Less known that the Great Loop, the Down East Circle Route goes North from New York City to Lake Ontario via the Hudson River and the New York State Canal System, out the St. Laurence Seaway, around the Gaspé Peninsula, down past Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, across the Bay of Fundy into Maine and down the East Coast back to New York
In the summer of 2023, True North and her crew will embark from her home port of of Rochester, NY, across Lake Ontario to follow the Down East Circle Route as far as Portland, ME. The trip is expected to take 2.5 months, with many stops including Montréal, QC, Québec, QC, the Saguenay River for whale watching, Gaspé, Charlottetown, PE, the Bras d’Or Lakes, NS, Halifax, NS and Bar Harbor, ME.
We hope you’ll enjoy sharing the experience via this blog. Questions, comments and occasional encouragement are welcome. Or if you happen to be somewhere along our route, please let us know. We welcome connecting with friends and family while en-route and True North is well stocked for happy hour!
To learn more about the Down East Circle Route, this article from Passage Maker gives a nice overview. The ultimate cruising guide to this route is Captain Cheryl Barr’s book, “The Downeast Circle Route”, a great source of information.