Mark the Log: The Deed is Done

At 0230 local time, on June 11,2012, ile de Grace crossed her outbound track and we completed our voyage around the world, rounding Cape Santa Maria, on the tip of Long Island, Exumas, in the Bahamas.  A few hours later, we dropped the anchor off the town of Georgetown, Exuma, returning to the harbor we left several years ago, on February 3, 2010.  It’s been quite a trip, but we have another 1100 miles to sail to return to our home waters of Annapolis, Maryland.

We’ve had guests on board for the last few weeks or so, and our days have been filled with fun and frolic, catching up, playing games, snorkeling, preparing meals, and managing the heat.  Ironically, at this most momentous of occasions, the near-continuous and delightful distractions of family and friends have made it difficult to assemble any meaningful insights or reflections on completing our voyage. But we have a 9 day trip from the Bahamas to the Chesapeake, and if the past is prologue, we’ll have plenty of time for introspection then.

ile de Grace, Georgetown, Bahamas

For now, we are filled with a sense of gratitude to our children, our families, and our friends for their support and encouragement as we set out on this peculiar adventure of circling our globe.  We feel blessed to have had the chance to experience a swath of this world we live on, its islands and cultures, its peoples and places.  We consider ourselves fortunate to have spent time with many fellow cruisers, whose advice and friendship meant so much to us.

Last, we feel a sense of fulfillment.  We set out on a voyage, knowing only that we were headed west.  Now, here, 28 months later, arriving where we started after 26,000 miles or so of sailing, we can say: “Mark the log: the deed is done.”   

As we begin our sail homeward, it’s now time to turn the page in our logbook, and prepare it for further sailing adventures whose direction and pace beckon from the unwritten pages of tomorrow’s entries.