North Star on the Great Loop Journey: Crystal River

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.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Crystal River

We are at a rickety marina under a covered slip. It rained yesterday morning and the noise was deafening as the water poured down through the large gaps in the roof. This river is teaming with manatees because it is spring fed which means that the water temperature remains constant at 72 degrees. We plan to go anchor out near King's Spring today and get our snorkel gear on to see if we can't swim with these gentle giants. A cold front has moved in and the high today is supposed to be less than the water temperature. We may have to revamp our plan.
Since we have 3 bicycles on board, Randy joined us for a ride into town to go to you have guessed, West Marine. No trip into town is complete without it. We all went out for dinner at a seafood restaurant and to an Irish Pub for a night cap. Last night Randy had us over for cedar plank salmon and potato salad. He is quite the gourmet cook. Tonight we plan to have Randy over for my famous sausage dinner.
Jerry and I set off to go junk and antique browsing yesterday on our bikes. We had covered a few shops when Jerry picked up a tack and got a flat tire. He had to walk back 2 miles to the boat for his repair kit. I went on to get some supplies. Jerry did some boat maintenance and repaired his bike one more time.
It looks like we have a weather window Saturday so we will attempt our last jaunt down the open water of the Gulf. We are looking forward to the protected waters of the Intercoastal waterway.