The Boston Duck Tour

Perhaps one of the greatest tours we have ever taken was the "Boston Duck Tour" which was in a refurbished WWWII amphibious landing vehicle. Our tour came a day after we went on a bus tour which was pretty bad, as the driver sped by one site after another. As soon as you turned your head to look, he drove away. I recommend the Boston Duck to anybody who visits the city. People of all ages love the tour taking you through the streets of Boston viewing many of the landmarks and sites that the city offers. You also dip into the water and tour areas of the Charles River.

History of the DUKW Amphibious Vehicle. During the early days of World War ll, the allies were faced with a tough tactical problem: how could they unload cargo and men from their ships in places where the dock facilities had been destroyed or simply did not exist? The answer was to unload cargo directly over the beach. But how?

The demands of war, along with technical know-how and old fashioned Yankee ingenuity combined to create the perfect solution: a vehicle that was half boat and half truck that could run on land and water. Code-named DUKW (see where we get the name?), the first "DUCK" was actually a GMC truck enclosed in a water-tight shell.

Here's a PDF map of the actual tour here: Boston Duck Tour Map