Yesterday, we completed our expedition and ended up in the exact same spot where it all began on November 14, 2009. We had a very pleasant passage from the Bahamas and sailed across the gulf stream to end up in Carolina Beach, North Carolina at the same marina – and even the same slip – where we were located at the start at Joyner Marina. So, full circle! Below is a picture from before we left, and yesterday after we arrived:
Tahina at Joyner
We had a brief visit from a US Customs and Border Patrol officer who completed a form for us and asked a few basic questions. Then we were officially back in the US. A short while later, our daughter Trisha arrived after driving down from Raleigh. Happy reunion! She is staying with us and is helping us clean up the boat some. We are inviting friends of Tahina, and family members to come down to help us celebrate our return.
We plan to have some food and drinks on Saturday afternoon. If you are a friend of Tahina, then drop me a note here or E-mail, and we’ll add you to our invitation list.
It’s been the experience of a lifetime on this trip, and I have to say the emotions and thoughts approaching this moment have been very interesting. We have both been dreading and looking forward to completing the journey on many levels. The cruising life has been a very wonderful experience. We had the great fortune to spend two wonderful weeks in the Bahamas with two other cruising sailor boats which greatly enhanced the last experiences of the trip (both s/v Gromit and s/v Salty Ginger arrived safely last night in Beaufort, NC). We were all trying to get the most out of our last few days – and we relished every moment of it. We were so fortunate to get to share that time with them and it so much helped with the emotions we were experiencing.
At the same time, we are so looking forward to getting back to friends, family, and a sense of home. We have been on the move for so long, we are unsure how long it will take us to like staying in one place again. We may never adjust. But, right now we are thrilled to have one daughter back on the boat, and a bunch of friends and family coming down tomorrow to celebrate.
One final thought, it isn’t about how you go about doing a trip like this, or the places you visit. What makes doing something like this worth all the trouble to make it happen is the experiences you have when its all over. We have had a wealth of experiences that we could never have imagined at the start. And those experiences have hopefully taught us some things about how to live our lives going forward to value the new experiences of life.
Congratulations to both of you for a safe and wildly entertaining voyage. Your excellent writing and photography skills let me live vicariously through you. I was thrilled each day I got notified that there was a “new entry on Tahina Expedition”…
Enjoy your re-introduction to “land lubber life”.
I hope you will continue to provide periodic additions to the blog.
All the best!
Tim Connolly
St Petersburg, FL
Hi Timothy, and thanks for following us. I plan to do a number of follow up posts, and also have a lot of work to process more photos and lots of video content from our travels. It may take months before I get most of that processed.
Congratulations on a safe and wonderful voyage. I’ve followed your journey for many years now and enjoyed all of your stories and pictures. Thank you for the entertainment and sharing your story.
Thank you Michael!
It looks like you picked up a little orange hitch-hiker at some point!
Did you play Ingress during your journey ? I am thing of all the unique portals you must have visited.
Welcome home.
Glenn, I assume you’re referring to the kayak? We actually bought that in the final week before our departure and the photo on the left was taken maybe a few days earlier.
Yes, I started and played Ingress. I played extensively in Malaysia and Singapore while my eye was being treated. But, I only occasionally played in the final couple of years. Mostly because we were too busy already traveling and seeing the sights, so it was hard to play the game too!
Frank, Originally got connected with you through my interest in Google Earth and then started following your adventure. Although I have zero interest in being on a boat for more than a couple hours – much less a couple of years, I was fascinated by your adventures. I enjoyed learning about new places and your approach to solving the many problems you encountered along the way.
Thanks for taking us along and best of luck in the new phase.
You’re welcome Greg, and thanks!
Welcome home! And well done!!!!!!!!!!!! I sure have enjoyed following you and look forward to seeing the rest of your posts to come! Wish I could be there for your little party – I live in Texas – but will think of you tomorrow when you are finally reunited with family and friends! CHEERS!
Thank you Virginia!!
Hi, not sure “welcome home” is the correct phrase to use. You did say that Tahina will be your home. Welcome back to the USA and congrats on achieving a dream that i’m sure even non-sailors like myself have, fact is by following you opened a new world to me.
Point of interest on the start and end photo’s. Have a look at the trees in the background over the bow.
Hi Jannie, yes, those trees did indeed grow a bit. It’s too bad the two photos were taken at opposite tides so it throws off the ability to compare properly.
Hi Frank & Karen
We have our boat at Joyner marina and saw your awesome catamaran today. We would love to talk to you about your expedition as we want to buy a catamaran in the future and live aboard in FL or the USVI. Thank you!
It was a pleasure to meet you. Come by again sometime and we’ll tell you more.
Congratulations on your trip. I have followed every post since 6 months before you departed and have enjoyed traveling around the globe through your writing and your photos. We missed your in New Zealand by only a day leaving the day your arrived there. I know it must be with mixed emotions that you concluded your trip, but know that you touched many others over the past several years with the tales of your journeys. May this not be your last adventure. And if you do set out again, I hope you will again share your journey with us all. Thank you for many years of enjoyable reading.
Thank you for following us for so long Don, and for your kind words and wishes for our future.
Frank & Karen,
Welcome home,
I’ve followed you from the beginning but had to pause my reading when I knew you were close to home because I didn’t want the journey to be over.
Welcome home. Now go sailing!
All the best.
Thank you Dan, it’s a great pleasure to me to see the comments from people who followed us for such a long time.