We are almost there...

On this blog, we will attempt to keep our family and friends updated on our travels on The Loop and provide pictures whenever we can. We would love to hear back from you on how well we are doing at providing updates.

We have really enjoyed the first phase of this journey – Planning – and are looking forward to getting started. In 2007, we chose April ’09 as our departure date and have accomplished a long list of “to do’s” getting ready. We quickly discovered that to begin this adventure is much more than “tossing the lines off the boat”. We have spent a lot of time in the last 2 years checking tasks off the list and find it hard to believe that the departure date is almost here.

The second phase of our great journey is the trip itself - up the ICW, leaving Charleston mid-April, into the Chesapeake early May, New York Harbor and up the Hudson to The Champlain Canal and back down to Kingston, Ontario in June. We will spend the greater part of July on the Trent Savern Waterway visiting Pia’s daughter and family before proceeding into the Georgian Bay to Lake Michigan in August. After departing Chicago early September, we will face what we feel is the most challenging part of our trip, The Western side of The Great Loop. By Thanksgiving, we will be in The Gulf of Mexico on the western side of Florida with plans to spend the winter in Southern Florida (and maybe the Bahamas if all goes well and there is no mutiny on board). The last leg of our journey will take us up the east coast of Florida returning to Charleston in the spring of on 2010.

“Still Busy” is a 2000 Carver 350 with LOA 37’7”, Beam 12’9”, and a draft of 37”. She is powered by Twin Volvo 7.4L gas engines. In addition to much interior redecorating - designed by Pia – we upgraded the GPS/Radar, VHF, and installed a new flat screen TV in the parlor along with a new FM/Satellite receiver and sound system. She has never looked, nor performed, better. The best advice we received while researching the trip was “the best boat for Looping is the smallest boat on which you can spend extended periods of time and still live comfortably”. We strongly considered bigger boats for the trip but in the end decided that “Still Busy” was the right vessel for us even though, as Pia recently discovered, the living space is about the same size as our master bathroom at home.

As we get closer to hauling the boat and provisioning for the trip, we will provide more updates to the blog. Please travel with us via Pia and Jack’s blog.