You’ve probably guessed that we are home in Halifax by now!

We arrived in Fernandina Beach, picked up our car that miraculously started after sitting on the lot at Tiger Point Marine all winter, and moved into Dick and Tina’s guest room for a couple of nights. While we were there, we managed to connect with other cruising friends – Carole and Richard (Kilissa) and Sandi and Steve (Yonder) including one memorable afternoon when the “girls” went consignment store shopping while the guys did “guy things” – like getting groceries and checking out welders and drinking beer. And then we all met up for the evening chez Devoe. Between munchies and beverages, we modeled our purchases – to oohs and aahs from the gentlemen! It was a fine time indeed.

We stopped to visit Sue and Terry in South Carolina and then headed up through the Blueridge mountains and Shenandoah Valley (shades of John Denver) – a nice change from the more easterly route we’ve taken other years. Unfortunately it poured rain through most of the trip – it was beautiful, but visibility was limited. We kept seeing less and less green as we travelled North, and we managed a picnic only one day, but we never did encounter snow so we were happy.

Jim worked up the statistics for our travel this year. It is so interesting to see how each year changes from the last. Here they are for our 2011/12 journey from Fernandina Beach FL to Rio Dulce, Guatemala:

Nautical miles travelled: 1460.6 (down from 2021.5)
Statute miles: 1680.8
Kilometres: 2689.3

Nights at anchor: 45 (way down from 72)
Nights on a mooring: 22 (way down from 64)
Nights at dock: 91 (way up from 32)
Nights at sea: 6 (same as last year, but we had 4 consecutive nights this year)

Longest distance travelled in one passage: 420 nautical miles - Key West to Isla Mujeres, 95.5 hours – crossing the Gulf Stream and the Yucutan Channel). (It took longer but we covered fewer miles than last year – 510.5 nm from Varadero, Cuba to Fernandina Beach, FL, 74 hours – travelling with the Gulf Stream)

Diesel used: 145 US gallons (down from 185 US gallons)

We left Madcap on a mooring in Vero Beach last year when we came home for Christmas; this year she was on a dock in Ft Pierce. We took advantage of very affordable dockage in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala when it was available. We still love to be offshore in beautiful anchorages, but when we were in communities, it was very convenient to be on a dock.

This will be the first year that we’ve left Madcap in the water – fresh water – and we’ll let you know how it turns out!

Spring has arrived in Nova Scotia. The forsythia is in full flower; daffodils echo the brilliant yellow at the back of the garden. My tulips didn’t amount to much of anything, but all the rest of the shrubs and trees are budding out. The robins are here, chickadees chirp and the grass needs mowing.

Our tax returns are filed, we’ve caught up on hugs and news with Mary Beth and now we’re off to Ottawa for a visit with our boys. We’ll really get into home mode when we get back. This life of 6 months aboard a boat and 6 months on land still seems to suit us.

Have a great summer everyone and thanks again for travelling with us. I’ll write a few lines now and then, and we’ll see you again in the fall as we continue our exploration of Guatemala and surrounding waters.