Last night as we approached Grenada, with a 3/4 moon rising, we crossed our outbound path completing our circumnavigation. It was 8 years ago we were last in Grenada, about 37,000 nautical miles ago (42,500 land miles). Since we left the Puget Sound (Seattle, Pacific Northwest) 12 years ago we've covered about 57,000nm. We have visited in my count somewhere around 39 countries and crossed the equator four times. To add to these stats, Cape Town, South Africa, which we left in February is now 5,847nm in the rearview mirror.
It was pretty fitting that we closed the circumnavigation loop in Grenada. Grenada was the first island I ever arrived at on a sailboat. I got on an orange trimaran named 'Clockwork Orange' while in Tobago as crew in 1976. After an overnight sail we arrived in Prickly Bay, Grenada and I was hooked.
It's been a long, challenging and amazing trip. The most amazing part is that neither Chris or I murdered the other one. Although I have caught Chris humming the tune to the song What If I Threw the Captain Overboard far too many times.
I have also decided it is time to resign from the Flat Earth Society. There have been a few times on this circumnavigation when I was pretty sure we were close to falling off the edge - mostly in places where the old chart gets fuzzy and has a note Thar Be Dragons. But in the end I'm going to have to go with conventional science, drop the Q conspiracy and accept that it really is a round earth.
I'm going to have to give some thought to the circumnavigation highlights, and a little to the lowlights, for a separate blog.
Now off to clear Customs and Immigration, then we need to go setup a rigger to fix our boom and vang. Plus we need to organize a boat survey so we can update our insurance for arrival in the USA.
Paul
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