Amazon.com Widgets> CLICK HERE FOR MORE BOOKS ON THE GREAT LOOP BOAT TRIP ADVENTURE

  Carrabelle, in the Panhandle of Florida, to Tarpon Springs is a 160 mile trip if traveled straight through. It would take 16 hours at 10 MPH so in order to arrive in daylight you’d need to leave at midnight to arrive before dark the next day. Yesterday we decided…

Carabelle is only a short 31 miles southeast of Apalachicola and it is the last stop on Florida’s Panhandle and ICW. From here you have to either cross southeast out into the Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs (160 miles) or hopscotch around the “Big Bend.” The Big Bend is…

Apalachicola, Florida was a 61-mile run from Panama City Beach on Florida’s ICW. It was a beautiful meandering cruise through absolute wilderness most of the way. We saw eagles and many dolphins on this run through pretty swampy looking territory. We went through this cut during low tide as you…

Today we traveled to Panama City Beach, Florida. Our timing could not have been better. A front came through the day after we arrived bringing high winds and big white caps, even in the marina. It was reported that there were up to fourteen-foot waves on the Gulf. Good time…

  Some people call this cut, in the Panhandle, from East Bay to Apalachicola the Grand Canyon of the Florida ICW but we don’t think it is really anything like the arid canyons of out west but for us it is more reminisant of the sand dunes in the Leelanau…

While waiting for the turkey to cook we took the dinghy down for a tour of the harbor and a walk on the beach. It was the perfect day. Just a slight breeze, no bugs and lots of sunshine. We stuck our toes in the Gulf and squished our toes…

Thanksgiving day was spent motoring another six miles to the harbor in Destin, Florida to anchor out again. On our way we came across a school of dolphins playing in the crystal clear, sandy bottom, waters in the Destin Channel. We had five dolphins playfully swimming in front of, beside…

The next two days we took it a little slower not wanting to hurry through a beautiful cruising area. We only traveled six miles each day. Our first overnight stop was to tie up to the Fort Walton Beach’s free dock. Everything we needed was within walking distance and it…

With the leak fixed we were able to leave early this morning for an anchorage by Elgin Airforce Base, Santa Rosa Island, which is six miles west of Fort Walton Beach. We were just on the other side of a barrier island which is the only thing that separated us…

We developed a transmission oil cooler leak and luckily found an authorized Cummin’s dealer in Pensacola to handle the warranty repair. It was a beautiful cruise toward Pensacola. We are starting to see a lot of white sandy beaches and windswept bushes and trees. The repair was completed the afternoon…

Ingram Bayou is a fantastic anchorage located in the Orange Beach area. Well protected it is the perfect anchorage to enjoy a variety of birds, dolphins and amazing sunsets and sunrises. We were entertained all morning by a couple of dolphins who swam all around our boat for hours.

We took our time pushing off today, leaving at 9:00 am instead of our usual 7:00 of previous days. We have fond memories, from our previous Loop, of the ICW along the Panhandle and want to slow down and savor our time spent in this area. First off we decided…

Our return to the beautiful shores of Fairhope, Alabama was a welcome respite from our long adventure on the river system. It was a very warm, sunny day and the sights, sounds and the smell of the salt water air made us breath deep and relax a little. No more…