North Star on the Great Loop Journey: Carrabelle

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.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Carrabelle

The winds did subside yesterday afternoon but there was not enough water under our keels to leave the dock so we stayed tied up to the municipal dock. We left at first light this morning before the tide went out. It was a beautiful sunrise and a good crossing of Apalachicola Bay and St. George Sound.

After much difficulty, we are tied up Florida style at C-Quarters Marina. The Captain and North Star are not made for docking between posts. We did not have the right line configuration nor did we have any experience with this set up. When tied up at all four points, North Star is too short to allow her short crew to get off the boat. The folks were really accommodating and they put us at a shorter spot and helped us get secured. Randy has a longer and wider boat so he had no trouble with a little assistance.

We have all the necessities looked after so we will go out to dinner with Randy and make it an early night as we have 73 miles across the Gulf to Steinhatchee. The winds are supposed to be in our favour but we will keep up with the latest forecast. There are 4 boats attempting it tomorrow. If we don't like it, we will turn back and anchor at Dog Island and wait for the right window.