As “Loopers,” we were excited to be able to tow our boat from Lake Powell to Rogersville, Alabama for the AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association) 2011 Fall Rendezvous. Little did we know that, not only would we make new friends, we’d run into a few Loopers that we did the Loop with back in 2005/06.

Tom Conrad (above-center), here with his wife Patsy and Janice Kromer, was the MC for the rendezvous. He did a great job.

Jim did a presentation on the St. Johns River.

Fellow AGLCA Advisory Board members, Audrey Stehle and Patsy Conrad (above-left). Susann and Alan Syme (above-right).

Tom and Patsy Conrad (above – Tom’s not only the MC for this event, but he’s also the famous weather guy Loopers rely on when anticipating the Gulf crossing).

Fellow AGLCA Advisory Board members, Rick and Betsy Johnson (above-left).

Patsy and Ron Stob sang an original Looper song while Ted Stehle, Steve and Janice Kromer manned the bar.

Jan and Rusty got a big going away party on the patio by old Looper friends of ours Ken and Darcy Searl (Darcy’s in our book, Women On Board Cruising).

Ken and Darcy Searl, Just Us, (above-left) and Darcy again with Lisa (above-right). Jan and Rusty, cbay, the honored recipients of the impromptu party (below-left) and long time Loopers and friends, Elvie and Roy on Roy-El, (Elvie is also in our book, Women On Board Cruising) drove to the event to visit their many Looper friends.

It can be maddening trying to find, buy and then store all those chart books we boaters need for long-distance cruising. We’ve always felt it was important to have paper charts as a back up to our GPS chartplotter as well as for route planning. The downside of paper charts/chart books is storage on a boat as well as having to maintain reasonably updated material. While going through our transition from a 40-ft live aboard, with tons of storage, to our new 27-ft trailerable Ranger Tug R27, we wanted to come up with an alternative for backup charts. Our solution is the i-Pad 2 along with a Navionics downloadable Marine and Lakes app (optimized with HD)!

The advantages for us to acquire the i-Pad 2 are many, including:

SIZE:  All charts available on a device that is no larger than a magazine – saving precious storage room.

PRICE:  At $700 for the i-Pad 2, it’s less money than you’d pay for all the charts you’d ever possibly need.

FLEXIBILITY and VERSITILITY: You can take all your charts with you anywhere, easily, on or off the boat. Use the Internet to look up a territory or download the chart ahead of time to use when you don’t have Internet access. After you’ve downloaded your charts it can be used like any charts without an internet connection more versatility. With an internet connection you can use the i-Pad w/Navionics app just like your onboard GPS, with live chartplotting capability Beyond the navigation usage you can download a whole library of books and use it as a book reader.

MORE INFORMATION:  The Navionics app also has information on marina’s, marine repair ad restaurants along with measurement, tracking and route tools.

TIDES and CURRENTS:  With an Internet connection the Navionics also has the up to date information on tides and currents.

UPDATES:  You never need to worry about outdated charts/chartbooks, its all updated periodically, automatically.

QUANTITY: All navigatible lakes, rivers, bays and sounds that are inland or along the ICW routes in Canada and the US are available to download at a one time price of $30 to $35.

I could go on and on about the vertues of the i-PAD 2 Navionics app but suffuce it to say we’re very pleased with this new technology and how it will make our boat lighter and more efficient

We signed up for this MTOA Rendezvous last winter and are so excited to finally be here. We’ve only been to one other MTOA event, it was in Crisfield, Maryland. That rendezvous was so much fun we had to sign up for the one out here. The east coast  rendezvous are big productions and can have as many as 200 members in attendance. The PNW group is smaller, but a growing membership. MTOA is a national boating organization run solely by members who volunteer.

Every evening presented more opportunities to exchange boating information and stories. Saturday was the PNW MTOA Chowder Cookoff. This year’s winner was Debora Daly (winning chowder sits in the middle- above, center).

First night of the rendezvous we were warmly greeted by Sue and Bruce (above-left) on Meridian Star, a North Pacific trawler. Sue is a regular  follower of our Boat U.S. Cruising Logs, so she had the advantage of knowing a little more about us than we did about her.

Our morning walk took us to this scenic view at the southern end of Gig Harbor (above-right).

We really can’t say enough nice things about this event in Gig Harbor. A lot of the attendees knew each other already but we have to say that we received a very warm welcome and immediately felt right at home, just as if we were among our dock mates in our homeport.

The north end of Gig Harbor is a short walk from our marina (above). We heard about the Tides Restaurant (below) even before we left Kent, Washington.

Jim and I have been long-distance cruisers for five years. Most of that time has been spent on good sized boats, most recently our Fathom 40, but last year we decided it was time for a change.

