The Great Loop

This web site is an attempt to provide a quick and easy way for our family and freinds to keep up with us on "The Loop"

The Great Loop is a 6000 mile jouney down the Tennessee River and the Tombigbee Waterway to Mobile, Alabama. From there around the coast of Florida via Key West with a side trip to the Bahamas. Back to the coast of Florida we head up the east coast to the Chesapeake Bay. From the Chesapeake we continue up the east coast through New York Harbour, up the Hudon River, and across the Erie Canal. Through a series of canals we go across Lake Ontario into Canada. We will spend a month in Canada. Back to the US, we will cross Lake Michigan to Chicago. Following the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, and Cumberland Rivers back to Tennesse.


LOOP CLOSED: 8/12/09: 310 days, 6170 miles, 107 locks, 3 countries, 16 states, 85 different marinas, 10,050 gallons of diesel fuel, thousands of photos, countless new friends, and priceless memories...

Monday, April 6, 2009

Rockin' in West End

As you can see.....West End has been rockin' .....We are waiting for a calmer day to leave.......but plenty to do here in this beautiful place.....Here at Old Bahama Bay marina ...Happy Hour every Friday 4-5....free coctails and orderves.....of course we were there with some of our new boating friends.......Denny and Chris from Hilton Head on left, John and Coralia from Australia on the right and Larry and Pat from Jacksonville at the end of the table...............

We hosted a fairwell party on SeaLaVie Saturday evening as we prepared to leave Sunday AM early...Lots of fun.......After Snorkeling all day off the dinghy.....we were able to go farther our and see more beautiful fish......

We tried to follow our friends Larry and Pat out...but didn't make the cut! Don't you think our boat looks nice sitting on the rocks...we left at 7:30 am and returned at high tide 4:30 .......after sitting there all day .......but on the bright side we got the bottom of the boat cleaned off and went snorkeling...if that is what you call it...walking around in knee high water, bending down and putting your face in the water...should have a photo of that....but onward we go with very minor prop damage.

With extra days in West End we rented a car and have learned to drive on the left side of the road.......that was a challenge.....We drove 45 minutes into Freeport....the economy has hit here hard....many vacant business...empty slips at the marinas, high gas and grocery prices................
Close by in Lucaya it was much busier......Large jewelry stores were busy....the colorful mall offered everything from Bahama Mamas in coconut shells , nice ladies clothing stores, to the straw market where the locals sold their wares....mostly straw hats, purses, t-shirts and the such......all in all a fun day.

Kalik, the Bahamian beer, seems to be plentiful at $4 per bottle....glad we brought our cases of Miller Lite and Corona...but worth every penny at the end of the day and for the drive back to West End.

That's my captain......he seems to be getting better after his pride being hurt...those mean old rocks just jumped out of nowhere....gotta keep a sense of humor about the whole thing.......and the Kalik helped that too......

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