After a year delay (due to a shoulder injury), we are finally starting our adventure of traveling the Great Loop. We bought our boat a couple of years ago and have kept it in Jacksonville, FL.
We are finally ready now and HERE WE GO! Follow us along!
What is the Great Loop?
The America’s Great Loop is a continuous waterway route that allows boaters to circumnavigate the eastern half of the United States and parts of Canada. The journey typically covers around 6,000 miles, passing through a mix of rivers, lakes, canals, and coastal waterways.
Route Overview
The Great Loop is usually completed in a counterclockwise direction to take advantage of river currents. The main sections include:
1. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) – Runs along the U.S. East Coast from Florida to the Chesapeake Bay. (We will start from Julington Creek Marina, in the St John’s River heading north up the Intracoastal)
2. Hudson River & Erie Canal (or St. Lawrence Seaway Option) – Provides access to the Great Lakes. (We will enter New York Harbor, head up the Hudson then into the Erie Canal. From there we take the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario. We will head up the St Lawrence Seaway to visit Thousand Islands before entering the Trent Severn Waterway across the Canadian side of the Great Lakes).
3. The Great Lakes – Includes stops in Michigan, Illinois, and sometimes Canada. (We will exit the Trent Severn waterway at Georgian Bay, continue to Mackinac Island into Lake Michigan. We then will head down the western side of the lake to Chicago).
4. The Inland Rivers System – Includes the Illinois River, Mississippi River (or alternative routes like the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway). (We plan to take the Illinois River to the Mississippi, then down to the Ohio to the Tennessee River to the Ten Tom waterway. That will get us to Mobile Bay).
5. The Gulf of Mexico – Follows the Florida Panhandle and around the state back to the Atlantic. (From Mobile Bay we will take the Florida Itracoastal across the panhandle to Carrabelle, then we go across to Steinhatchee and will continue down the western side of Florida to the keys. From there we will head north on the eastern side of Florida until we cross our wake in Jacksonville).
• Completing the Loop typically takes 9 months to a year.
We plan to take a couple of trips back home, one in late spring for a couple of weeks and one in the fall for 2-3 months over the holidays.
ALL BLOG POSTS
Latest Posts
- Days 203–208 Down to Pensacola, FL
- Days 199-203 Demopolis,AL to Mobile Bay, AL
- Days 194–198 DOWN THE TENN-TOM WATERWAY
- Days 189-193 Pickwick to Grand Harbor Marina
- Days 186-188 To the borders of Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.
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