Whittier to Cordova and Valdez, past the Columbia Glacier. I enjoyed taking the ferry from Bellingham to Haines, Alaska, then drove past the St. Elias Mountains to Haines Junction, then north on the Alaska-Canada Highway homeward. I also took the ferry from Skagway to Juneau several times roundtrip. Another route of the Alaska ferries is from Homer, Alaska, to Kodiak Island, and onward west along the chain of Aleutian Islands.

I took the 2 hours' shuttleboat in the Galapagos Islands from Santa Cruz to Isabela Island. I do recommend nutrax' recommendation of taking a small boat from mainland Ecuador across to the Galapagos Islands and throughout the Islands.

dphrph

dphrph avatar

Jul 21, 2012 11:46 PM
Posts:  88

22

Two other ferries to consider;

Cape May-Lewes Ferry between NJ and Delaware.
http://www.capemaylewesferry.com/

&

The Cross Sound ferry which goes between Montauk, NY and New London, CT. https://www.longislandferry.com/

They are both car ferries if you are driving.

ianw6705

ianw6705 avatar

Jul 22, 2012 1:34 AM
Posts:  8,207

23

The ferry trip from Blacks Harbour New Brunswick Canada to Grand Manan Island looks nice - might do that next year.

trekker502

trekker502 avatar

Jul 22, 2012 4:03 AM
Posts:  2,024

24

There are two ferries to Grand Manan Island, the other leaves from Eastport, Maine. The route is past a major whaling region in the Bay of Fundy.

ianw6705

ianw6705 avatar

Jul 22, 2012 4:06 AM
Posts:  8,207

25

Do you get to harpoon one from the second class deck?

trekker502

trekker502 avatar

Jul 22, 2012 5:19 AM
Posts:  2,024

26

I heard that there are small whale-watching boats that go out of Grand Manan. The summer of 2009, when I was staying in the vicinity, there were so many schools of small fish near shore that there were also a multitude of whale sightings near shore -- I saw a minske whale surfing in on a tidal wave close to the lighthouse on Campobello Island.

Did you see the recent photo of a huge whale shark underneath a tiny motorboat which was posted on the Yahoo.com news photos? Whales do breach from underneath boats and flip them over every now and then. Tit for tat!

ianw6705

ianw6705 avatar

Jul 22, 2012 5:30 AM
Posts:  8,207

27

Whale sharks are very common at Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia - magic. But I agree - I wouldn't like my little boat to be upset by one.

Kahua

Kahua avatar

Jul 22, 2012 6:28 AM
Posts:  3,877

28

Balboa Island ferry, Newport Beach, CA

moongoddess

moongoddess avatar

Jul 25, 2012 1:22 PM
Posts:  188

29

Lots of small shuttles hopping from island to island and island to mainland along downeast Maine.
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