What is the Great Loop???

In the previous posts we mentioned starting on “The Great Loop” in the spring.  So, what is the Great Loop?  Simply put, it is using various waterways to go around the eastern half of the United States with a side trip to Canada possible.  As you can see on the map, there are several route options to complete the Great Loop and, in addition, there are many side trips available as well.

Our plan, and it is a very basic plan with little detail at this point, is to leave St Petersburg, FL in April 2014.  We will head south and cut across FL using the Lake Okeechobee canal.  We will then turn north and use the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) up to New York City.   We will then continue north on the Hudson River until we turn west on the Erie Canal.  At the Oswego Canal we will head north again into Lake Ontario. 

At this point of the trip, we will have to make a decision based on how long it has taken to get here.  If we have time, we want to go across the lake to Kingston and take the Rideau Canal up to Ottawa and back.  If not, we will cross the lake to the northwest and follow the Trent-Severn Waterway to Georgian Bay and the North Channel.  From there we will turn south to Lake Michigan and follow the west coast of Michigan to Chicago.  The plan is to be off the Great Lakes by mid to late September.

St Paul Yacht Club on the Mississippi River

We then will go southwest on the Illinois River to just north of St. Louis on the Mississippi River.  The Great Loop goes south here; however, we are going to go north and take a side trip to Minnesota to visit family and friends.  If all goes well, after several thousand miles on the water and a hundred plus locks, we hope to be in St Paul, MN no later than the end of October 2014.  We will be leaving C.A.R.I.B. II at the St Paul Yacht Club, wrapped up and winterized, while the rest of us return to Florida for the winter.

We will return to St Paul, MN late spring of 2015 and will stay there until September, when we will leave to rejoin the Great Loop and complete it.  After heading south on the Mississippi River to the southern tip of Illinois, we will turn east on the Ohio River for a little bit prior to heading south again on the Tennessee River.  The Tennessee -Tombigbee Waterway will then bring us to Mobile, AL and the Gulf of Mexico.  The last leg will then be the Gulf ICW and then the crossing back to Tampa Bay and finally, St Petersburg, FL.

We are not alone on this adventure.  There is a great organization (America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association, www.greatloop.org) that has a wealth of information to help us accomplish this trip.  April 2014 will be here before we know it, so we are busy preparing C.A.R.I.B. II and ourselves for it.  We can’t wait for the adventure to start….

Cat on Board

As was mentioned in our first posting, one of our concerns with moving onto a boat was how our cat Zipper would adjust.  We didn't give her a vote in the matter, but still . . . .

Zipper (l) and Zorra (r)

Zipper is 15 years old.  Knowing that cats like consistency, and given that she is an old cat and even more set in her ways, we were really concerned about how a drastic lifestyle change from condo to boat would affect her.  2013 had already had its share of significant changes, as we lost Zipper's adoptive sister Zorra to old age back in May.

Zipper has always had lots of "cat-itude", i.e., sudden hostility toward everything with no apparent cause. Would moving onto a boat cause her to cower and hide for the rest of her life? Would she turn into an aggressive "cat from hell", even with us?  Were we going to make her last months/years absolutely miserable?

We are happy to say that Zipper has been gradually--but very definitely--obtaining her "sea legs."  Hiding under bed covers and in closets has given way to begging at the door to be let out for exploration of the boat and the docks (all under supervision, of course.)  The outside explorations started out as after-dark jaunts only ("if I can't see them, they can't see me"), but she now braves daytime hours as well.  It's really fun to see and we've enjoyed photographing her during this time.

Zipper at the door

Contemplating her escape

Scoping out the neighborhood

Watching the world from the forward stateroom

Full exposure at the dinette

Model boat as chin rest

Relaxing in the salon

Evening on the water

Helping in the engine room

Obviously the engine room is OK when everything is off, but Zipper still doesn't like it much when the engine or generator starts.  She reverts to her "under the quilt or in the closet" mode, but she recovers quickly.

Blood tests and recent weight loss indicate that Zipper may have some underlying health issues going on, so we don't really know how much time we have left with her.  But as long as her quality of life seems good--and her interest in exploring indicates that it is--we will continue to enjoy her company.

C.A.R.I.B. II

The fact that we're living on a boat--and have been for the past 4 months--still catches us by surprise.  Early in the year living on a boat was simply one of our possible retirement options, but we thought we were at least a year away from making any decisions.  But Pat stopped working full-time in January and Lon followed suit in April, and at that point we decided we could start looking seriously for a boat that would allow us to live aboard and be suitable for future "Great Loop" cruising.  Little did we know that it would only take a week to find such a boat and have it under contract!    

Our new home is a 42-foot trunk cabin trawler, built in the year 2000 by the Ricker Brothers of Bradenton, FL.  It has a very open, airy salon, two staterooms (bedrooms), two heads (bathrooms), and a "one butt" galley (kitchen).   The boat also has lots of lovely outdoor space, including a large, covered flybridge.

The original C.A.R.I.B. was the houseboat that we owned from 2002-2005 and kept on the Mississippi River just south of St. Paul, MN.  C.A.R.I.B. stood for "Chill and Relax It's Boat-time" and was meant to reflect our hopes for our time on the boat as well as the relaxation that we'd always enjoyed on trips to the Caribbean islands.  It just seemed natural to apply the same name to the trawler, but with a "II" to denote its status as the second of our CARIBs.

             

So far, so good.  We've transitioned from 1700 sf of condo to 400 sf of boat without feeling claustrophobic or having second thoughts.  Now it's on to planning for our Great Loop cruise, which we hope to start next spring.

   

Transitioning from Land to Water

"Isn't it going to be hard living in such a small space?  Won't you get in each other's way?"  We heard these questions, or variations thereof, quite often in the period leading up to our move (in late June) from a 1700 sf condo in Seminole, FL to a 42 foot trawler in the Harborage Marina on the south end of downtown St. Petersburg, FL.  Our usual response was along the lines of "we think it's going to be just fine, but if it's not, we'll try something else."

Well, nearly 4 months into this "grand adventure", I can safely say that it was a great move for Lon and me.  After some initial hiccups with boat systems that hadn't been used much in the last couple of years, we are very comfortable with the space and are thrilled to call C.A.R.I.B. II our 360-degree waterfront home.

Zipper (the cat) has adjusted better than we dared hope.

We love living in close proximity to downtown St. Pete.  We can walk or bike to numerous restaurants or partake in the multitude of activities that downtown offers.  We have great dock neighbors.  Lon continues to play hockey and we just had our first successful social outing on the boat with some hockey friends.  (Lesson learned: red wine is allowed ONLY if the boat is stationary or a “sippy cup” is being used).

We hope to be able to enjoy much more of St. Pete over the next six months, even as we prepare to start cruising the “Great Loop” in mid-April 2014.  More on that and C.A.R.I.B. II in future posts.