The Great Loop- NFR

[warthog]

Thought I would share this cool adventure. It is not fishing related.

My friends live on Nantucket. They have lived there over 12 years. Being stuck on a small rock in the Atlantic gives you the wanderlust bad. She has health issues (Lupus), and he is looking for a career change (Yammi Tech). Their families are both LOADED. So, they decided to do the Great Loop, a Circumnavigation of the entire Eastern Seaboard that takes 1 year. Their boat is a 32 ft Nordic Tug that cruises at 9 knots, and gets absolutely ridiculous mileage for a boat.

They left Nantucket in May of '09, and we just saw them over Thanksgiving here in St Petersburg, FL. That is a long way to drive a boat. They spent most of the summer up in Canada going through the Trent Severn Waterway, after going up the Hudson and taking the Erie Canal to Lake Ontario. After Canadia, they spent a bit of time in Michigan, and then made it to Chicago for the Air Show. They said the trip down the Mississippi was the scariest part- 300 miles with no marinas. They would tie up to barges at night, and pray that they didn't get crushed by another barge in the middle of the night. They then camped out in Kentucky, and spent a lot of time on the Tennessee. They made it to Mobile early November, and made the 24 hour crossing from Carrabelle to Clearwater the day before T-giving. They are now dry docked on the Okeechobee Waterway while they visit family for the holidays. After that, they spend a month in Marathon, and head up the Atlantic Intercoastal. They should be in Nantucket for the 2011 Summer season.

Getting the boat ready- winter of '09:


The Route:



Their Living Room: Helm is up the stairs, bedroom is in front of the helm down the stairs on the other side. The engine is right under your feet when you are at the helm:



Watch Hill, RI- One of my favorite places:



Entrance to the CT River:



Deep River,CT: Near my old summer stomping grounds.
CT really is beautiful in the summer. Almost makes me miss it:

[warthog]

Big Ass Tug heading into New Haven:



Hell Gate- NYC- proving NY drivers are the same on water as on land:
Hell Gate is a fork in the river where the Sound, East River and Harlem River all meet.







Jon Bon's House, during a quick trip down to Sandy Hook to his parent's house-


Back to NYC to start up the Hudson:







Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow- The Hudson is HUDGE:



Bear Mountain Bridge:




West Point:







Big boats on the Hudson:



Albany never looked so good:



Cutter outside of Albany,NY:



1st Lock- Erie Canal:



On the way to Troy,NY:



Approaching a lock in Waterford,NY:



Doors closing inside lock:



Blue Yonder docked on the Canal:





Dream Boat Storage:


This'll do:


More Later- they have taken a ton of pictures.

[Tunco]

Looks like a flipp'n great trip. Keep the pics coming. Bigger if you have them.

[warthog]

I'll try the larger pics. They are huge though.

[schwerty]

That looks fun!

[warthog]

Lighthouse at Oswego, NY as you leave the Erie Canal and enter Lake Ontario:



Sweet ass houses everywhere in Oswego:



Big Old Chris Craft:




Nice Garage:

[warthog]

Looks like a flipp'n great trip. Keep the pics coming. Bigger if you have them.

Done- Hope they aren't too big. They look OK on my big monitor.

[WyoWill]

Sweet trip!

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

That's an awesome trip. I always wanted to do the IC but this looks even better.

[warthog]

1,000 Islands:
Boldt Castle



View from Boldt Castle into Alexandria Bay:



Huge ships on tight rivers- The St Lawrence river:





Whoops:



Canadian Sunset:



Canadian War College- Kingston:



Lined up for a lock- beginning of Trent Severn Waterway:



Flight Lock-



Inside the Lock:



100 year old elevator lock. Boat floats into pool, and is lifted while another boat is dropped at the same time:





View from the top:



Final Lock on the Trent Severn Waterway- The Big Chute. Boats actually ride down the rails to the water below: