Post by Greenedog on Jun 8, 2024 12:27:37 GMT -5
So I first heard about "The Great Loop" sometime back when a youtuber I follow that was living on a boat in Florida decided to try it. He left the Tampa area in his liveaboard 1980 Chris Craft Catalina 310 down to the Ft Myers area where he took the Caloosahatchee River to Okeechobee then across to the St Lucie canal to the ICW and then up the east coast. He made it to North Carolina before giving up due to a lot of obstacles; engine problems, money, having 2 large dogs aboard, etc.
The Great Loop is an adventure you can make travelling the eastern United States via water. The Great Lakes down the Mississippi to the Gulf then across or around Florida then back up the east coast and then back to the Great Lakes, although you could start anywhere along the route and there is different routes you could take along the way. It can take months or sometimes years to complete the loop. Most people I see trying it are in trawlers or cruisers and I really never thought I would want to. That is, until I stumbled across another youtuber who is doing it in a shanty boat! He bought a barge type flat bottom boat that had a small cabin on it, redone the cabin to make it comfortable enough for the long voyage, put a 60hp Yamaha 4-stroke on it, and now him and his beagle are doing the loop! He started in Wisconsin on the St. Croix River in the fall and it was interesting watching the cooler weather follow him south. He brought along a scooter that he sometimes takes ashore, but most times he anchors and takes a dingy to shore and walks to gas stations to avoid the outrageous prices at marinas. Doing something like this, especially on the cheap, amazes me and now it's on my bucket list!
If you'd like to follow the adventure I'll post the first of what's now over 40 videos in the series.
The Great Loop is an adventure you can make travelling the eastern United States via water. The Great Lakes down the Mississippi to the Gulf then across or around Florida then back up the east coast and then back to the Great Lakes, although you could start anywhere along the route and there is different routes you could take along the way. It can take months or sometimes years to complete the loop. Most people I see trying it are in trawlers or cruisers and I really never thought I would want to. That is, until I stumbled across another youtuber who is doing it in a shanty boat! He bought a barge type flat bottom boat that had a small cabin on it, redone the cabin to make it comfortable enough for the long voyage, put a 60hp Yamaha 4-stroke on it, and now him and his beagle are doing the loop! He started in Wisconsin on the St. Croix River in the fall and it was interesting watching the cooler weather follow him south. He brought along a scooter that he sometimes takes ashore, but most times he anchors and takes a dingy to shore and walks to gas stations to avoid the outrageous prices at marinas. Doing something like this, especially on the cheap, amazes me and now it's on my bucket list!
If you'd like to follow the adventure I'll post the first of what's now over 40 videos in the series.
Or stopped I guess. Said he would resume in September of '25 and go in the opposite direction towards the Great Lakes. He's behind on the video series so he still has a lot of episodes to post. In the latest one he's in Tampa Bay. I'm 0 for 2 now on following people around the loop. 
Just another night at work for me and Monty will be back here again bright and early. 
