The Great Loop is a system of waterways that encompasses the eastern portion of the United States and part of Canada.

The current record time for completing the great loop is 19 days, 19 hours, and 50 minutes.

[5] At the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at Cairo, Illinois, either continue down the Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana, or follow the more typical route of briefly going upstream on the Ohio River, then turn south down the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to the Gulf of Mexico.

Because of heavy barge traffic, lack of marinas and scarcity of fuel sources on the Lower Mississippi River, most Loopers opt for the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway passage.

Traversing the 184 mile length of Kentucky Lake, continue up the Tennessee River and turn off onto the Tenn-Tom Waterway, near Iuka, Mississippi.

After crossing Delaware Bay to Cape May, New Jersey, all but the smallest boats can travel in the Atlantic Ocean to New York City.

[2] The America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association (AGLCA) assists Great Loop cruisers by sharing safety and navigational and cruising information, while providing a networking platform for Loopers through its members-only discussion forum.

Boaters can exchange information about topics such as marinas, locking through, water depth, hazards, repairs, fuel prices or dinner reservations and sight seeing.