After redefining our cruising goals we came up with a plan to buy a trailerable trawler. We wanted to have more flexibility in our cruising time. After doing the Great Loop boat trip almost two times we wanted the ability to move around the country quicker to cruise areas that would take forever to get to by water or not even accessible by a larger boat. I’ve always wanted to rent a houseboat on Lake Powell, now we’ll be able to do that and be on our own boat. One of the features of this kind of boating didn’t occur to us initially – it didn’t take long for us to see ourselves using the boat as an RV while traveling from one cruising ground to another.

After a lot of research we went with a Ranger Tug R27 and a GMC Sierra pickup truck. There’s nothing like a little change in one’s life to get the blood flowing and such has been the case for Jim and I.

Next week we return to Seattle, WA (the same place we took possession of our Fathom 40 three years ago) to pick up our new Kismet. We’ll attend a MTOA Rendezvous and also an Ranger Tug Rendezvous in the Puget Sound area. After our time in Washington State our stops will include: Portland OR to cruise the Columbia River, Lake Tahoe, Lake Powell, and finally Rogersville, Alabama for the AGLCA Rendezvous.

On the cusp of any new adventure we always wonder what new sights we’ll see and who we’ll meet. We’re excited to get on our new Kismet, learn all about her and especially the particulars about this type of cruising. So stay tuned we’ll have some amazing cruises to share with you soon.

Kismet tucked neatly between two sailboats in Gig Harbor, WA

Interested in learning more about trailerable trawlers? Visit our other website:  Trailer Trawler Life

Sometime during these summer months it seems like every town – Trenton, Campbellford, Peterborough and Fenelon Falls, to name a few – have festivals to celebrate the short summer season. The Trent-Severn Waterway is 240 glorious miles long, dotted with small cottages, lakes and rock islands. As you travel the waterway, you’ll negotiate 44 unique locks, 2 lift locks (Peterborough and Kirkfield) and the Big Chute Marine Railway lift. If you love nature and enjoy uniquely rugged cruising grounds, you should be right at home on the Trent-Severn Waterway.

For more details and photographs of our trip on the Trent-Severn just click the Trent-Severn Waterway in the CATAGORY list on the left column (you may need to scroll down a bit).P.S.: A real Canadian experience for us was a tour of the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough.

Here I am with my dad boating on Lake Chemung.

When I was a child, our family would drive to Lake Chemung (Howell, Michigan) to spend summer weekends, a family event I always enjoyed. Like many things children look forward to, like getting to the lake, it never seemed to happen soon enough. If I said it once I’d bet I said it a hundred times, “Are we there yet?” and I’m beginning to feel the same way about heading out west to get back to boating. This time with our Ranger Tug R27 trailerable trawler.

Later this summer we plan to drive 2,400 miles to Kent, Washington and pick up the R27. We’d like to get onto the water just as soon as we can get the boat into the Puget Sound. Gig Harbor will be our first stop, we’ll spend three days getting familiar with our new boat while exploring a port we’ve not visited before. As it worked out MTOA (Marine Trawlers Owners Association) is having a Rendezvous that weekend in Gig Harbor. As members we’ve only attended one other MTOA Rendezvous, Crisfield, Maryland 2009, and it was a lot of fun.

Above photos of a Ranger Tug Rendezvous, coutesy of Herb Stark.

Hoping to have a bit of the new boat learning curve behind us quickly we’ll cruise north and return to the San Juan Islands, a wonderful cruising area we had the pleasure of exploring in 2007 – it will be great to get some more cruising time in this area. Before we leave Washington State, we’ll also attend the Ranger Tugs Pacific Northwest Rendezvous in Bremerton, Washington. This will be a great opportunity to meet over 40 fellow Ranger Tug owners and learn about their favorite boating experiences. We’ll then trailer our new Kismet south, visiting our son, Ross, in Portland, Oregon where he’s suggested we cruise up the Columbia River, through the beautiful Gorge. After that it’s on to Lake Tahoe and then over to Lake Powell for more new cruising experiences before we head east for a return to the Tennessee River cruising grounds and another AGLCA Fall Rendezvous.

We find ourselves spending a lot of our free time going over charts and planning routes. Lisa’s also itching to get back on the water. She’d been on a little bit of a hiatus from photography and is now itching to get her gear ready to record all the new adventures and boaters we’ll encounter.

For a well protected anchorage once you’re through Snow Cut, at Carolina Beach, you can head south at marker 161G to a place we’ve anchored a couple of times. Between mile markers 245 and 244 you’ll find Mile Hammock, a heavily used anchorage for migrating boats. If you’re timing is good you might even witness military maneuvers, as the anchorage is adjacent to Camp LeJeune Military Base. No trip through North Carolina is complete without a stop in Beaufort, lots of history there. If you have time, a trip up the Neuse River to New Bern can be very rewarding and its a wonderful place to leave your boat for an extended period. Lastly, if your plans are to take the Dismal Swamp (we highly recommend this option) you really need to stop in Elizabeth City and stay at the free docks downtown. They go out of their way to welcome boaters and it’s the perfect stop to rest before you head into the Dismal Swamp. If you leave early enough you should not have any trouble getting a spot to tie up to at the Visitor Center,For additional information and photo’s click onto the April, May, October and November of 2009 icons on the left side column.

