A few years ago when we first learned about the Loop,  I started reading blogs written by people already on the journey. There were a ton of them,  and there were a few that were must-reads for me. One of them described a trip to Sanibel Island, and it has stuck with me until today … Continue reading Sanibel Island: A Dream Realized

We returned from spending Christmas in Wisconsin with our family on the 27th and had intended to shove off to our next destination the next morning. Upon further consideration, we decided to stay one more day at Salty Sam's to give us time for a few chores. It took a little bit of discussing, but … Continue reading Salty Sam’s to Ding Darling

As Wendy and our son slept in a little, I got up in time to watch a wonderful sunrise. I sat on the bow with a cup of coffee listening to The Joshua Tree album. It was a great way to start the day. Once we were up and moving, we took the dinghy over … Continue reading Cayo Costa to Salty Sam’s Marina

After a quiet night at Otter Key, we pulled anchor at 0715 for the 52.4 mile trip in the ICW to Cayo Costa. In the morning, the ICW was quiet, but traffic really started to pick up around 1100. We enjoyed a nice cruise at about 10 mph. We had to slow down quite a … Continue reading Otter Key to Pelican Bay, Cayo Costa

On Friday afternoon, we left Sarasota to go a whopping 3.5 miles to... Sarasota. We decided to anchor where we could take the dinghy to the beach. The anchorage was empty when we arrived. We chose a spot just past the shipwreck and tucked between two buoys. Otter Key is unoccupied, but a row of … Continue reading Sarasota FL, to Otter Key

We spent Sunday to Thursday in Sarasota at Marina Jack. From a work perspective, the internet here was fantastic, and we both had great data on our phones. There's a normal- sized woman standing at the ankle of this giant statue! Marina Jack from the park. We saw the sun set behind this fountain each … Continue reading Sarasota

Whale Key was a blissfully quiet anchorage, and we didn't want to leave. So we didn't. We stayed until early afternoon, knowing our next leg was a measly seven miles. We sat on the back of the boat reading, talking, and listening to the waves gently lap the boat. The weather was just perfect, and … Continue reading Whale Key, FL, to Sarasota, FL

After a rocky night, like REALLY rocky night, we woke up to a beautiful new day. Fishing boats went by quite often at speed, particularly one at about 3:30 am that actually rolled Owen from his side of the bed to mine. We had big plans for the day, and we were eager to get … Continue reading Clearwater, FL, to Egmont Key to almost Sarasota, FL

It was a bit of an adventure, but we made "The Crossing." For the non-Loopers in the bunch, The Crossing is a much-anticipated, and occasionally feared, part of the loop. The issue is that the elbow of Florida that separates the panhandle from southern Florida is very shallow and full of crab pots. To go … Continue reading Apalachicola to Clearwater: The Crossing

The wind picked up over night and we swung all the way around with the tide change. At about 0400, the anchor alarm started blaring and we jumped up to check everything. Fortunately, everything was fine and I just didn't account for the swing when I set the alarm. We went back to bed until … Continue reading Shell Island to Apalachicola: Swamp Carnage