Captain Wayne: After leaving Miami, we sailed in nearly perfect conditions. We took the Hawk Channel, which is the outside route, vs. the ICW, but it is still inside the reefs that are south of the Keys. We had a downwind wing-on-wing sail on the first day (genoa and main sails on opposite sides of the boat), a spinnaker run the second day, and when we headed north in the Gulf of Mexico, the wind was off the beam. What a great way to end the trip! We did take a short cut at Marathon, going under the Seven Mile Bridge and through the Old Spanish Channel to the Gulf of Mexico.
We covered 4,630 nautical miles (5,325 statute miles) and traveled for 109 days. We were in four Great Lakes, the St Lawrence Seaway, the Saguenay Fjord, the Gulf of St Lawrence, the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and countless bays, rivers, lakes, channels, and canals. We negotiated 18 locks as we descended about 900 feet from Lake Superior to sea level. We visited five Canadian provinces and 18 U.S. states. We spent 62 nights in marinas, 34 at anchor, eight on moorings, two docked behind a friend's house, and we sailed through the night on three occasions. We spent time in about 46 different towns or cities.
We met a lot of great people in the places where we stopped and met many cruisers headed to different parts of the world. Friends and family visited us along the way, and more would have joined us if we could have made the schedules work.
We tested and refined our knowledge and skills with the boat, navigation, weather, unfamiliar waters, currents, and tides. We also worked well together as a team.
As much as we enjoyed getting to our home in Punta Gorda, I already miss being on Lena Bea, and I am looking forward to our next voyage. I am glad we could share our adventure with all of you. Thank you for your emails, blog comments, and calls.
Stay tuned for more thoughts from Michele.
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