There’s a lot to see while on your northern migration through South Carolina so slow down and make sure to take it all in. These southern harbor towns have a lot of history surrounding them and food’s pretty good as well.

Some of our favorite towns are Beaufort, Charleston (just voted one of the 50 best yachting towns in Yachting magazine) and Georgetown. The Thomas restaurant in Georgetown has some of the best shrimp and grits as well as Fried Green tomatoes you’ll find on the Great Loop.

For anchorages we’ve enjoyed Tom Point Creek (pictured above), just south of Charleston; Calabash Creek right at the NC/SC border as well as Dewee Creek at MM455 just north of Charleston. For more photo’s and details on this area just click onto the November or April of 2009 icon to the left or do a search for the area you are interested in.

We’ve been to Savannah three times by boat, staying twice at Thunderbolt and once at the free floating dock right downtown. Savannah is one of those cruising stops worthy of a two or three day layover. If your plans are to go up the Savannah River and dock at the city dock you’ll want to plan ahead.

Before we headed up river we always check this website to get a live view of the dock.

www.wtoc.com/global/story.asp?s=872506

Because the city doen’t reserve space for dockage you’ll want to make sure there is room for your vessel before you head all the way up into town and the live cam provides a visual update every few minutes. The area you’ll be looking for is between the Savannah Hyatt Dock and the River Street Market Place Dock, just behind the paddle boats that are usually parked there. There is about 250 feet of floating dock and room for 7 or 8 boats, if everyone squeezes up. For more information and photos click on Nov. 2009 and or April 2009 on the left hand side column. The City Dock was still free when we were there last April.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE BOOKS ON THE GREAT LOOP BOAT TRIP ADVENTURE

Cumberland Island ‘s salt marshes are a must see (above).

Just north of Cumberland Island you can dock at Jekyll Island. The marina has bikes available or you can walk to the Jekyll Island Club to see how the really wealthy used to live 100 years ago. They’ve got a great breakfast that’s worth every penny.

We’ve anchored at New Teakettle at MM647 a few times, a splendid spot to take in the marshlands of Georgia. If you have a long day and want to get a full day in Savanah we’ve anchored just before Thunderbolt Marina in the Herb River. First thing in the morning head to Thunderbolt for a few days. There’s public transportation just up the street from the marina that will take you into downtown Savanah. The best part about Thunderbolt, besides its convenience, are the fresh Krispy Cream donuts they drop off to your boay every morning.

The marshlands in this area are beautiful and so are the Krispy Kreme donuts that are delivered every morning at Thunderbolt Marina.

To read more about this leg of the boating migration north either do a search for “Georgia” or click on April 2009 and/or November 2009 on the left-hand side column. Check back soon, we’ll be sharing more of our favorite spots in South and North Carolina next.

Kismet leaving the dock at Stock Island in the Keys with Tab, the new owner, and Jim. We helped Tab take the boat up the Florida coast last month. If you see Tab and his wife Susan on cruising the ICW give him a shout. 

This may come as surprise to many that follow our blog; we’ve sold our Fathom trawler, Kismet! After five years of a full-time, liveaboard lifestyle while traveling the waters of the U.S., Canada and the Bahamas’ meeting wonderful people, making lifelong friendships and at the same time, learning a about our country’s heritage, we decided to return to Traverse City, Michigan, at least for half the year.

We recently came to the sober realization that we needed to feel some dirt between our toes and more face-to-face time with family and hometown friends. We also started to feel a sudden, burning, and almost mad desire to host a full-blown family holiday get-together with all the fixings. I guess we could best describe the newfound revelation we’re having this way… Just as the all consuming and passionate need overtook us, over five years ago, to sell a lot of our accumulated “stuff” and head out for parts unknown as free spirits – now we’re starting to feel the pull as the pendulum begins its swing back. We became more aware of our need to reconnect with family, hometown friends and experience again all the good things about being landlocked.

We’ve been home now for over seven months becoming reacquainted with our community, being with our family and friends and having a ball. Our boating plans, although on a little bit of a hiatus, are to purchase in the near future a trailerable trawler so we can further explore the waters of the United States and Canada. We plan to not only return to places we’ve been before, and could not get enough of, but we also hope to venture out to places that would have been harder (expensive) or impossible to get to in the bigger Fathom trawler like:  Lake Powel, The Yellowstone Lakes, Lake Champlain, San Juan Islands, etc. This will afford us a little more flexibility in our boating lifestyle. So, you see, we have not completely lost our senses.

Check back soon for more details on the decision making process as we research and explore the trailerable trawlers available and why we picked the one we’ll use on our future boating excursions. We look forward to sharing more stories on our traveling adventures once we “hit the water” again.

Good-bye Kismet!

Read the review in the current NOV/DEC – 2010  issue of  PassageMaker Magazine 

(News and Notes Section – page 28)