We motorsail up MA Bay and arrive at Tinkers Gong by mid-afternoon. There are a zillion Optis and Lasers sailing off Marblehead Harbor, and as we round the lighthouse we are aghast at how congested/tight it is with boats by the Corinthian Yacht Club. We are sure that it has always been like this, and maybe we are just used to more open space, but this is unreal. We pick our way gingerly through the harbor to the EYC and wait for a spot to open up on the dock where Susannah is waiting for us camera in hand. Once in, Mike Smith gives us a cannon salute..... Really cute, as that is the way we left.

We feel excited but have mixed emotions about being back. We hose down and scrub the boat to within inches of our lives (she needs it) and offload our diesel jerry jugs and any of the ondeck equipment that we can to make us "look better" and not so much like the Clampetts (sp?). Back out to our mooring as fast as we can get off the dock. We have dinner on the porch with Susannah and then FLEE to sleep aboard Katannah. We have breakfast in Old Town the next morning, hang out on the boat and take a few trips home with stuff but again head right out to the boat for dinner and sleeping....this is going to take some time to adjust to.

Mark's parents are here visiting so we spend the next night (the 4th) trying to celebrate aboard having dinner and watching the fireworks. It is COLD and rainy, and at the end of the night with everyone aboard trying to do dinner, the town winds up cancelling the fireworks until a later date! Hello. Everyone heads home to get out of the rain and the cold, but we stay aboard, happy/content in our little home and not wanting to "face the music" back at the house.

We get to sail with the Thomsons the next day which is fun, but the day when the fireworks have been rescheduled becomes iffy-looking weather-wise and we go to Kate and Mark's Salem loft for dinner and fireworks watching from the roof deck. Back to the boat for the night and another fun breakfast the next morning in Old Town. We SLOWLY start to offload stuff (this will take multiple trips) and plan for our reentry. Again, this is hard.

The house is looking terrific, as Kate, Mark and Susannah have done a great job taking care of things. Nevertheless, it seems REALLY weird to be on "terra firma" never mind in a home with big spaces, so we stay on the boat and try to transition ourselves day by day. After day four Vinnin Square doesn't seem so daunting, but our hearts are in the middle of Mhead Harbor. It is fun to meet up with hugs and kisses lots of folks on the EYC porch.... I guess a bunch more people than we realize have known that we have been gone for the better part of a year.

I need to pick up my Mum in CT on 7/11, so off I go and the game is then on for living at the house instead of on the boat. This will be way weird but we have to do it. Some cruisers who have done these trips report that they cannot sleep well at all on land. The good news for us is that we don't seem to have "cruisers' sleeping angst" in our onland bedroom. That part of this transition has seemed to be seamless. Emotionally, well that's another deal.

In the gallery are some pix of our beloved home for the last eleven months. People ask how we could manage, but it was REALLY a comfortable space for us. Sailors understand.