11 TIPS YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR CRUISING AND DOING THE LOOP

[@flutetubamorg]

Shrimp! I was on submarines in the Navy, and when you put the passive sonar headphones on that's pretty much all you'll ever hear is shrimp making a racket.

[@TheBoomershines]

I love that you heard them in a sub too! Those are some noise little critters. Thank you so much for your service!!!

[@sccharmed]

Thank you so much for these . Part 2 coming out when?

[@TheBoomershines]

I have an ongoing list. We will do another one soon :)

[@motorv8N]

Fantastic - thank you for this!

[@TheBoomershines]

You're very welcome!

[@motorv8N]

One thing I’d be interested in as I consider boats - how did you end up feeling about yours? At over 50 feet did it present challenges finding dock space? Other pros and cons? If I’ve missed a video on this topic I apologize and will go look. Also, are you keeping the boat or was the plan always to sell it after? I notice loopers tend to fall into those two camps - keep as boating is now or was always a focal point of their lives, or sell as soon as they’re done.

[@TheBoomershines]

We absolutely loved our big boat and were always able to find dock space -- but I did need plan a little further ahead than our friends in smaller boats. That said, if it were only two onboard, I'd probably opt for a bit smaller of a boat. We bought SeaSHINE just to do the loop and then sell. She is not our forever boat.

[@tomreid5184]

I'm at least 10 days behind your postings so I don't know if you'll read this comment. WRITE A BOOK! SERIOUSLY. A hard copy book is far superior to a vlog, txt, face book posting. I have a small library for references and have read several of them two and three time. Ken WIlliams cruising series. Each time, I pickup another lesson. Thanks for taking the time post loop. Semper Fi.

[@tndavids]

Great video if you plan on doing the Loop, or even if you are part way along the Loop. Of course, we would love to add a few tidbits to their presentation, but their basic 11 is great. Having lived in Florida all our lives, my wife and I would especially like their last tip - bring extra warm cloths. Similar to Mark, I also had to buy an extra warm jacket. Thank you Walmart.

[@TheBoomershines]

Glad you liked! I could do many, many more tips, but these were the ones that rose to the top. Thanks for the sweet comment :)

[@wendybusby9525]

Fantastic video! Thank you for your tips. We are planning on doing the LOOP soon. We have the boat, we just have to the have timing right. Speaking of things breaking, we were bring the boat from Baltimore to Southport NC and and an exhaust connection from the Turbo cracked on the starboard motor and well exhaust and soot everywhere the salon, bedrooms etc. so happy for you all.

[@TheBoomershines]

OH NO! That does not sound like fun. Hope it was an easy fix even if the clean up certainly wasn't.

[@bobf4765]

Worked & played on the waters of New England; one of my grandfather's sayings for those sh#tty November days picking traps - 'don't care what I look like, as long as I am warm & dry' ... Fair winds..

[@TheBoomershines]

Your grandfather was on to something!

[@mikehlavinka2964]

Great suggestions.

[@TheBoomershines]

Glad you like them!

[@Resort_Fans]

Great advice I've never heard!

[@TheBoomershines]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching and for this nice comment :)

[@JeffVanDerford]

Very interesting but I have yet to see you guys on your boat north of Florida. Like to know your boat's draft and how things went going under that bridge in Chicago.

[@TheBoomershines]

We document our travels in real time over on Instagram so head on over there @theBoomershines to see all our adventures north of Florida. This time last year we were just leaving Canada. We went under THE bridge in October 2022.

[@jodiplock4784]

👍🏼

[@NautiGrandpa]

The loop is overrated IMO I've enjoyed the Bahamas and Caribbean 1000% more.

[@TheBoomershines]

We love cruising the Bahamas and the Caribbean too but for different reasons that why we love the Loop. You can't beat the Bahamas for beauty. But the Loop gave us history and a cruising community that we loved. I guess it just depends on what you are looking for. When did you do the Loop?

[@NautiGrandpa]

We did it in 1995, it was an amazing 3 months. Since 2000 we have been doing the 400 challenge, we want to spend a minimum of 3 days on 400 bahamas islands.