Our Great Loop Adventure Begins…

We have started our big ‘Great Loop’ adventure!!!

After moving onto our boat, C’est La Vie, on November 15, preparing, provisioning, and still finalizing and cleaning and preparing our house for rental, we began our boat adventure on November 25, the day after Thanksgiving and set out on the trip across the Gulf of Mexico, our beginning of the Great Loop.

What is the Great Loop?

For those unfamiliar with the Great Loop, it is a circumnavigation of the eastern part of the US. The average time to complete the 6000 mile journey is one year. We plan on taking at least that long and possibly closer to 1 1/2 years or more depending on how much time we want to stay in any particular area.

Cruising the seasons.

Generally, the cruise follows the seasons. Winter in the south, mostly Florida which is where we are now. At springtime, around April to June, you cruise up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, AICW, by Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, New Jersey and end up in the Hudson near New York.

Then during the summer, you move northward up the Hudson to either the Erie Canal or the St Lawrence Seaway, through Canada and the Trent Severn Waterway, and on to the Great Lakes. By mid to late September through November or December, you leave the Great Lakes and head down the river system, Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee Waterway and the Tom Bigbee Waterway, finally dropping into the Gulf of Mexico around Mobile, Alabama. From there, you head back to Florida; and you either end your trip where you started, known as “crossing your wake”, or continue on and winter in Florida again or head to the Bahamas for a few months.

Our first leg of the long Great Loop journey.

There will be many thrills, adventures and challenging legs on the Loop, but one of the most concerning for most ‘loopers’ is the infamous ‘Gulf Crossing’. It is the only off-shore, open water crossing on the whole trip. The usual route leaves Carrabelle, FL , crosses the Gulf of Mexico about 60 miles offshore, and ends near Tarpon Springs or Clearwater, FL. For us, because our homeport is Carrabelle, this was the starting point of our Great Loop journey. So our very first cruise was the Gulf crossing from Carrabelle to Clearwater: 18 hours, 180+ miles across open water about 60 miles offshore.

Admittedly I was nervous…

There was definitely some nervousness and a bit of apprehension to be taking on this big overnight Gulf crossing as our first trip out of the shoot. But we watched and waited for the right weather window, listened to more experienced sailors and stayed patient until we had a really nice forecast for Friday, November 25, the day after Thanksgiving. Thankfully, two other boats also took advantage of the nice weather window and chose to do the overnight crossing with us; so we were not alone in the big, dark, scary water. We were able to follow the lead boat and the three of us stayed together for the whole 18 hour crossing. Yay!

The Gulf Crossing

We left Carrabelle around 4pm, driving 8-9mph all night. We had a couple hours of light and got to see the sunset over the water. Then darkness came for the next 12+ hours until around 8am the next morning. We finally arrived at Clearwater Beach Marina at 12:30pm the next day, Saturday, November 26.

It was a smooth ride, with a bit of fog when we left Carrabelle and first thing in the morning approaching land near Clearwater. A few rolling 1 footers, but overall, a very nice ride, albeit long, for sure.

Eric and I did take turns driving and taking hour naps but pretty much we stayed awake the whole night. We had hoped to see the sunrise as we closed in on land, but the fog was too thick. And boy were we glad to have that lead boat to follow! The fog did leave when we made it to land and our final 2 hours down the Intracoastal Waterway were beautiful and calm. We arrived in Clearwater Beach Marina around 12:30 pm and were welcomed by other Loopers we had met in Carrabelle. They caught our lines and we settled into our slip.

What a night! We were both very tired from the long night but it was awesome to know we had completed the infamous gulf crossing. It’s out of the way, and we did it safely with calm seas and great chaperones/buddy boats. We had a nap, went to the beach to see the sunset, had a bite to eat and went to bed. The Crossing is done and we are so thankful!

Thanks for the prayers and support. Our year long journey begins!

I’ll be posting about our travels, boat life, places and experiences we encounter as much as possible either here on our blog or on our Facebook page. I hope you continue to follow along. And to be sure you don’t miss any parts of our journey, be sure to sign up with your email. I promise I won’t spam you. But you will receive an email when a new post is published, which is pretty cool.

Till next time….keep living your someday…today!

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