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America's Great Loop

 America's Great Loop             

           America's Great Loop is the continuous waterway through the Eastern United State and parts of Canada.  The route takes you through these waters:

  • Gulf Intercoastal Waterway
  • Okeechobee Waterway
  • Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway 
  • Chesapeake Bay
  • Delaware Bay
  • Atlantic Ocean from Cape May to New York
  • Hudson River
  • New York Canal System- Erie and Oswego Canals
  • Canadian Waterways - Ottawa River and the Rideau, Richelieu and Trent-Severn Canals
  • St Lawrence River
  • Lake Champlain and the Champlain Canal
  • Great Lakes - Ontario, Huron and Michigan
  • Inland Rivers - Chicago, Illinois, Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, TomBigbee Rivers
  • Gulf of Mexico

    Traveling the Great Loop encompasses over 6,000 miles steeped in our country's history, 16 States*, two Canadian Provinces*, thousands of bridges, hundreds of cities and towns and more than 150 locks.  

    * States include: FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, VT, MI, IL, KY, TN, MS, AL
    *Canadian provinces: Ontario and Quebec



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Day 24-25 April 15-16 On to Hopetown and Lay day in Hopetown. Miles 12.6. Total 460.6

Day 24 We had a change of plans.  Our friends who we met cruising the Loop, Trisha and Mike, are traveling north through the Bahamas and are close, so we will join then in Hope Town.   We will then back track a bit to visit Man-o-War Cay and Marsh Harbor after visiting with them. It is a bright sunny day with light winds as we weigh anchor to leave Great Guana. There is lots of freight and commercial traffic today- tugs and barges, large freighters and flat bed delivery boats.  It takes all these to handle the shipping needs and construction on the islands. We trip today took along the north east side of Great Guana and then past Scotland Cay, which is all privately owned.  Next we passed Fowl Cay which is a nature preserve known for its diving.  Following Fowl Cay is Man-o-War Channel with its deep water access to the Atlantic and Man-o-War Cay, known for its ship building and maintenance. Sorry, pictures of the passes and islands did not turn out too well...
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On to Allan's-Pensacola Cay. Day 12. April 3. Mile 35.2. Total mile

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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...
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