North Star on the Great Loop Journey: Dog River Anchorage

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.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Dog River Anchorage

We left before first light this morning, along with 3 other boats, to do the 70 mile Gulf crossing to Steinhatchee. We got a few miles off shore, past the Dog Island reef, and the 2-3 foot waves increased to 4-5 on our starboard quarter so we elected to turn back. Two boats went back to the marina while Black Tickle and North Star are anchored in front of the Dog Island Yacht Club on St. George Sound.

At this point, we are planning to cross on Monday night when the wind and waves are supposed to subside. We should be able to reach Steinhatchee by daybreak on Tuesday morning.

This is a nice protected anchorage with a sandy shoreline that we are getting ready to explore. There is a grounded sailboat abeam of us that looks like it has made it's last voyage. It was grounded 5 year ago in hurricane Denis. There are grebes and loons around as well as the usual sea birds and pelicans.