What’s the Nice Loop?

Boating along the Erie Canal, part of the Great Loop (credit: Gladys Lorraine Buzzell)

Boating alongside the Erie Canal, a part of the Nice Loop (picture courtesy of Gladys L. Buzzell).


The Nice Loop is a steady waterway that leisure mariners can journey that features a part of the Atlantic, Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, the Nice Lakes, Canadian Heritage Canals, and the inland rivers of America’s heartland. Anybody who completes the journey is then named an official ‘Looper.’

For a protected and satisfying journey, there are some things to contemplate when touring the Nice Loop—a fantastic period of time, a ship with lower than a 5 foot draft to journey inland waterways, NOAA nautical charts, and a NOAA radio. Alongside the way in which, it’s doable to go to quite a lot of nationwide marine sanctuaries and estuarine analysis reserves.

Map showing the Great Loop (image courtesy of Raven Cove Publishing).

Map exhibiting the Nice Loop (picture courtesy of Raven Cove Publishing).

How does a boater embark on the Nice Loop? For those who begin in Chicago, proceed south in a counter-clockwise course to benefit from the river currents that run into the Mississippi River. Whereas just a few folks keep on the Mississippi all the way in which to the Gulf of Mexico, most ‘Loopers’ select to exit on the Tennessee River to keep away from heavy barge site visitors on the bigger waterway. This path results in the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, which additionally flows to the Gulf.

Whatever the Southern route chosen, boaters can float downstream to the nice and cozy waters of the Gulf and discover the Flower Backyard Banks Nationwide Marine Sanctuary. From there, cruise east on the Gulf’s Intracoastal Waterway. Whereas absorbing some Florida solar, go to the Florida Keys Nationwide Marine Sanctuary.

Then journey north up the Intracoastal Waterway and uncover the Grey’s Reef Nationwide Marine Sanctuary. Proceed north on the Intracoastal to New York Metropolis. From the Large Apple, it is a straight shot up the Hudson to the Erie Canal. Then head west throughout to the Nice Lakes. Boaters might go to Thunder Bay Nationwide Marine Sanctuary when crusing up Lake Huron after which lastly returning again to Chicago.