Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The End.... of this chapter

You may have noticed the long delay since the last blog, which is partially due to our move but also due to reluctance to finalize the blog and thus the trip.

After a wonderful couple of weeks in Maine we ended the journey back in Rhode Island on July 15, 2012, two days short of one year of our departure.  We have been busy since then setting up our house and getting ready for Pablo to go back to work.  Even though we haven’t been away from the boat for more than a couple of days at a time, we miss it.  We miss the simplicity of life, the nice organization of everything on the boat and the adventure and excitement of being in new places.  But on the other hand, we are really enjoying consistently reliable, fast internet, having a washing machine, access to library books and a few other luxuries of land life.

Looking back on our trip, some of the most unexpected pleasures included meeting and getting to spend time with really great people along the way.  And spending A LOT of quality time as a family---the girls are growing up fast and we feel very lucky to have been able to take a year to focus on expanding their world view.  Being outside all the time was wonderful, being very physically active (needing to walk everywhere, carrying groceries and laundry in addition to all the sail/line handling) was not only great for our health but something we already miss and need to incorporate more into our land based life.   Exploring new places made for new adventures every day, we were never bored and were always in an environment rich with interesting experiences.

We feel a huge sense of accomplishment not only for making the trip a reality but for it being very successful.  It took some motivation to extract ourselves from our very comfortable life and set the wheels in motion but well worth all the effort.  We sold our house, got rid of a TON of stuff and came back feeling we have way more than we need.  We leave the adventure feeling we could spend another year sailing, another mark of success when everyone is left wanting more.

We all have grown, sometimes in unexpected ways.  Though we expected it may take a while for the experience to sink in with the girls, we see interesting insight from them already.  The girls have grown closer to each other, matured and show more appreciation for the quality of their life. 

Below are some statistics from the trip. 

Miles traveled:  7281 nautical miles (8300 statute miles)
Overnight passages:  28
Days at Anchor:  172 (rest is either on a mooring, underway or at a slip)
Number of countries/provinces visited:   16
Number of  US States visited:  10
Number of islands/cays visited:  67




Borealis anchored in Merchant Row

Enjoying time with friends in Maine

Blueberry picking at the Bishops

Our new home
As the sun sets on this adventure, we look forward to the next...
 

Friday, July 6, 2012

Day 362- Perry Creek, Vinalhaven, ME

We stopped in Greenwich Bay, RI to organize getting our car and secure housing for the fall.  Returning to our home base marina, Brewers Cowesett, where we left 11 months ago, felt really nice. 
The marina is well run with a wonderfully competent staff and we were welcomed back warmly by many of the other boat owners. This has made the drudgery readjusting to a land based life much easier. The girls have enjoyed the marina as well, hanging out in the pool with friends, searching for shells and sea glass on the beach and netting all kinds of creatures near the docks.  They have been incredibly patient with us while we catch up on what feels like a year worth of errands. 

We plan to move into a house in Stow, MA in mid July.  Until then we'll explore more of New England aboard Borealis.  We're enjoying visiting some of our favorite places, especially those we haven't visited before by boat.  It was great to catch up with Lorna and Imre (aka Nana and Papa) in Wellfleet.  Their raucous welcome back was unforgettable.   From Cape Cod we did an overnight passage to Tenants Harbor, ME.  Maine is absolutely gorgeous and very quiet.  Even though our feet are numb from the cold water after spending a few seconds in it, we love it here.   We bought a bucket full of rock crab for $5 yesterday and had a feast.  




Mia doing halyard maintenance

1st swim in New England waters, off Weepecket Island

The Welcome Back committee

Papa boogie boarding in Wellfleet Harbor

Can you believe it, fog in Maine?  One of the shadows is Borealis





Negotiating for crab in Tenants Harbor, ME

Near Dix Island, ME