Resuming our Great Loop Four Years Later – A Quick Refresher

A few weeks ago, we left Charleston in our wake and officially picked up where we left off on our Great Loop back in 2019.

We thought this would be a good time to recap what the Great Loop is, our history with it, why we went on an extended pause and what our intentions are going forward.

If you prefer video, here’s that version to go along with this post:

What is the Great Loop

It’s a circumnavigation of the eastern part of the US by waterways. It’s approximately 6,000 miles (plus many opportunities for side trips).

It’s most typically followed seasonally – winter in the warmth of Florida, spring traveling up the ICW, summer in NY and Canada and then fall heading down the riverways of the mid west. Many loopers complete it in a year, and some keep doing the route as a cycle every year – following the seasons.

Here’s the official map as published by the American Great Loop Cruisers Association:

Chris got turned on to the Great Loop when we started shopping for a sailboat back in 2009 – an adventure which we ultimately didn’t pursue, and we purchased a vintage bus instead.

But the idea of Looping fascinated us as a way to continue exploring the US by another modality other than RV – and we always kept it in mind for the future.

With most of the Loop being inland waterways and protected, it appealed to us – and felt like it would be more akin to RVing on water than the more typical island hopping that a lot of other boaters are called to.

A Recap of our Great Loop Experience

We started boat shopping with the Great Loop in mind in 2016, and purchased our 1999 Bayliner 4788 named Y-Not in March 2017.

After some time with a training captain and getting our sea legs, we left Punta Gorda, Florida on April 28, 2017 – officially starting our Great Loop.

We never intended to follow the traditional 1-year plan, and instead knew we’d be taking it slower. Perhaps 2-3 years?

Thus we kept our vintage bus to return to in Arizona during the cruising off seasons, and we added a camper van to the fleet to get between the coasts.

We ended up in the Florida Keys as one of our first destinations, and ended up right in the path of Hurricane Irma.

We evacuated and honestly thought we might never see Y-Not again, but were blessed that she was one of the handful of boats in Marathon with only minimal damage. We ended our first year hauled out in Miami, attending to the damage we did sustain.

In 2018, we took it slow – still mentally recovering ourselves from the experience.

We meandered up the Florida coast enjoying several longer stays in cool cities. We ended up in Jacksonville for peak hurricane season, and then took a side trip up the St. Johns River.

Up the river, we fell in love with Sanford the first time – and ended up staying there 5 months.

In spring 2019, we resumed our Loop, cruising up as far north as Charleston that summer.

We then got news of my mom having some health issues, so we stored Y-Not in Savannah and went back to FL in the van to assist.

As soon as she was cleared, another hurricane threatened and we had the boat hauled out and left a list of projects for the boat yard.

And then we went out van tripping for the winter – intending to return to the boat, and the Great Loop, in 2020.

But something happened in 2020 that put everyone’s plans on hold.

We managed to secure a slip, and we rushed back to our beloved Sanford to ride out the zombie apocalypse. It was a great place for us nest a bit – being close to family, friends, and hurricane protection.

We didn’t expect we’d be there for four years though…

Relevant Great Loop Preparation Posts:

• Our Great Loop Plans (original post)
• Great Loop Boat Specifications
• Shopping for and Buying Our Boat
• Why we Selected our Bayliner 4788 for the Great Loop
• Tour of our Bayliner 4788 — Y-Not
• Boat vs RV — First Impressions of Living Aboard a Boat & Differences from RV Living
• Our Great Loop Interactive Map & Posts

Why the 4-Year Pause?

While many did continue cruising or traveling during the pandemic – we didn’t feel it would be as much fun, especially in those initial years of 2020 and 2021.

Borders to Canada were closed, and many things we’d want to see along the way were too.

We had hoped, like the rest of the world, that it would just be a few month pause.

But being still for a bit was exactly what we needed. Our work life at the Mobile Internet Resource Center went bonkers – with everyone hitting the road to work remote, and 5G & Starlink taking off.

We had a lot to cover and a lot of education to provide.

So we enjoyed having a nomadic port in a place we adored to enjoy extended travel from. Both by RV and boat, but always returning to our slip at Downtown Sanford Marina.

We attempted resuming the Loop a couple of times, but things just really never lined up – either medical things to get through, or just not feeling ready to leave.

So we used the time to focus on improving our lives and finding balance. We successfully got into semi-retirement (no more 60-80 hour work weeks!) and developed a health & fitness routine.

This April, it finally felt right to get back out there to full time cruising – so we turned in our gate key at the marina and at last gave up our slip.

We are back to cruising, at last!

The Intentions From Here

As before, we’ll likely be ‘Slooping’ (slow looping).

We’re already behind the pack of traditional 1-year Loopers and way behind the seasonal schedule.

There’s just so much to explore, and we’ve already been warned that the Chesapeake alone can keep one distracted for years.

So, our general thinking at this point is that we’ll spend the summer and fall cruising as far north as the Chesapeake (maybe a bit beyond) and then find somewhere to store Y-Not for winter (totally open to recommendations!) while we return to van life.

Perhaps we will store somewhere on the southern Chesapeake where we don’t have to fully winterize?

Beyond that, we just don’t know what pace we’ll keep.

And we know that there is so much awesome ahead of us as we head north into the canals, Canada and Great Lakes.

Anyway.. that’s the ‘plan’ and we’re likely not sticking with it.

Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned over the years, is we suck at planning – and a schedule is the absolutely worst thing that you can pack on a boat.

However, we do look forward to starting to share our adventures with you in new cruising territory to us!

So stay tuned to the return of Great Loop posts!