Gearing up for the big trip - May 2014

Serenity Now on The Great Loop

Documenting the Journey of John and Kathy Scott on their Mainship Trawler
 

 Since our 2012 trip on the little triangle Loop from Lake Champlain to Ottawa then through the Rideau Canal and back through the St. Lawrence Seaway, we have been making plans to complete the Great Loop which circumnavigates the eastern United States. After living on our boat last summer for four months we have decided we are ready to take on the challenge of a long cruise. John has been a member of the American Great Loop Cruisers Association, AGLCA, for several years, has followed their blog and news forum and we have met lots of boaters who are making the trip. Last winter while in Florida we attended a Great Loop gathering and really got excited about doing the Loop ourselves.
 

John & Kathy with Ron & Kathrin who started their loop
trip in April from Florida on their 42' trawler, Companion
 

 

We rented a car to make the long drive from Florida to Vermont and arrived on May first. Our Mainship trawler was still snugly shrink wrapped in the boatyard among the dozens of other boats stored there. 

  

Spring at Champlain Marina shipyard after a long winter

 

 

Serenity in the travel lift on her way to the lake, May 14

 

 

Map of the possible routes of the Great Loop - most boaters travel
counter clockwise and follow the seasons. We want to be in Canada in July.

 

From our home port at the Champlain Marina in Malletts Bay on Lake Champlain we plan to get underway on or about June 1st and steer our course south to the Champlain Canal which will put us on the Hudson River and the entrance to the Erie Canal at Waterford, NY.

 

 






Double rainbow over the Champlain Valley -
we take it as a very good omen
 



We have moved onto our boat and are enjoying the views before the docks fill up with other boats. There are still lots of things to do and we are eager to be off and on our way!