North Star on the Great Loop Journey: Beach Bums on the loose

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.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Beach Bums on the loose

Emma and I continue to enjoy the hot sunny weather and Fort Myers Beach.

We took the trolley over the Matanza Pass Bridge for an other relaxing day at the beach. We could not go swimming because the water quality is not good. There is a bloom of algae locally called red tide that is making people cough and sneeze. We can't actually see it but we have experienced some discomfort from it. We shopped in the touristy stores and had a nice lunch at an outdoor Mexican restaurant for guacamole dip and burritos.

The Captain completed his repairs and priming of the roof so today he is painting. We are taking the trolley to explore the entire Estero Island and the two state parks that are at either end. We finished off the day with a home cooked meal and a movie.

We are expecting a cold front today but so far it is hot.