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...

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Spanish Wells

We took the ferry from Nassau to Spanish Wells and Harbour Island. It was a brand new 140' ferry that cruised at 30 MPH. We had wanted to go to Spanish Wells and Harbour Island from Hope Town but the weather did not cooperate, so the ferry worked great with our weather delay in Nassau. Spanish Wells is a very picturesque fishing village at the north end of Eleuthera.



These next two pictures are examples of channel markers...no numbers, no signs, and many non-existent.



If you take your own boat into Harbour Island a pilot is highly recommended. They charge about $75 each way, but they know the local waters. The following picture shows a yacht coming in with the pilot boat being towed behind. The pilot meets you out in the channel, comes aboard your boat, and steers your boat through the entrance.

The following pictures are the captain for the ferry. The captain let me come up on the bridge when we came through the Devil's Backbone. This is a very treacherous and narrow inlet surrounded by coral reefs. The pilot told me last week a 90' boat came through without a pilot and had to be towed to Nassau (70 miles) for shaft, rudder, and prop damage. This 140' ferry came through at 25 knots in less than 10' of water with the shore about 100' feet on one side and the coral reef 300' feet on the other side. What a ride!



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