I'm thinking about planning a long (six months to a year) trip and the great loop seems like a perfect trip. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Loop



I'd like to do this when my little boy is around 7-8 years old.  I think that would be a good age for something like this.  He will be old enough to enjoy it and young enough that pulling him out of school and home schooling for a year won't be that big of a deal for him.



Obviously this is a huge trip and requires a ton of planning just to make it possible, but with our current situation I think I could make it happen.  I have plenty of time to make the necessary arrangements in my life as far as work and our house.  



Have any of you done anything like this or know someone that has?  I'd like to hear about your experiences, good and bad.

Long time lurker, first time poster etc....

Anyway, back in 2005-2006 me and my wife (no you cannot have pics) sailed our newly restored sailboat from Port Huron, Michigan to the keys. The best way to describe it would be to call it an adventure. There were a few exceptionally great days, there were a few exceptionally bad days and most everything fell in between those two extremes.

What would you like to know.



Jerry

How long did it take you and how long did you take to plan the trip?





 

I've gone from my dock in FL to Maine and back a couple of times.

I'm currently in the Chesapeake waiting for hurricane season to start winding down before heading home in late Oct.

I have a lot of boating friends who've completed the Great Loop, and several who've done it twice. No one has ever said they wished they had not done it.

Great loop cruisers assoc website has a page of links to members blogs that describe their experiences on the loop.

Keep a close eye on the Carp situation: you would not want to get halfway and have to turn around.

Mike

What is the Carp situation?



ETA Never mind figured it out.  I had no idea this was that big of a problem.





 

The Carp Situation?  WTF, over?



 

There is talk of perminantly closing the locks on the shitcago river to keep asian carp out of the great lakes

Most people, ourselves included, do the 5 year plan for planning something like this. The biggest challenge to overcome during these 5 years is comming up with enough money to last for the length of your trip. We pinched pennies, lived well below our means and managed to cast off the deck lines in 3 years.

Our original plan was to sail until we had used up our kitty, which at the time we estimated to be about two years, then we would move to Florida and settle. Well the 2005/06 year was a doozy when it came to the weather and we ended up staying in marinas much more than we had budgeted for. So our two year trip ended up lasting a year. Still no regrets though.

We sailed our boat from Port Huron, down the St. Clair river and into Lake St. Clair, from there we went down the Detroit river and into Lake Erie. We sailed the entire length of Lake Erie, pulled our mast and motored thru the Erie Canal. The we travelled down the Hudson river to New York city and from there out into the Atlantic. When we hit salt water we went around the coast of New Jersey and into Deleware bay where we connected to Chesapeake Bay via the C&D Canal. We sailed south on the Chesapeake until we hit Norfolk where we picked up the ICW and took that to the keys.

The weather, will have the biggest impact of your life when you do this. The year we did it we we're only able to make headway about every other day. In fact we got stuck in New York city for 10 day because of high winds, and then we got stuck in Atlantic city for another 10 days because of high winds, a hurricane, and a Nor'easter.


Jerry

Wow, that looks like it would be a neat trip!

Wife and I last month in Cumberland Sound. We have talded about heading for points south.

Ft. Clinch

Wife and I tried to get to Cumberland Island this past weekend. Unfortunately, we could make it over to the island. Sometime this winter, or next spring we're going to paddle our kayaks over and stay on the island for a night or two.

We have been here way too long to never have been there. We have talked about spending a couple of days there when it cools off a bit.

If you're going to take the ferry over make sure you make reservations, we found out the hard way.