12/13/14: TWELVE STONES CROSSES HER WAKE IN FT. MYERS, FLORIDA.

We began our Great American Loop adventure on November 6, 2013 and crossed our wake 401 days later on December 13, 2014.

The Great Loop adventure has been described as ‘An amazing journey sprinkled with moments of sheer terror’. We would conclude this to be a true statement.

While the things you will see and experience such as; traveling by the Statute of Liberty in your very own boat, riding the Big Chute Lock in Canada, endless sunrises & sunsets that will take your breath away, the Gulf of Mexico crossing, and much more, nothing compares to the comradery with other Loopers.

We first ventured out into the big ocean waters in December 2013 when we exited Ft. Myers Beach into the Gulf of Mexico headed to the Florida Keys. We traveled with three other boats; Knot Home, Meridian, & Morning Star. God provided a smooth Gulf for an easy trip to the Florida Keys.

After leaving the Florida Keys in late February 2014 we headed to our home port, Green Cove Springs, Florida. There we visited with friends & family, restocked on supplies and then left heading north to complete the Great Loop.

We made a 2 week stop in Norfolk, Va. for the Great Loop Rendezvous then another stop in Baltimore for the Great Harbour Annual Meeting.

We were fortunate enough to have Captain Steve aboard Miss Hadley join us in Baltimore and stay with us to Panama City, Florida. Captain Joe, with Connie & Buster, aboard Chesapeake joined us at the entrance to the Erie Canal and stayed with us through Canada. The three boats stayed so long (due to weather) at the Phoenix New York Lock wall the locals started calling us the Phoenix Navy. Captain John aboard Endeavor joined our 3 boat flotilla, making us a 4 boat flotilla, at Trenton, Canada and continued with us until Ft. Myers, Florida where we crossed out wake.

Word of our 4 boat flotillas locking procedure spread from one Lockmaster to the next with one Lockmaster making a comment to his helper ‘ this is the group of boats that know what they are doing , we don’t need to tell them how to come in and tie off.’

The relationships cultivated along the loop are priceless. There have been lots of laughs and some tears (mainly Connie & Elaine when they parted in Killarney).  Gods protection over us was seen many times throughout this trip. He provided us a safe harbor/anchorage during sever weather and smooth waters during good weather as we lived out our adventure.

Although our Loop is officially complete we are still making plans with fellow Loopers to travel to the Florida Keys and the Bahamas after our scheduled month stay in Ft. Meyers, Florida.

Now for the statistics of our trip:

Our trip lasted 401 days. Of those 401 days we stayed in marinas 290 days (72 days in the Florida Keys), anchored 39 days, stayed on free walls/free marinas 61 days, and 11 days on paid walls (most no electric). Twenty-nine (29) of the days were spent in Canada.

We traveled 5375 Nautical Miles/ 6185 Statute Miles. Of those miles: 180+ NM/207 SM were in the Atlantic Ocean & 342 NM/394 SM in the Gulf of Mexico.

We boated through 17 States and parts of Canada (Trent-Severn Waterway, Georgina Bay, & Northern Channel).

Locks: After 110 locks we had a sign made up & put in the pilot house “What Happens In The Lock, Stays In The Lock”.

Our fuel consumption was great! We used 2128 gallons of fuel (2 engines) & 225 gallons for the generator.

12/10/14:  Clearwater Beach Marina, Clearwater, Florida: We cast off lines tomorrow and continue south.

We began the Gulf of Mexico crossing at noon from Apalachicola, Florida on 12/6/14 and arrived at noon on 12/7/14 at the Clearwater, Florida marina.  24 hours and 170 NMs.  We left the dock at Apalachicola with Endeavor, Pura Vida, & Akasha. At Dog River Inlet, Dream Fever joined us and then a couple of hours later Ithaka caught up with us and completed the crossing with us.

The crossing started out with fog which we all felt certain would burn off, however it did not. The fog stayed with us all day and into the early morning hours the next morning. Although there was a full moon it only peeked out from behind the clouds a couple of times. 

Foggy Gulf Crossing Start - Apalachicola Dock

The winds that had been predicted to arrive at Clearwater on Sunday afternoon, greeted us before the break of dawn. For a period of time we clocked a 19 Knot wind coming at our port stern. While the conditions don’t sound good it really wasn’t that bad.

As we approached Clearwater, Dream Fever took off towards Tarpon Springs and the rest of us continued to the Clearwater Inlet. It was good to have the crossing behind us and thankful to God that we all made it safe and without any boat problems.

The day after we arrived, we all got together for dinner and shared our crossing stories. We have all said it more than once but it can’t be repeated enough. While the Loop is about seeing things you have never seen before the real gem is the people that you will meet and bond with. Let me tell you it was a great comfort to know that we had 5 other boats that we could count on as we crossed the Gulf. 

Gulf Crossing Gang

Left to right back row: Steve & Sheli - Pura Vida, Jack & Sara - Ithaka. 

Elaine & Russ - Twelve Stones,

Front row: Left to Right:  John (not pictured his crew member Ken who already headed home)- Endeavor, Clarke & Rosemary - Akasha

12/6/14: GULF OF MEXICO CROSSING:  Today is the day! God has blessed us with a good weather forecast, a full moon, and 4 buddy boats (Endeavor, Akasha, Pura Vida, Dream Weaver) for the crossing.

We plan on leaving Apalachicola around 11:00 am, head east to Dog River pass, exit into the Gulf and set a course for the Clearwater Inlet. We anticipate anywhere from 22-27 hour crossing.

We will have our SPOT locator on which should work all the way across since it uses satellite technology. So check back here on our blog and select the ‘Current Location’ tab and you should be able to keep up with us.

Please keep us and the other boats in your prayers today. We know our God goes before us.

Note: Since we are traveling as a group of 5 boats, we will be honoring the buddy boat rule -- if one stops we all stop until the situation is fixed or its clear for some of us to leave. 

12/4/14: Panama City, Florida – Apalachicola, Florida – 56NM. We left Panama City early this morning headed to Apalachicola. We will stay there until Saturday morning when we will head out for our Gulf crossing to Clearwater. We anticipate crossing with 3 other Looper boats: Endeavor, Akasha, & Pura Vida.

11/29/14: Ft. Walton Beach, Fl – Panama City, Florida – 55 NM  - We docked at the St. Andrews Marina which is an excellent protected marina. The staff is excellent.  Upon arrival there was not a Gulf weather window crossing insight.  We rented a car anticipating being in Panama for at least a week. However, the weather being what it is changed providing a crossing window for Saturday 12/6/14 & Sunday 12/7/14.

When we leave we will leave Steve Captain of Miss Hadley behind. He has crossed his wake and is leaving Miss Hadley at the marina while he goes home for the holidays. Steve has traveled with us since we left Baltimore on 6/6/14. We will miss seeing Miss Hadley behind us.

On Wednesday 12/4/14, Ken, Johns (Endeavor) Gulf crossing crew member arrived. Earlier in the day we had purchased fresh shrimp (only $4.00 pound) off a shrimp boat that docked at our marina. We enjoyed a good Shrimp boil for dinner. Yum.

We purchased fresh shrimp right off the boat.

A deal at $4.00 a pound.

Russ and Ken working on the shrimp.

Cooker ready for the Shrimp Boil.

Sooooo Good!

Lets Eat

11/28/14: Orange Beach, Alabama – Ft. Walton Beach, Fl.  – 56NM. Today marked yet another Great Loop milestone, we arrived back in Florida waters. On 4/4/14 we left Florida waters and entered Georgia.  Today we arrived at Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. Since leaving Florida we have traveled approximately 4000 NM / 4603 SM, been out of Florida for 235 days, traveled through 17 States and Canada, and successfully locked through 105 Locks.