The paths of anticyclonic Loop Current eddies in the western Gulf of Mexico have been investigated using ARGOS-tracked drifters accompanied by hydrographic surveys. The analysis used orbit parameters derived from a least square fit of a translating ellipse kinematic model and showed that paths from four quite different eddies had a number of similar features. They are a general increase in rotational period over time, clockwise rotation of ellipse axes that slows with time and often becomes stationary in the far western Gulf, swirl velocities that decay quite slowly, and a tendency of the eddies to have low divergence. In three cases, 20- to 30-day oscillations of the orbit parameters were observed. Translation velocities of the orbits showed the characteristic stalls and sprints that have been previously observed. In two cases, stalls and deviations from solid body rotation could be attributed to the presence of vigorous lower continental slope cyclones situated to the northwest of the eddies in... Abstract The paths of anticyclonic Loop Current eddies in the western Gulf of Mexico have been investigated using ARGOS-tracked drifters accompanied by hydrographic surveys. The analysis used orbit parameters derived from a least square fit of a translating ellipse kinematic model and showed that paths from four quite different eddies had a number of similar features. They are a general increase in rotational period over time, clockwise rotation of ellipse axes that slows with time and often becomes stationary in the far western Gulf, swirl velocities that decay quite slowly, and a tendency of the eddies to have low divergence. In three cases, 20- to 30-day oscillations of the orbit parameters were observed. Translation velocities of the orbits showed the characteristic stalls and sprints that have been previously observed. In two cases, stalls and deviations from solid body rotation could be attributed to the presence of vigorous lower continental slope cyclones situated to the northwest of the eddies in...