Trip summary....

A family journey that includes three countries (not including Brazil - the land of Julio, Russia, Finland, Sweden & Copenhagen) from September 2013 to April 2014 can not be easily summarized in a few words. There are wondeful highlights including traveling over 3,200 miles across many waterways and meeting many new friends and learning many new things. There are things that make you aware that you need to pay attention, including two large yachts that were resting on large rocks due to a lack of preparation and forethought (one yacht owner decided he knew how to pilot a yacht and dismissed the hired captain, the other did not have the forethought to make sure they were docked during high winds and their anchor broke at 3am and they had to evacuate the guests.)

People have asked, what has been the highlight or the best part of the trip....it is kind of asking someone where can you get the best food......for an answer you need to consider, what sort of food are you looking for, where are you located - my point is there is a lot of variables to consider, and here are some of mine.....

I would definitely do the trip again as I am certain there are things that we haven't seen or done, but hard to consider that when you think of all the things we have done. There are anchorages everywhere and the next trip would probably have more 'off the beaten path' side trips as there are over 700 islands in the Bahamas and we have probably only seen or been on 75 of them. There really isn't a place that isn't more wonderful than the last as you head south down the Exumas. The beaches, the people, the views are truly spectacular! We will be spending the next several years in Georgetown during inclement weather and will be flying there directly to hang out on the beaches and to keep the taste of the Bahamas going until we return by boat again later.

The highlight of the trip has to be the people and their stories. People who sail from Gilbraltor on a 40' sailboat with two individuals who have zero sailing skill and make it to the Bahamas. People from Detroit who wanted to sail for only one year and are now on year eight and still heading south. People from California and their two young kids who are heading to Belize after traveling all over the Caribbean and will return sometime late in 2014. The five boats that got together in Cave Cay to watch an almost green flash evening overlooking our neighbour "Magic Man". Jeffrey the Bahamian fishing guru on Farmers Cay who took us to learn how to catch lobster (in fact showed us a lobster in 12' of water, however that lobster was able to survive after an hour of harassment). The taxi driver in South Carolina who wanted to know where we lived and we said two hours east of Toronto - BIG mistake.... thank you crack smoking, drunken stupor, "I will kill you" mayor! The woman who had 78 pairs of shoes heading with her boyfriend southbound.....and Aaron explaining to her that she didn't really understand Obamacare. All in all, everyone has been incredible and the stories have been incredible. Many people are doing extremely interesting things and some would argue we fit that category.......