Reflections on the Great Loop -

Over the 5 and half months last year and the almost 7 months this year for a total of 351 days, we travelled 6348 miles, through two countries 19 states, traversed over 200 locks to find large cities, small towns, farmland, and vast natural waterways and bays.

Our route took us through sites of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War, as well as the history of how America grew along her waterways. Beginning with canoes, rafts and barges people and goods moved through these waters. The sailing sloops and steamships changed these rivers, requiring locks and canals to be built to facilitate travel and commerce. Today it is amazing how much commerce moves through these waters. We developed a healthy respect for the freighter and tow captains and lock masters and harbor masters that keep the system working.

We have lasting impressions of early morning sunrises, beautiful sunsets, and moonlit bays,

the hospitality in all the towns we visited, the vast undeveloped shorelines of our many rivers and bays,

sharing docktails and dinners with fellow Loopers,

discovering the local histories of the places we visited, the ever present trains which ran along the waterways,

remote anchorages that gave us a wonderful nightly display of the Milky Way, tying to walls on the Rideau and Trent Severn canal systems,

sharing in local specialities from ice cream to butter tarts and barbecue to bangers, close up view of nature's wildlife

hiking and rock climbing,

weather watching to determine go or no go for travel, skyscrapers and old homes, and inspiring churches,

cruising past the Statue of Liberty, through the city of Chicago and St Louis Arch,

magnificent bridges and stately old lighthouses,

beautiful beaches,

museums of local and maritime history, castles and forts,

fresh fish and hush puppies, marinas that allowed us a safe harbor,

lots and lots of beautiful anchorages where nature was on full display,

We were able to visit friends and family along the way,

as well as relish the new friendships we developed. So many Loopers joined us in our Great Loop journey, each taking their own unique path and schedule, but always willing to support and befriend other boaters.

We leave this journey better people for all the fellow Loopers who became our friends.

It was a wonderful trip.

We're glad to be home.

But we are already dreaming

of next we might roam.

-Glad you were able to come along on our adventure.

Margie, Bill, and Crustacean

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

Day 64-65. May 25-26. On to Peck Lake, Jupiter, FL and then on to Indiantown/ Okeechobee Waterway. Miles 63.5/ 29.1 Total Miles 1122.1/1142.0

Day 64 We started early to get ahead of the holiday boat traffic. Weighing anchor at Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale, we traveled on the Intracoastal Waterway past the iconic Pier 66 Tower and Bahia Mar Marina. We then turned north and passed the older sections of the city - Las Olas( older homes), Galt Ocean Mile (one mile of condominiums on the beach), and the famous miles of beaches on the Atlantic. I used to live here in the early 70's and the biggest change I see is the older smaller homes on the water are being replaced with larger versions and a few more condo towers have been built. As we go further north towards Commercial Blvd, North Fort Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach and its Lighthouse at the cut, there is less reconstruction. The next town we traveled through was Boca Raton with its Spanish architecture, Camino Real and its landmark tower. The sand bar at the cut was just beginning to fill up with Memorial Day revelers as we went by. Next were t...

Crustacean Travels

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