Cruising the Great Loop – Books and narrated photo tours for boaters

This page highlights a few of the excellent resources we
have found helpful for cruising any part of the Great Loop.

America's Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association is an organization of people who share a sense of adventure and a curiosity about America’s Great Loop and its many side trips. The association’s primary purpose is to disseminate information and enhance the overall experience for those learning about, dreaming of – as well as exploring and safely cruising -- America’s Great Loop.		Heartland Boating - Plan to Cruise the Tennessee River Heartland Boating magazine published this article, written by Bob Duthie, in March 2009. It is a brief summary of a full cruise of the Tennessee River in 2006, based on his blog posts.

Raven Cove Check out Ron & Eva Stob’s Great Loop products at www.greatloop.com		BoatUS Towing Service Everyone cruising the loop has either run aground or will run aground somewhere. Our turn was on the route north from Beaufort NC. Click here to hear the story and get the details. TowBoatUS helped us on another occasion. We had to enter the dangerous Little Egg Inlet near Beach Haven NJ because Atlantic City was closed. Inlets are not charted as the shoals move about after each storm. I called TowBoatUS for instructions and the operator said it was a slow day and he would be happy to escort us through the shoals to the ICW. 'Just meet me at Buoy LE' he said. Wow! What great customer service!

Skipper Bob The Skipper Bob guidebooks are by far the handiest to have aboard while doing the loop. The Marinas and Anchorages books are low in cost and complete. We used the Intracoastal Guides, the Erie Canal, and Chicago to Mobile. Sadly, Skipper Bob Reib passed away in December 2006. Elaine Reib, Bob’s wife, is continuing with publication.

Dreamrider I just finished reading this new book by Larry Harcum. Larry came through our marina, Kenlake, in 2002 a year before Mavis and I left on our Great Loop trip. Larry did the loop on a jet ski. There is some really interesting views of the loop in this book including a bypass route around Port Huron Michigan that I had never heard of. Sure enough I zoomed in on it on Google Earth and could see the canal clearly as well as the shoals on Lake Huron that Larry had to jump over. Just 2 days after I met Larry at Kenlake he had a real shocking surprise. You will have to read the book to see what happened.

A number of “loopers” have created websites that tell the story of their trip. The links to some of these are listed here:

www.rosetta.talkspot.com - M/V Rosetta is 41 foot DeFever trawler owned by Kathy & John Jeidy. They completed the loop on January 17, 2006.

dubheiii.blogspot.com - Ron, Jean and Gilligan are very active bloggers since early 2007 about Nordic Tug, Dubhe III

voyageofsimplicity.blogspot.com - Linda and Alan set out from Lynn Haven, FL in early April 2008.

grovesboat.blogspot.com - Joy@Sea is a 42 ft Grand Banks sundeck cruiser doing the loop from Ft Myers, FL and captained by Madison Groves.

www.favorsgreatloopblog.com - Jim and Lisa Favors are looping for the second time on Kismet, a brand new Fathom trawler, starting in April 2008 on Lake Michigan.