North Star on the Great Loop Journey: Leaving LaBelle

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, February 9, 2012

Leaving LaBelle

We were allowed to stay for 3 days but managed to stretch it to 5 since the dock is not busy. Watermelon, a 34 foot PDQ, was next to us and two other boats arrived late and left the next day so there was lots of room for others.
We provisioned for the stay in the boat yard which could be as long as a week. We are being hauled out on Friday morning. North Star will have a pressure wash and then we have to give her a new coat of bottom paint, to keep the barnacles and growth down, for the journey home.
We had many visitors who know us from the boat yard during our stay here. We chatted with our neighbours who are from Boston but they have been cruising for 25 years. Very knowledgeable sailors who are now power boaters.
I was able to pick up some more free books from the library across the street. I have been reading quite a bit. La Belle has nice quiet side streets that are completely covered by live oak trees. The branches grow over the street and provide a beautiful shady canopy, perfect for bike riding on hot muggy days. The weather has cooled down considerably so moving on and working in the yard will not be so tedious for the crew.
We went for a four mile dinghy ride to Port La Belle marina yesterday. We know a few people there so we will stay at our other free dock tonight and go in for happy hour at the restaurant on site and most likely stay for dinner. It is only half a mile from our free dock.