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The Great Loop Adventures

11/21/2015

7 Comments

 
As we are marina bound in Belgium for winter while we finish our renovations on our barge, I thought I'd share some pictures of our Great Loop experience.

On our 33' sailing boat Mariah II, we spent a year traversing these fascinating waterways.... here's some of my memories..
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Approaching the Dismal Swamp! Another boat had cleared the way for us. It is so calm we could wash and dry our rugs and hang them over the boom. Obviously this was before we took our mast down.
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The Big Chute Marine Railway is a boat lift at lock 44 of the Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario, Canada. It works on an inclined plane to carry boats in individual cradles over a change of height of about 60 feet (18 metres). It is the only marine railway (or canal inclined plane) of its kind in North America still in use, and is overseen by federally operated Parks Canada. You stay on board as you traverse the rocks and rattle and shake along with the boat! I gave a complete stranger the camera and they took these shots - thank you whoever you were! (Our mast had been taken down after New York - on the Hudson)
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Georgia, sailing beside our great buddies 'Tash and Den on board SV Frodo. Perfect sailing in flat waters!
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The mighty Frodo and Mariah - great times! We are towing our dinghy. This dinghy was built in a Barbados brothel by Den and Noel - it's a great story... all in Of Foreign Build (on Amazon).
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Now we're in Florida with my mum and dad. That's dad and me - we loved it when we stopped all the cars so the bridges could lift just for us!
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This looks like Canada to me - one of the prettiest countries...
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It wasn't always sunny. We rigged a tiller extension so we could see more easily where we were steering- I still sat in the rain!
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That bow has pushed through oceans all over the world...
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In a lock near the The Dismal Canal.
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A momentous occassion - fancy a little Aussie boat sailing into New York. We had a wonderful three days in the heart of the city.....
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I loved locking through - this is in Canada...
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A group are chatting to us here, 'you came all that way in THAT boat?' They couldn't quite believe it!
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One of my favourite pictures, Noel at the helm, puttering through the middle of Chicago! Wonderful!
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This is the Dismal Swamp. A beautiful canal with man-eating bugs! They really hurt when they bit! This canal is an alternate route along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, connecting the Chesapeake Bay with the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. The Dismal Swamp Canal is the oldest continually operating, hand-dug waterway in the United States.
I hope you enjoyed our brief journey along The Great Loop.

I have more pictures to share on a more recent journey from America to Australia via Easter Island, Pitcairn, the Gambiers etc., I'll be posting some short stories with them too...
7 Comments
Astrolabe Sailing link
11/21/2015 11:04:41 am

Wow so cool. Lovely photos. I really want to do this. How long did it take you?

Reply
Jackie link
11/22/2015 01:11:37 am

It was wonderful. It took us about a year - if you scroll down to the previous post there is a link to the entire map. We actually moved fairly fast (well it wasn't for us, but most people thought it was) because winter was coming and the great lakes freeze! We didn't get many hold-ups, we had to wait a week for floods to abate along the Ohio (we were anchored in the Mississippi!), then the water levels were still so high we went clean over an entire lock! There are a few different routes, I'd love to do more - if it was easy I'd take this old barge out there and do more...

Reply
Lexa Harpell link
11/21/2015 01:45:22 pm

Now THIS is LIVING! What incredible memories and amazing experiences you both have shared and dared. Whilst most sit in their lounge room only dreaming. You are LIVING dreams.
Incredibly inspiring for many - ummm including me!

Reply
Jackie link
11/22/2015 01:09:07 am

Thanks Lexa! This from the girl roaming around Ireland for months! You are living too.... for us this was a wonderful trip - one of the best years of my life! As you know I only really touch on it in Of Foreign Build - I am thinking of writing more on it - but I have to hurry up - the memory is going! lol!

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Val
11/23/2015 01:09:34 pm

Oh Jackie, I've so enjoyed these photos! They've taken me right back into Of Foreign Build. What a wonderful, spectacular, emotional year that was. And what adventures you had. Fabulous and fabulous photos too! xxx

Reply
Jackie link
11/26/2015 08:56:27 am

Thanks Val, so pleased you enjoyed them - I sit and grin at them with all the memories! x

Reply
Ben Russell link
7/28/2020 08:25:34 pm

While there are numerous hand-held tools to receive such job done, it can be a lot easier, efficient and convenient to have it done utilizing a mechanized tool like a rototiller.

Reply



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