4/2/14: We left our home port this morning at 10:45 am beginning the northern track of our Great Loop adventure. Our first stop will be at the Jacksonville Landing for a Sturm kick-off party tonight with Wayne & Winnie on Blue Max, and Laurel & Tom from Holland Marine.

This has been a long anticipated & well planned adventure. After looking at hundreds of boats we bought a 2000 Great Harbour GH37 in January 2013, after the retro-fit we launched her in May 2013 & spent several months exploring the St. Johns River. After spending the winter in the Florida Keys we returned to Green Cove Springs & made final preparations for our Great Loop adventure.

Our adventure was made possible by some awesome businesses. In the boating world there are unethical as well as ethical businesses just like everywhere. We had dealings with both kinds. Praising God, He sent us some very special business people to help make our dream possible. So a shout-out to those great businesses:

• ·         Tom Holland with Holland Marine in Green Cove Springs, Florida, a top notch professional boat yard. His employees are experts in their fields and do exceptional work in a timely fashion. We had Toms team do major work for us: bottom paint job, installed new Teak/Holly flooring, etc. and all work was flawless.

• ·         Dave with ACM Electronic, Jacksonville, Florida. Dave has superior knowledge of marine electronics. We had originally had all new electronics installed: glass helm, AIS, Auto Pilot, marine computer, depth finder, etc by a less than ethical business. Who Knew? After months of trying to get the electronics to work with no help from the original installer we located ACM Electronics. Dave came onboard & within a couple of hours was able to identify the problems. The original installer sold us old stuff as new & had even failed to hook-up some of the electronics. So we found ourselves paying for electronics & installation a second time. Expensive lesson learned. Dave installed the new (yes really new stuff in the original boxes, with warranty cards, etc.) electronics & everything worked as guaranteed.  He even met us at different marinas along the ICW as our “wish list” of electronics grew. Need electronics call ACM Electronics.

• ·         The Canvas & Upholstery Shop, St. Augustine Florida. We used this company for new salon & helm seating, aft deck enclosures,& upper deck mesh. Affordable, excellent work, & on-time. Now that’s hard to find in a Canvas shop.

• ·         Coral Bay Marina, Islamorada, Florida. While in Islamorada we needed work done. After our previous experience with the unethical business we were as they say ‘gun shy’ to trust a boat yard other than Holland Marine. But miles away from Green Cove we were forced to use Coral Bay. Excellent choice of boat yards. Top notch work & reasonably priced for the being in the Keys. Sue the Dockmaster is the best.

Great Loop here we come!