This is a map of America’s Great Loop Cruise Routes.

I first learned that the Loop was a thing in 1984. That year Janet and I tool our first cruise on a “Big Boat”. Together along with our newborn son Corey we trailered the “Mistacall” to Lake Simcoe and spent 2 weeks cruising the Trent Severn Waterway.

Start them Early

While we were on that trip we spent the night tied to a Lock wall with a newly retired couple traveling on an old Trawler. They were on a trip from the Toledo area on Lake Erie up the St Clair river, across Lake Huron to Georgian Bay, through the Trent Severn Waterway then the Erie Canal back to Lake Erie. I never really realized that people actually traveled like that. Then they explained that they were using the trip as a practice voyage because they planned on cruising America’s Great Loop the next year.  Well I never Dreamed of such a grand adventure… Maybe someday…

Time flies as it does and forward 23 years later and Corey and I had the opportunity to take my old trawler on a similar loop to practice for the Great Loop. It was called the Nautoncall Sesquicentennial Circle Tour! We left Port Franks early in June of 2017, sailed down the St Clair and Detroit rivers, Ran the length of Lake Erie, traversed the Wellend Canal, motored down Lake Ontario, turned left into the Trent Severn waterway, crossed Georgian Bay and rounded Cape Hurd on our way back to Port Franks on Lake Huron. 1000 Nautical miles in 36 days. Trip of a lifetime and some quality time with my son before he heads off into the working world as I retire and prepare for the next trip of a lifetime.

We joined the AGLCA and started planning. Here is a link to their site, https://www.greatloop.org/ there you can find everything you need to know to start your own dreaming…Maybe someday…