November 12, 2010 Location: WE ARE HOME!

Hurrah! We have completed the Great Loop!!


We ventured out in our Mainship trawler last April from Tampa, traveled north into parts of Canada, back down the U.S. river and canal system, then back home, arriving November 12 – 7 months later. This wonderful adventure, mostly in good weather, took us through several thousand miles of waterways, over 200 locks, 103 nights in marinas, and 99 nights of securing up to a wall or anchoring.

We undertook a somewhat challenging journey for boating novices, but we were ready for this new experience. In the past, we boated closer to home. We spent most of a year making ourselves and Tadpole ready for this extensive voyage. She proved to be a terrific boat for our trip, reliable and economical and, due to our Captain’s diligence, Tadpole was well maintained mechanically and gave us very little difficulty.

Of major importance to us was safety. We made a huge attempt to implement as many safety measures as possible to avoid any accidents, both personal and ship wise. We were successful and have returned with a few “beauty marks” on Tadpole, but none drastic, and  none to us.

We found our new way of living challenging, tiring, rewarding, fun, exciting, at times alarming and stressful, a learning experience, a life experience. A truly amazing and thrilling adventure. 2 years ago this was just a thought.

We saw so much of the waterfront scenery in our country and Canada, enjoyed the beauty of every sunrise and sunset, were impressed with the comradeship among the boating community, met so many people we enjoyed being with and will never forget. We also made some very special friends along the way.

On arrival at our dock, Tony sprayed us with “Champagne” making us feel like successful Champions for completing the “Great Loop.”

To all our “followers”, we send a huge thank you for sharing our experience with us, you made it even more enjoyable for us. We thought of you every day when we sat to write down our day’s events.

A special thank you goes to my brother’s, and our entire families for all their encouragement and “push” to follow through with our dream.

Tadpole and crew are safely home – we are enjoying the “space”.