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.
Feeding a Cat on the Road (Robotic Wi-Fi Controlled Food Dispenser!)
Hi guys.. it’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post. But I wanted to introduce you to my new best friend – I call him ‘Robot’. I like food. I like it a lot. When we got our bus back in 2011, my people bought me an automatic food dispenser called the PetMate […]
This Wasn’t in the Cruising Brochure! Realities of Boat Ownership
When you announce you’re shopping for a boat, I can almost promise you that within 5 seconds you’ll hear at least one of these comments: You do know what BOAT means, right? Break Out Another Thousand The two happiest days for a boat owner is the day they buy their boat, and the day they […]
Having a BALL in St. Augustine, Florida
There was no doubt that we’d be stopping in St. Augustine on our way north – it’s been a stop we’ve looked forward to for quite a while. So after a nicely balanced visit to Marineland, we were ready cruise northward up the ICW. But first, the video version: The Cruise and our FIRST Mooring […]
Hurricane Irma – 1 Year Later: Hurricane Tracking Tips
One year ago this morning, we were sitting in our bus parked in Alabama watching Hurricane Irma make landfall in the Florida Keys. We had just tied up our boat in Marathon, picked up our bus in Melbourne (also in the potential storm track) and evacuated. (Recap: Marathon & Hurricane Irma) It was a crazy time […]
Oh No!! Bridge Closed – And Exploring Marineland, Florida
In the days leading up to our departure from New Smyrna Beach, we hadn’t quite figured out where our next stop would be. And frankly, there’s not a lot of choices anyway. We knew St. Augustine would be a must, but it was more than a comfortable day’s cruise for us – so we’d need […]
Pouring Rent Into the Tank: A Perspective on Fuel Costs for Full Time RVers and Boaters
A life of perpetual motion in your own home that moves is a fantastic way to explore the world around us. We’ve enjoyed nomadic travels since 2006 in several types of RV and now also a motor yacht. One of the very first concerns you’ll hear voiced about RVs and boats is how much fuel […]
One Week Turns to Five in New Smyrna Beach, Florida
We arrived to New Smyrna Beach in thanks to a dinner invitation from a YouTube fan. The marina had fabulous reviews, so we had booked a week at their very reasonable rates of $7.50/ft. We figured a little downtime would be good for us after a span of chaos. It didn’t take us long to […]
Cruising the Space Coast – Melbourne to New Smyrna Beach
After the extended project-packed time in Ft. Pierce and then cruising with crew – we were more than ready for some time just being at home and on our own schedule. So we pulled out of Melbourne after just 4 days and continued our journey north. First, our video recap of our cruise: First Stop: […]
Ft. Pierce to Melbourne with Mom Aboard!
We ended up staying in Ft. Pierce just shy of 2 months to complete our projects. While we loved the city, we were itching to move on the moment the carpenter turned his last screw. Continuing to wait for that moment however was becoming a bit of a struggle, as we had other logistics to […]
Two Months in Ft. Pierce, Florida – Causeway Cove Marina, Tackling Boat Projects & Enjoying ‘City Life’
When we pulled into Ft. Pierce in early April for the MTOA Rendezvous, we were only thinking we might stick around a few weeks. But then boat projects were taken on, and at that point you might as well let go of a concept of schedule. Despite a lot of project chaos during our stay, […]
Continuing North up the ICW – Boca Raton to Ft. Pierce & the MTOA Southern Rendezvous
I had intended to cover our entire repositioning up from Miami To Ft. Pierce in one post – after all, 125 nautical miles shouldn’t require that much content! Maybe it’s because we’re smitten with returning to cruising, or it’s all still so new to us – or maybe a slower pace does means more experiences […]
Leaving Miami in the Rear View – Heading North up the ICW!
It feels so fricken good to be back to our cruising lifestyle! Leaving Miami was a huge milestone for us after 5 weeks ‘living on the hard’ then juggling storing the boat while we pursued our RV trip to Texas. We passed our sea trial with flying colors, and then just like that – we […]
