What is the Great Loop?
It's a circumnavigation of the eastern part of the US by waterways. It's approximately 6000 miles (plus many opportunities for side trips). It's 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.
Here's the official map as published by the American Great Loop Cruisers Association:
Some of our key Great Loop posts:
- Our Great Loop Plans
- 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
- Sloopers Slow Looping: Eight Years on the American Great Loop and More to Go!
Our Interactive Great Loop Map
We set off on the Great Loop in April 2017, intending to completed it in 2-3 years, taking it slowly. When it gets too cold to boat, we planned to put the boat in storage and return to our RV-home waiting for us in the warmth of the south.
Reality has been - we just love living aboard & cruising in our boat, and are finding even a slower pace of travel is suiting us better. And of course, in 2020 the pandemic put us on pause for a few years having us turn back to a favorite side trip - Sanford, FL.
We officially returned to active looping April 2024, picking up where we left off in Charleston, SC later that summer.
We find we love actively cruising for a few weeks, anchoring out along the way. We're also frequently taking as many side trips as we can, and stopping in places many faster paced Loopers skip. And then finding our next cool coastal city with a marina with easy access to stuff and a great monthly rate.
Click on the area of the map you're interested in to start browsing our travelogues & videos about each stop (individual posts also at the bottom of this page).
The map & routing above is provided by the WordPress plug-in Nomad World Map that utilizes all of our blog travelogue entries.
Boat vs RV – First Impressions of Living Aboard a Boat & Differences from RV Living
We’ve now been living aboard our boat Y-Not for 2 months, and it seems like a good time to share some of our initial thoughts on the lifestyle differences from our RV-life. This is by no means a competition between RV and boat life – we absolutely love RVing, and look forward to moving back aboard […]
Our First Month Aboard our Boat – Burnt Store Marina, Florida
Does it ever feel like time is just floating by us ever more swiftly?? It’s hard to believe it’s been just over a month since we moved aboard Y-Not. We usually take a couple months a year in one spot to rest up, recharge and attend to life. Constantly planning, moving and acclimating to a new […]
We Tied the Y-Not!
On Monday evening at sunset, aboard our new vessel Y-Not, we made our relationship partnership legal to the state of Florida. It was a small intimate zany marriage license signing event (some might call it a ‘wedding’) with just our parents and a local notary. My father, who passed four years ago today, I know was […]
Moving To Water – So What About the Bus?
Ever since we announced our plans to do the Great Loop and start exploring the country by water – we’ve been flooded with one question, over and over. What about the bus? Are you getting rid of Zephyr? People are naturally curious after having followed along in our epic bus adventures for the past nearly six years, and […]
Introducing Y-Not: 1999 Bayliner 4788 Motoryacht for Exploring the Great Loop
We are extremely excited to officially introduce you to our new nomadic home on the water – m/v Y-Not. Y-Not is a 1999 Bayliner 4788. She’s a 47′ 4″ long motor yacht with twin screw (twin screw = two engines) Cummins 370 HP engines, bow thruster and a custom hydraulic folding arch. Despite Bayliner being […]
Our Last Stop as Full-Time RVers: Koreshan State Historic Site (& Boat Closing!!)
Ok, one final post to wrap up our RVing winter before we shift gears to talking about our new boat! Everything was coming together post survey right on track, which meant we needed to get our butts closer to Punta Gorda to take delivery. We’d also need to be near civilization to take care of […]
Pondering New Challenges
This coming May, we will mark our third nomadiversary of being on the road together. Over the past three years we have vastly simplified our lives. We have experimented with, refined, and tweaked our little RV into our ideal travel vessel. We have become skilled at off-grid living. We have learned to set a travel […]
Boat Wanted
Only a week ago, the thought of Cherie and I sailing off into the sunset was a “certainly, but someday” sort of thing. But after spending some time at the Miami International Boat Show & Strictly Sailing event, the idea of relocating at least part of the year onto a liveaboard is starting to seem […]
The Miami International Boat Show
As planned, we spent Saturday and Sunday this past weekend at the Miami International Boat Show and the co-located sailing focused Strictly Sail Miami. Though these events have traditionally been very distinct, the no-longer-appropriately-named “Strictly Sail” has unfortunately now been devoured by the vastly larger powerboat focused Miami International Boat Show. To our disappointment, there […]
Nautical Nomadia?
While we love our land-based nomadic lifestyle, Cherie and I have both long fantasized about taking to the high seas for some extended aquatic adventuring. We’ve imagined someday running across a cruising couple who might want to “swap houses” for a few monhs – trading a chance to explore the open road in our land […]
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