THE GREAT LOOP
Map used with permission. Raven Cove Publishing.
This is the Great Loop, a circumnavigation of eastern North America in a counter-clockwise direction up the east coast via the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW), through the Great Lakes and Chicago and then south via the Mississippi and other rivers and canals to the Gulf of Mexico. Many "Loopers" complete the trip in a year, going north in the spring, spending the summer in the Great Lakes and then heading south during the late summer and early fall.
Everyone we've spoken to who has completed the Loop says they went too fast, so we're planning on taking our time, doing it in stages, probably over two to three years, leaving the boat at various ports along the way.
We started from Gasparilla Island, near Fort Myers, Florida on September 19, 2012, and headed across Florida through the Okeechobee Waterway to Stuart, on the east coast. We arrived in Stuart on Sunday, September 23, after a very successful "shake down" cruise. Stuart is where we attended the Chapman School of Seamanship last spring, to prepapre for our adventure - see "Journey to the Loop". We're leavimg the boat there for a few weeks, at the Hinckley Yard, while we return to Calgary. In mid-November, we'll return to Stuart and start heading north to Georgia before Christmas. After that, we'll take it as it comes, and as family and other commitments allow.
It's a big adventure that's been several years in the planning - hard to believe it's finally happening!
Everyone we've spoken to who has completed the Loop says they went too fast, so we're planning on taking our time, doing it in stages, probably over two to three years, leaving the boat at various ports along the way.
We started from Gasparilla Island, near Fort Myers, Florida on September 19, 2012, and headed across Florida through the Okeechobee Waterway to Stuart, on the east coast. We arrived in Stuart on Sunday, September 23, after a very successful "shake down" cruise. Stuart is where we attended the Chapman School of Seamanship last spring, to prepapre for our adventure - see "Journey to the Loop". We're leavimg the boat there for a few weeks, at the Hinckley Yard, while we return to Calgary. In mid-November, we'll return to Stuart and start heading north to Georgia before Christmas. After that, we'll take it as it comes, and as family and other commitments allow.
It's a big adventure that's been several years in the planning - hard to believe it's finally happening!
Casting off, from Gasparilla Marina. First, the onshore power...
...and then the lines.
And a last wave to Captain John and his crew who made sure we were "ship shape" before heading out.
At 1050 on Wednesday, September 19, 2012, we left the Gasparilla Marina chanel and entered the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GICW) at red marker R20. This is the point at which we will complete our Loop, or, as it's known in Looper circles, "cross our wake". We plan to celebrate with a night or two at the Gasparilla Inn (www.the-gasparilla-inn.com)!