The Great Loop - Travelling the Waterways of Eastern North America
Debi Starnes holds a PhD in psychology from Georgia State University in Atlanta. She is the President of EMSTAR Research, a community psychology-based Atlanta business with a 28-year history assisting government and non-profit organizations in program evaluation and development. Also a boating enthusiast, Debi Starnes completed the Great Loop in 2014, a continuous route of lakes and rivers encircling 6000 miles of eastern North America. The Great Loop takes boaters up the east coast from the southern tip of Florida to Trenton, Ontario, Canada, and inland through the US. The Loop is made up of ten segments; travelers may choose to complete the entire route at once or, as Dr. Starnes did, finish individual sections one at a time over the course of a few years. Below are three of the Loop’s ten segments, as outlined by America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association (AGLCA): 1. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway is more than 1200 miles, from St. Lucie Inlet in Florida, to Norfolk, Virginia. This stretch caters to boaters with waterfront restaurants, and incorporates the famous Key Largo. 2. The Great Lakes leg of the Loop is almost 900 miles long, and takes travelers from Buffalo, New York to Chicago, Illinois. This segment takes in the two dozen islands of Lake Erie, and the Leelanau Peninsula on Lake Michigan. 3. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway runs 218 miles, taking boaters from New Orleans, Louisiana to Carrabelle, Florida. Sandy beaches run alongside some of this stretch, and one small town offers what the AGLCA calls one of the best oyster bars in the country.
