North Star on the Great Loop Journey: Peoria

Preparing for the trip

Captain Jerry has been making the final preparations to North Star, our 32 foot Cape Island down east trawler. We are anxious to leave our landlubber lives behind and begin our long awaited journey around the Great Circle. Join us as we travel 10, 000 kilometers: through the historic Trent Severn Waterway; the pristine waters of Georgian Bay; the North Channel of lake Huron; and hop from beach to beach on lake Michigan. We will visit Chicago and begin our trek along the rivers: Illinois; upper Mississippi; Ohio; Cumberland: Tennessee; Tenn-Tom Waterway and the Black Warrior. We will have transited through 68 locks at this juncture. We have chosen the inner route from Mobile Alabama to Tarpon Springs Florida and the shorter Ocheechobee Waterway to reach the East coast of Florida. We will skip over to the Bahamas to wait out the winter before heading North on the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway.
The 10 years of researching and planning are finally at an end and we invite you to come along on our adventure.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Peoria

We had a beautiful anchor at Henry Island (N41 04.7495" and W089 23.1839') , it was quiet and calm. We had our first experience with Asian flying Carp. Two more landed on the boat and many hit the boat as we made our way to Peoria. The other 5 loopers here had no such experience.
We are at the Illinois Ivy Yacht Club under a covered slip. They have a restaurant and pool as well as the usual amenities. There is a bar and grill across the road that serves bar food and karaoke for entertainment. More on that tomorrow.
The Illinois river is certainly a commercial river with many industrial installations interspersed with some rocky cliffs and some bird life. We are seeing more white pelican, egrets, eagles and blue herons.
The forecast calls for rain and high winds so we may stay here an other night.