Well, after a long Covid break, Mark and Sue are back at it again. Last year we had to cancel a couple of bike/camping trips (both domestic and foreign) because of closed campgrounds and closed borders. Now that we are fully vaccinated and the country is approaching a turning point, it seemed reasonable to safely venture out again, as long as we remained relatively away from the crowds.
This adventure started in 2018 at a party with some college friends at the home of our friends, Sue and Dave, on Cayuga Lake in the NYS Finger Lakes. We were boat watching when someone mentioned that you could travel by boat from Cayuga Lake to NYC via the Erie Canal and the Hudson River. From that discussion we learned about the Great American Loop, and the various ways to traverse it, even going up into Canada. We were shocked that we had never heard about it before, and soon were were researching the Intracoastal Waterway and the canal systems through NY. A few weeks later, we were in Canada, on Buckhorn Lake, visiting our friends Sue and Steve (who had been part of the conversation on Cayuga Lake) . Steve pointed out a trawler that was tied to a dock waiting to go through the locks and said…. “those guys are loopers”. Well, we pulled up beside them and had a great conversation and they shared their “business card” as they were actually “looping” enthusiasts that would travel to yacht clubs to teach other people about the Great American Loop which is also connected to the Trent-Severn Waterway in Canada. That’s all it took to plant the seed……
Fast forward to 2020….. Covid had cancelled most travel. Family situations required us to travel from NH to upstate NY several times, and we started talking about perhaps having a “footprint” in NY so we would have a home base when visiting family. We looked at cottages (too much work), apartments (blah), RV parks (nah), and finally decided a marina would be fun (at least for the warm part of the year) and would later provide the vehicle to explore more portions of the Great Loop. Mark researched and found an old 1988 Albin 36 trawler in Little River, SC. We spent several weeks at the Myrtle Beach Yacht club (which is neither in Myrtle Beach or a real yacht club) in relative isolation (with a few visits from vaccinated sister Cathy and her husband Todd) cleaning and working on the boat (and making practice runs) before embarking on our first adventure…. moving it to Plattsburgh, NY.
That brings us to today. After several weeks of work, it was time to set out. We woke up super early, checked out at the yacht club, paid our bill, went to the fuel dock to get 155 gallons of diesel, pumped the “poop tank”, filled the water tank, and left our temporary home. We motored north on the Intracoastal, seeing several clusters of dolphins, hundreds of crab pots, and thousands of birds. As we started only 5 miles from the border of North Carolina, we quickly crossed the state line. After about 40 miles, we reached Southport, NC which was our “Plan A” for staying the night. However, the town dock, which had been wiped away in a hurricane in 2018 was not completed enough to accommodate boats of our size, and the anchorage area looked too small for a couple of amateur anchor-ers like ourselves. We decided to press on with Plan B which promised a much larger anchorage near Wrightsville Beach (but 3 more hours on the water).
To stay on the ICW, we had to navigate through the opening to the Cape Fear River, which was vast and wavy, and felt much like being on the open ocean. Between the waves, the strong current, and the wind, it was very hard to hold a course. Captain Mark persevered while Sidekick Sue curled up on a lounge chair to take a nap (while feigning seasickness). Sue returned to the helm once the waters calmed, while Mark busied himself with getting the anchor rode and chain ready. We steered to our anchorage for the night and anchored successfully the first time, joining a couple of fellow loopers. While we really wanted to go ashore and explore, we opted to stay with the boat, until we have a few more “anchorings” under our belts. This is the first time we’ve anchored overnight, and we suspect we may be sleeping lightly tonight, as we keep checking our bearings constantly. 🙂
Amazing! Glad you had a plan B. Good luck tomorrow! Hope you sleep well.
Amazing! Glad you had a plan B. Good luck tomorrow! Hope you sleep well.
That’s a lot of diesel ….
I think out here, you always need a plan B. And if the “free” options fall through, you find a marina and pay. LOL
Believe it or not, the fuel tanks were half full. Hopefully we don’t have to fill up too often. This is why we have a single engine and a craft that putters along at 8 knots.
Hey…are your travels taking you through Syracuse/Oneida Lake and then up through Lake Ontario and around to Plattsburgh? I’m thinking that’s the way to go. Let us know and we will meet you somewhere along the way. Andy and I tried to go to NYC once and only made it to the other end of Oneida Lake….it was raining so hard. But we did manage to take it to Seneca Lake once. Super pretty trip.
That was our original route. We were trying to get a boat slip in Massena, but we got waitlisted (apparently Massena is popular? LOL). You can’t get to Plattsburgh that way right now because the St. Lawrence veers into Canada after Massena, and Canada is still closed for Covid. So we had to redirect to Plattsburgh from the other direction. From the Hudson River, we go to the Champlain Canal and up through Lake Champlain. We keep missing you guys. Carrie (Howard) has a boat on Lake Champlain. We’re going to try to meet up. You guys should adventure up!
We should add the Goodermotes to the adventure as they live in Central Vemont. I’m sure you said above, but when do you expect to get there?
Excellent idea! No idea on the timing. We think it will take about a month to get there, give or take. We went further than we planned the last 2 days, but probably won’t go anywhere tomorrow because it is supposed to rain all day. So it’s going to change every day 😀
Hi Susie. This trip looks fantastic. I am so glad you are blogging again. When I share this with Van, I am afraid of what might transpire… when/if you are on the Hudson and docked anywhere between the city and Albany, let us know and we can pop over and buy you a beer (or two) to celebrate your travels. We would love to see you and your new home! You are both an inspiration, as always. Hugs, Shirley ( and Van)
Yes! Show it to Van. We need some fellow travelers (especially those that know more about boating LOL). We will definitely touch base as we get closer to see if we can meet up. I’m sure it will be at least a few weeks just to get to the Hudson. Still undecided if we want to take a side trip into DC.
The sea is angry today and worse weather coming tomorrow, so we might look for a good spot tonight to wait out the weather (already 😀)
Be safe honey!!! Would love to see you guys so keep us all posted! Love you!
Looking like we won’t be going through the Finger Lakes or Syracuse anymore since we couldn’t get a slip in Massena. But we should be around NY more than NH this summer.
Wow, what an adventure! I laughed that you thought of living on a boat in NYS part-time – that would definitely be a seasonal thing! Though, we’ve recently discovered “Lakefront Bargain Hunt” on HGTV (try it – it’s addictive) and have watched a couple of families shop for houseboats for their vacation or full-time homes – seems pretty cool.
I had to look up your boat model, etc. (and “trawler” ha ha) to see what kind of a boat it is – looks pretty nice! Love the pictures along the way – I just love being near/on the water. Have a great trip!
Sue
Yeah, by the time we get there, it won’t be long until we have to pull the boat out of the water. LOL. We love Lakefront Bargain Hunt! And now with Discovery+ we can go through all the seasons. The home buying shows on HGTV is where our viewing tastes overlap…. otherwise we like to watch entirely different things.