It's been five amazing months, starting our summer in Crete, cruising the Greek Islands, sailing up to Croatia, down to Montenegro, crossing the Adriatic to Italy, and then sailing across the Med to Spain.

We've been accompanied by old friends, (not-so-old ) relatives, and some newer friends. All in all it's been a great ride, filled with the adventures which accompany this kind of trip. Ken and I have had a blast...and I hope our crew has enjoyed our time together as much as we have.

In addition to the crew who signed up in advance and accompanied us on the various legs, we were most fortunate to have 'nuestro hijo adoptivo', (our adopted son), Guillermo, with us for the past month. He has just been so helpful with boat issues, language issues, and a joy to have on board. He is moving on; with his bilingual expertise, he has secured work here with a local mechanic. In addition, he is working on his life plan...with many creative ideas for the future. He has enriched our lives. We will miss him but we wish him only the best for his future.

But...it's now time to close this chapter and start the next. Captain Ken, accompanied by his crazy cronies (in alphabetical order: Bob, Jens, Lee and Rob) will, if all goes according to plan, leave Benalmádena (where we have been for the past three weeks getting Moonbeam into ship-shape), make a fuel stop in The Canary Islands, The Cape Verde Islands or Madeira, depending on the winds, and then make the three-ish week crossing of the Atlantic, making landfall in the BVIs (hopefully) in time for Thanksgiving...and we will have much to be thankful for.

So, Moonbeamers, thanks for following the blog. I hope you have enjoyed this part of the odyssey. It's now time to pass the (blog) torch to the next generation of writers. Stay tuned.