So lately I’ve gotten several questions from people who just don’t seem to have any idea what in the world we are doing.  They got the boat part figured out but they didn’t quite catch the “Great Loop” part of the plan…or maybe they did, but they didn’t know what the heck it is, so it didn’t register as an important piece of information.  I’m here to clear up the plan for what we’re undertaking.  I’m also going to include some elementary-style illustrations because that’s what I’m good at.  😉

 

The Great Loop is basically a circle route around the Eastern half of the United States (some people are pretty adamant about the fact that this part of the US is actually an island…interesting!!).  The map above outlines the various Great Loop route options.  We have some decisions pretty much settled and honestly, there are some that I haven’t even thought about yet.

 

This is our BIG PICTURE plan for the next 13 months.  We will be leaving the metro Detroit area and starting the green portion as early as Monday!  YIKES–so much to do!!  We will head north along the Lake Huron/Canadian shoreline until we reach Tobermory (been there, but sure didn’t get to see it with all that fog!!  See earlier posts from late May for that adventure!).  We will head north from there and follow clockwise along the Northern Georgian Bay until around Britt (I think?) where we will turn around and backtrack, heading for Killarney.  There we will enter the North Channel and work our way west until we are scheduled to meet with Kelly’s brother’s family in Mackinac Island in mid-August for summer cousin camp.  We will then work our way south along the western Michigan shoreline until we get to Chicago in late September.  Now that green section is creeping up on us quickly, so I have focused most of my planning on this portion so far.  Other than rough dates, I really have no idea of specifics for the rest of the trip.  It’s all about the journey, right?

We plan to start the blue line along the rivers sometime in late September, arriving in the Gulf of Mexico in mid-November (after hurricane season!).  I’m hoping we’ll make a side trip to Nashville along the way.  We will only be taking the northern half of the Mississippi River and then switch over to the eastern route using the Ohio/Cumberland/Tennessee/Tenn-Tom Rivers.  Many people avoid the lower Mississippi because there are just 2 stops along this almost 900 mile stretch where you can refuel and provision.  The route we’re taking isn’t quite so desolate and offers many more resources along the way.

Once we hit the Gulf of Mexico, we’ll start preparing for our first big water crossing, cutting the corner of Florida and heading towards Tarpon Springs (the other two big crossings being to and from the Bahamas).  We’ll head down the west coast of Florida through late November and December, spending considerable time in the Keys (I think?).  This portion is shown in purple.

Come early January we’ll start watching for a weather window where we can cross the Gulf Stream (current that can make the ocean nasty to cross) over to the Bahamas.  Right now we’re planning on exploring the Bahamas (yellow line) from mid-January through early April.  Our goal here is to find quiet anchorages and deserted islands where we can explore on our own (I think?).  (A little side story:  In April 2017, we took a cruise to the Bahamas.  I (Kelly) very clearly remember the ship passing one quiet little sleepy island, watching a small boat out on the ocean, and wondering where in the world those people were headed.  I remember wishing I could stay behind when everyone else had to leave so we could spend a little longer in paradise.  Funny how sometimes, looking back, you realize you’re getting just what you asked for!)

After coming back from the Bahamas in early April, we’ll follow the light blue line up the east coast of the US through June or so (I think?).  Much of this part will be done on the intercoastal waterway, and we’re hoping to spend some extra time in Washington DC and New York City.

We will travel the Trent Severn Waterway through Canada (the pink portion) throughout July and end up back in the Georgian Bay (where we’ll be for the 3rd time at that point!).  We will explore a little more of the Georgian Bay and arrive back in metro Detroit in mid August (I think?).

The fancy orange arrow reminds you that we will be navigating the Loop in a counter clockwise fashion.  This is the typical direction “Loopers” travel in order to take advantage of the current on the Mississippi River, so that’s the way we’ll go, too.

If you have questions, thoughts, recommendations, or you know of friends/family who would love to let us tie up to their dock somewhere along this route for a few days, please share!!  I have spent hours and hours researching, but I usually do that for a regular week-long trip, so planning the full scope of this trip is completely overwhelming.  I have read many blogs about others who have traveled the Loop (as well as waterway guides, websites, etc…) and taken careful notes about specific areas/museums/marinas/etc where we should visit or avoid, so I’d love to hear thoughts from all of our own friends and family, too.  One thing that comes up again and again is how cruisers love the Bahama portion and the Canadian portion of the trip more than the rest.  Our itinerary reflects that, spending significantly more time in those areas.  The truth is, there is just so much to see out there that I could never give it all the planning time it deserves.  And the planning isn’t the fun of it, so I figure with a fair amount of research, we’ll just get out there and figure it out along the way.

Please do share your thoughts and experiences through commenting, email, or other means of getting in touch with us.  I sure appreciate all of you that already have!!  And I’m totally serious about free docking opportunities, too!  😉  Thank you!!

For now, we’ll sit back and enjoy this beautiful view from our sundeck for the next week or so and enjoy the comfort of being HOME.