Author: Mike & Pam

Another packed to the gills SUV car rental to Jacksonville and we are ready to pick up our LOOP experience again! Lamb’s Yacht Center proved to be a great undercover home for Sea C Rider during the break. After a couple of days getting the boat ready we bee-lined down to the Florida Keys and are currently docked at Marlin Bay in Marathon. Our eight day trip down the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway) consisted of an average of 60 or so miles per day, and we anchored out under the stars every night. Boat sales in the US are setting new records during the pandemic as people look for outdoor safe distancing activity. The water ways were full, especially on the holiday weekend, we may have encountered just about every existing Floridian east coast boat during our travels. The FL service industry calls the week between Christmas and New Years “Hell Week” due to the masses of people descending upon Fl during this time.

It has been two months since we updated the blog so we want to share our status and latest thinking regarding our Loop.

To recap, we flew back to Chicago on April 2^nd to ride out the initial phase of the pandemic and wait to see how events unfolded.  It quickly became clear that a return to looping was going to be VERY different than what attracted us to the Loop adventure in the first place.   Restaurants closed, spotty marina availability, less fuel availability, fewer pump out stations, music and entertainment venues canceled, cultural historic sites closed, sporting events canceled, the Erie Canal access limited, the Canadian border opening date unclear, etc.   Due to all of this uncertainty, and our desire to have what we deem as a FULL Loop experience, we have decided to take a break from Looping for the remainder of 2020.  

Our new plan is to keep the boat in Jacksonville, Fl and start our trip again in Jan of 2021.   We will travel south to the Bahamas and Florida Keys for the winter months before turning back around to head North in March/April. Up the East Coast, into Canada and the Great Lakes before returning to Chicago in the fall of ’21.   This plan also allows us to spend some needed time with our family and business as the recovery takes hold. 

A few weeks ago we did travel back to Jacksonville to move Sea C into a covered marina slip and get her ready for in-water storage this summer and fall.   We hired a diver to clean the bottom on a monthly basis, added a couple NEST cameras, added a wifi controlled dehumidifier and took a load of stuff home.   Every couple of months we will travel down to Jacksonville for some R&R and check on Sea C. We’re hoping for a forgiving hurricane season!

Like everyone, never in our wildest imagination could we have predicted the events of the past few months but we are embracing the new plan and are thrilled that we get to go back down south for the winter and extend our Loop experience! As the saying goes…………Man plans… God laughs.

We’ll update the blog as events occur but pick it up with more frequent posts once we are back on the water.  Wishing you all the best and hope that everyone is safe, healthy, and finding ways to reinvent life for the better. 

 

Fly or drive back to IL, that was the question. After carefully weighing the contamination risks of each, we flew United Airlines to Chicago with about 10 other passengers on board. From the Uber pickup at the Marina, to our drop off at home, the trip was as smooth and peaceful as possible.

We are now safety quarantined in our Illinois (dirt) home. Since everything up and down the east coast is closed, and our desire to be near our family and business in IL drew our attention, we decided to leave Sea C Rider in Jacksonville, Fl…. for now. As the news and events of this unparalleled time in history continues to unfold, we hope to soon decide the best time to jump back in the boat and continue the Great Loop.

Up until now, we seem to have been staying one step ahead of the wave of closures. Each county we pass through has been putting new ordinances in place such as as closing marinas and beaches to lessen the threat of spreading the virus, particularly aimed at spring breakers and non-compliant party-boaters.

Our SCUBA outing at John Pennekamp State Park was canceled due to the Corona Virus, which was fine by us. Breathing into rented regulators didn’t seem all that appealing anyway. Instead, we took Sea C out to the reef and did some snorkeling.

When we left the keys we had an inkling things were a-changin’ but had no idea to what extent. We have made a big effort to do our part in social distancing. Over the past 11 days we have only been in 2 marinas – both of which have had reduced or no staff, increased disinfecting rules, have limited # of people in laundry room to 1, and provided very little if any face to face contact with people. The other nights we spent in different ways, on a free wall at the ends of the earth at Boca Chita : maximum exposure = a dozen people, alone on a ball in a mooring field, and 7 nights at anchor. Having provisioned for the Bahamas, we’ve had more than enough food, snacks and water, making this an easy choice for now.

There are still those random groups of boat party people occupying the inviting sandbars off the ICW. Many of the groups are young adults (off of school!) cruising in dad’s boat.

When we arrive at a destination we still go ashore to see the town. All the bars are closed, most shops are closed, and only a few restaurants are offering take out. There is no live music, festivals nor events. We see a random tourist wandering, the police out in force on bike, squad car or segway or even horses (Ft Lauderdale). The towns are typically eerily quiet and we are able to bike through normally busy tourist areas unhindered. The small business owners that are open are super courteous and following healthy protocol & they are very thankful for our business.

As far as our coming plans for our loop – not much has changed other than timing. We hoped to still continue north & get out to see the towns but much of the experience is lost when everything is closed. With all the rich east coast American history in front of us, we don’t want to hurry past it all. Many previous Loopers say that if there is one thing they would change about their loop it would be to slow down and do it in 2 years. We are now beginning to feel like we are racing past things we would take an extra day to enjoy if they were open. Since there is so much uncertainty, and for the sake of our and others health, we’ve decided to dock the dock boat in Jacksonville, FL for now. Each day seems to bring new news, our future plans will be determined by the coming days new news.