Friday July 1, 2016
We did it! After over six thousand miles going counter-clockwise around the Eastern half of the United States and through Ontario, Canada, after hitting bottom more times than I can count, after meeting fellow boaters who have become friends, after scary nights in storms and anchored on the edge of the channel, after a year of birthdays, holidays, and our 42nd anniversary in the middle of no-where on the Tenn-Tom waterway, after two urgent care visits for insect bites (my left foot and then my right foot), after 4 glorious fun filled weeks on the Trent Severn Waterway with our six year old grand daughter and a month with my 87 year old mother (Chicago to Nashville), after beautiful sunsets, serene dawns, millions of rocks in Georgian Bay, after lots of laughs, after memories of Jim reading aloud The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as we travelled down the Mississippi, after our 52 hour voyage from Pensacola to Tarpon Springs with John and Bruce (kept awake by incredibly strong coffee), after surviving voracious mosquitoes in the Everglades, lost birds on Lake Michigan, and the consumption of an entire apricot Kringle (Danish pastry from Racine, Wisconsin) in one afternoon, after countless distress calls to Rick at GI Boatworks (agh, we are on the rocks in the Hudson, now what???) and Bob Campbell ( our alternator is dead again, now what????), after Jim’s engine checks every morning, and my texts to our 4 kids every day with our departure and arrival information, and on and on, we are done! We are home!
We arrived at Eagle Cove on the northern side of Gibson Island around 2pm. We dropped anchor and went swimming. SV Heron needed a bit of a scrub along her waterline. After our swim we noticed dark clouds forming to the north, with more on their way. We scrapped plans for taking the guys from the boatyard for a sail. We pulled up anchor at 4pm, and arrived at Boatworks to a rousing “Hip Hip Hurray!” Beers on the boat at the boatyard! Yeah. Then the storm hit! It poured! We all jammed into the cabin, as it stormed outside.
We were due across the harbor at 6:30 for our grand entrance. Conventiently, at 6:20, the rain stopped. Our son Brian, his wife Caroline, and a bunch of the guys rode across the harbor with us. Heck, it meant more help with our landing when we got there.
Denver, the harbor master, set off his cannon and he blew his siren! A huge crowd had gathered (some really just there for Happy Hour), we were presented with beautiful bouquets of yellow roses, and kind words were said. It was the perfect way to return home, despite the stormy weather.
Fabulous to be home and sleep on our own bed. Yeah, yeah, yeah!
What is next?
Stay tuned for next summer. We are thinking about the triangle loop via Lake Champlain, Montreal, Ottowa, Kingston, and the 1000 Islands!