A Fistful of Ducks - Touring the Amphibious Way Worldwide

About 65 years ago, German troops preparing to defend their positions on the Normandy shores saw them coming: strange, box-shaped boats that had a driver’s position and a cargo bay at back, just like a lorry. When they hit the beaches, they didn’t stop like all the other landing craft. They simply drove on because they were D (designed in 1942), U (utility amphibious), K (all-wheel drive) and W (two powered rear axles); in short military-speech DUKW, in soldier lingo “duck”. Quite sturdy and handy vehicles indeed as the Germans later proved by using them in civil defence, where they still are ducking after more than six decades of service.

Amphibious vehicles with a long(ish) range were once all the rage with most armies, until they were more or less superseded by helicopter air mobility. Many of these vehicles were then sent to fire departments, police forces and... into the tourist business! Tours using the venerable old “ducks” (or similar vehicles) have sprung up all over the world – witness Dublin’s Viking Splash Tours. Time to gather some of these together, thanks to my fellow guides here at About.com:

• News from Boston courtesy of Kim Knox Beckius - "Tour Boston's roads and waters in a "Duck," a World War II-era amphibious craft. Your tour guide, a.k.a. the ConDUCKtor, will teach you a thing or two about this historic city and tell a few jokes that will quack you up, too. See the Boston Duck Tour image gallery for details!"

• The odd one out (as in "not a city tour") comes courtesy of Linda Garrison, who left behind the large cruise ships to explore the Kuranda Rain Forest in Australia in a duck - "Walking around the UNESCO World Heritage site at Kuranda and learning about the wildlife and flora of the area is interesting, but riding in one of the World War II Army Ducks is the highlight of any visit to the park. Passengers board the Army Ducks for a guided ride through the rainforest, which includes a short "cruise" on the lake in these off road/amphibious vehicles."

• London Guide Laura Porter adds - "On the London Duck tour, you'll tour London's sights aboard a yellow amphibious World War Two vehicle. The deluxe refit includes comfortable seating for 30 passengers, a public address system and full safety equipment. The 80-minute tours take you past famous London landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Big Ben, the House of Parliament and Trafalgar Square. You'll then make a dramatic launch into the Thames River (20 minutes) for the waterborne part of your tour."

• For subtropical ducking, Miami Beach is the place to go according to Dawn Muench-Pace - "Departing from historic South Beach, the Miami Duck Tour takes you past famous Miami landmarks before a dramatic leap into beautiful Biscayne Bay."

• Mike R. Aquino writes in from Singapore - "Singapore’s Civic District grew around its bustling river trade, so many of the best sights are very close to the river and the Marina Bay. Singapore DUCKtours offers a scenic tour that gives travelers a look at Singapore from both sides of the riverbank."

• Finally, the Southeastern United States seem to be a natural “duck” habitat, as Sheridan Alexander has found out - "Blending local history with adventure, combination land and water tours by duck or DUKW fit the bill for seasonal sightseeing in several Southeast U.S. locations. Check out this list of Southeast U.S. duck tours in a row."

Happy duck-trails to y’all, even if you;re not using a DUKW on a “Duck Tour”, like in Austin, Texas: Austin Duck Adventures have an even rarer imported Alvis Stalwart there! That’s for the tech-heads amongst us. And Beatlemania might have been taken to extremes by naming Liverpool's specimen the Yellow Duckmarine.

Enough quacking - I'll duck off now.

Photo © 2009 Bernd Biege licensed to About.com, Inc.