Great Loop Chronicles Part 24
Marine
- Sponsor
- OPTIMA Batteries
- Location
- Gautier, MS
The Great Loop Chronicles will be an ongoing series, following the travels of OPTIMA Batteries staffer, Jim McIlvaine, as he travels America's Great Loop, a 6000+ nautical mile journey around the Eastern United States.
As I read about the Great Loop and saw questions from people who were also planning the trip, a common question was about exercise, health and weight management. Many of the people who do the Great Loop are retirees, so they're not in the prime of their lives in terms of physical activity and some wondered if the trip would consist of lots of sitting on a boat, followed by unhealthy restaurant meals.
The answers they received is fitness on the Great Loop is what you make of it. You can choose to be active and eat healthy, if it's important to you. What I've found so far, is that the Loop is a miracle weight loss program. I don't know how much weight I've lost, but it's noticeable. My belt is on its final notch, probably two away from where it was before the trip. My appetite is still there, but not as strong as it was on land and I've found ways to stay somewhat active on the boat, including my "pushup spot" near the stairs and slinging a 10-pound dumbbell around while captaining the boat- arm curls, tricep extensions, etc...
What I didn't fully expect was the amount of steps I'd be getting in while on the Loop. One would think there's not much space to walk around on a boat and that's true, but once you get to a marina, I've been finding the walk to get anywhere is usually significant. Even though we were only docked a few slips from the shoreline at Pass Christian marina, it seemed like nearly a quarter mile walk to the bathrooms and showers. I tried to plan out those trips, but there were days when hitting 10,000 steps wasn't a problem, especially if we were walking from a marina to nearby restaurants or attractions.
With my work weekends in New Orleans and Missouri complete and the OPTIMA BLUETOPs installed, our time at Pass Christian had come to an end and. While it was great to see family and make new friends, it was time to get back on the Loop. Since we didn't have the time crunch involving my work schedule, we decided we didn't need to put in as many full days on the water to reach Carabelle, where we'd meet up with Edwin Evers for the crossing. We were initially thinking about making a short hop over to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, but I heard feedback that the harbor area had some shallow spots and one needed to be careful. We also saw a weather window with calm conditions that prompted us to wait until the weekend to make our move.
The shallow water warnings made us pivot and choose Mary Walker Marina in Gautier, Mississippi as our next destination. It was a 44-mile journey and my sister-in-law would bring our kids over, so they could spend more time with family and less time on the boat. However, as I've come to expect on the Loop, plans changed. Bad thunderstorms that weren't in the forecast rolled through the area in the morning and strong winds lingered longer than I liked. We wanted to fuel up before we left, but I didn't want to navigate that already bumpy harbor with high winds to boot.
We ended up waiting until about 11AM, when the winds finally died down and fueled up for our run to Gautier. The Mississippi Sound ended up being calmer than our run over and we passed several commercial vessels and a few pleasure craft before heading into Pascagoula. The path to Mary Walker Marina went past several shipyards on the Pascagoula River, followed a winding river path with some backtracking across the West Pascagoula River and into the Mary Walker Bayou. There were a few shallow areas, but nothing that had me overly concerned, as the tide was in our favor.
Unlike several of the other marinas where we docked, Mary Walker was a more compact river landing, which meant shorter walks to shore. We also didn't think we'd get a slip with power, but the person who had reserved that slip never showed, so we took their spot. They didn't have a shower, but they did have a bathroom and according to my wife, the best mahi tacos she's ever tasted. The kids joined us late in the evening and I expected we'd get an early start in the morning for our trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Read about that leg here.
As I read about the Great Loop and saw questions from people who were also planning the trip, a common question was about exercise, health and weight management. Many of the people who do the Great Loop are retirees, so they're not in the prime of their lives in terms of physical activity and some wondered if the trip would consist of lots of sitting on a boat, followed by unhealthy restaurant meals.
The answers they received is fitness on the Great Loop is what you make of it. You can choose to be active and eat healthy, if it's important to you. What I've found so far, is that the Loop is a miracle weight loss program. I don't know how much weight I've lost, but it's noticeable. My belt is on its final notch, probably two away from where it was before the trip. My appetite is still there, but not as strong as it was on land and I've found ways to stay somewhat active on the boat, including my "pushup spot" near the stairs and slinging a 10-pound dumbbell around while captaining the boat- arm curls, tricep extensions, etc...
What I didn't fully expect was the amount of steps I'd be getting in while on the Loop. One would think there's not much space to walk around on a boat and that's true, but once you get to a marina, I've been finding the walk to get anywhere is usually significant. Even though we were only docked a few slips from the shoreline at Pass Christian marina, it seemed like nearly a quarter mile walk to the bathrooms and showers. I tried to plan out those trips, but there were days when hitting 10,000 steps wasn't a problem, especially if we were walking from a marina to nearby restaurants or attractions.
With my work weekends in New Orleans and Missouri complete and the OPTIMA BLUETOPs installed, our time at Pass Christian had come to an end and. While it was great to see family and make new friends, it was time to get back on the Loop. Since we didn't have the time crunch involving my work schedule, we decided we didn't need to put in as many full days on the water to reach Carabelle, where we'd meet up with Edwin Evers for the crossing. We were initially thinking about making a short hop over to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, but I heard feedback that the harbor area had some shallow spots and one needed to be careful. We also saw a weather window with calm conditions that prompted us to wait until the weekend to make our move.
The shallow water warnings made us pivot and choose Mary Walker Marina in Gautier, Mississippi as our next destination. It was a 44-mile journey and my sister-in-law would bring our kids over, so they could spend more time with family and less time on the boat. However, as I've come to expect on the Loop, plans changed. Bad thunderstorms that weren't in the forecast rolled through the area in the morning and strong winds lingered longer than I liked. We wanted to fuel up before we left, but I didn't want to navigate that already bumpy harbor with high winds to boot.
We ended up waiting until about 11AM, when the winds finally died down and fueled up for our run to Gautier. The Mississippi Sound ended up being calmer than our run over and we passed several commercial vessels and a few pleasure craft before heading into Pascagoula. The path to Mary Walker Marina went past several shipyards on the Pascagoula River, followed a winding river path with some backtracking across the West Pascagoula River and into the Mary Walker Bayou. There were a few shallow areas, but nothing that had me overly concerned, as the tide was in our favor.
Unlike several of the other marinas where we docked, Mary Walker was a more compact river landing, which meant shorter walks to shore. We also didn't think we'd get a slip with power, but the person who had reserved that slip never showed, so we took their spot. They didn't have a shower, but they did have a bathroom and according to my wife, the best mahi tacos she's ever tasted. The kids joined us late in the evening and I expected we'd get an early start in the morning for our trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Read about that leg here.