A big thankyou

Farewell “Movin' On”

Today is our last day on the boat. We will leave it in the hands of Jim Clark of Fillingham Yacht Sales in St Petersburg who will sell it for us.

It is a bit of a wrench & I'm feeling a bit gulpy as I write but the the emotion is tempered by our coming trip from here to LA by car. We will spend a month visiting friends & relatives & then fly out of LA airport on July 2^nd . We are excited about our planned route which is off the interstate highways & to places that we haven't been to before.

The Great Loop has been a great adventure – the most challenging & diverse we have ever done. With hundreds of bridges that maybe too low, locks that can be tricky with wind & high water, rivers that are shallow or with boulders just under the surface, large sounds that can be as rough as open seas & wide sea crossings only to be attempted when the weather is fair Every day was different & usually contained something unexpected. We were held up by weather a few times (as happens to most Loopers) & it was at these stops & overnight tie ups where we met great people. The time spent travelling with boat buddies, touring canal side towns, sharing potluck dinners & the inevitable & endless docktails formed a huge part of the memories.

We fondly remember Bill & Joyce off 'Carried Away', Ted & Sue off 'My Dream', John & Genie off 'Dr's Orders', Jonathan & Rosa off 'Salty', Richard & Nicole off 'Coeur de Lion 11', Chuck & Vicky off 'Patriot', Ben & Jane off 'Jammin Jane', Bob & Liz off 'Knot Sew Easy', John & Jan off 'Mitzvah', Jill & Kevin off 'Chasing 80', Clark & Evelyn off 'Sea Moss', Deb & Brent off 'Haley's Comet', Waz & Monica off 'Untide', Pat & Lon off 'C.A.R.I.B. 11', Kitty Nicolai 2015 Harbour Host of the year, Bob & Sha Fillingham of Fillingham Yacht sales & Jim Clark & Paula our broker --- and there are many more wonderful folk who we spent time with and made the trip memorable.

You offered help & friendship and we acknowledge you all for your hospitality & American style generosity - it would be impossible to list you all but you also added to our memories.

For family & friends & anyone interested we will be posting photos & minimal text of our months journey across the states.

Once we are home we will be taking up the duties of Harbour Hosts for Queensland, so if any loopers are coming our way, by boat or otherwise you will find some friendly faces on the Gold Coast of Queensland, that’s about 40 miles South of Brisbane, contact us via the Great loop website.

Any Australians contemplating doing The Loop we are most willing to pass on our experiences.