Five inland seas at the heart of the continent. The Great Lakes contain roughly one-fifth of the world's surface fresh water, and yet, a cruise on these waters remains one of North America's best-kept secrets. From the deck, the horizon sometimes blurs with that of an ocean. Then a wooded island appears, a lighthouse, a 300-metre cargo ship, and you remember you are sailing in the continent's midst, between Ontario and the American Midwest.

Navigation Reserved for Small Ships

The locks connecting the basins impose their dimensions: only modestly sized ships, generally fewer than 400 passengers, can move from one basin to another. This constraint shapes the entire experience. Port calls are lived at human scale, harbours welcome a single ship at a time and passengers often disembark at the very heart of cities. Several expedition companies deploy zodiacs, kayaks and lecturers there, transforming the region into a true exploration territory.

From One Lake to Another

The season runs May to October. Classical itineraries connect Toronto or Milwaukee to Duluth or Thunder Bay in eight to fifteen days, crossing all five lakes: Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior. Two passages mark the memory of navigators. The Welland Canal first, whose eight locks hoist the ship nearly 100 metres to bypass Niagara Falls. Then the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, which open the door to Lake Superior, the largest and most wild of the five.

From Metropolises to Archipelagos

Few itineraries offer such contrasts in a single week. One morning, the ship traces the skyscrapers of Toronto, Cleveland or Detroit, whose silhouettes rise across from Windsor, Ontario. The next day, it anchors off Georgian Bay, where some 30,000 islands of pink granite and wind-bent pine compose a biosphere reserve recognized by UNESCO. History enthusiasts find fur-trading posts; the contemplative watch loons from the deck.

Mackinac, the Car-Free Island

Favourite call of most itineraries, Mackinac Island, at the confluence of Lakes Huron and Michigan, has prohibited motor vehicles since the late 19th century. You travel by bicycle, on foot or by carriage, between Victorian residences and fudge shops, the island's emblematic confection. Fort Mackinac overlooks the strait and recounts the Franco-British rivalries that shaped the region, when French-Canadian voyageurs paddled these waters in birch-bark canoes.

The Legacy of New France

For Quebec travellers, these waters carry a family scent. Sault Ste. Marie, Detroit, Duluth: the place names recall that explorers and missionaries of New France mapped these shores from the 1620s onward. Cavelier de La Salle launches the Griffon on Lake Erie in 1679, Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac founds Detroit in 1701, and generations of voyageurs paddle thereafter between Montreal and posts in the West. Several lecturers aboard devote a talk to this era, and afterwards you watch the shoreline pass differently.

Preparing for This Type of Cruise

A few practical reference points help in choosing your itinerary.

The waters generally remain calm, an advantage appreciated by travellers prone to seasickness. Customs formalities between Canada and the United States are settled aboard, but a passport remains mandatory as itineraries cross the border several times.

Return to the Ship

After a day in Georgian Bay or on the docks of Mackinac Island, several passengers reach the same conclusion: they thought they knew their own continent. These lakes, which residents simply call the sweet seas, offer navigation unlike any other. You leave with the urge to open a map of Canada and the United States to spot all that remains to explore, one lake at a time.