After 364 days and over 6000 miles of unbelievable cruising, the Estrellita crossed her wake (starting point) in Charleston on April 3rd, 2015 at 5pm. We have been overwhelmed by God’s goodness in allowing us to experience so many wonderful places, enjoy the natural beauty of countless waterways and to be strengthened as a couple by some rigorous boating challenges. But as we have mentioned in this blog many times, it was the people that we met along the way that made it one of the most special times of our lives.
Thank you, thank you to all of you who traveled along side us, encouraged us, made us laugh, shared life with us and showed your love to us along the way! Reaching our home dock and being overwhelmed by the welcome that we received from our family and friends was bittersweet. We greatly missed all that we left behind for a year, but it was sad to see the great journey come to an end. Our vessel will enjoy a rest at her dock for a while, but it won’t be long before we untie her lines and set out for another unforgettable Estrellita Excursion.
-
-
Good friends drive down to St. Simons to visit us as we get closer to home
-
-
John and Lori
-
-
Fred and Denise in front of St. Simons Lighthouse
-
-
Never fails to make us smile!
-
-
-
-
Approaching Hell’s Gate, an infamously narrow and shallow cut….and unfortunately at low tide.
-
-
White knuckles as we barely glide through Hell’s Gate in 3.5 feet of water!!!
-
-
After Hell’s Gate, we face an ominous looking cold front just ahead
-
-
-
Approaching Beaufort, SC…one of our favorite and frequent destinations from our home port.
-
-
After a few nights in Beaufort, we woke up early on the morning of April 3rd and started our final day toward the point where we started a year earlier
-
-
Cruising under the Lady’s Island Bridge by the morning’s first light as we leave Beaufort
-
-
Beautifully calm final day
-
-
Can’t get much better than this!
-
-
A welcome home pod of playful dolphins!
-
-
We know we’re close to home when we pass under the Limehouse Bridge, one of our two bridges onto Johns Island.
-
-
Childhood friend Alice Meise was one of the first John’s Island friends to come out on her dock to welcome us back. We were still about 10 miles from home.
-
-
Getting ready to “cross our wake”, which is the point where we will technically close the 6,000 mile “LOOP”
-
-
Our plotter showing an icon of our boat just before crossing the line showing our origination route near Elliot’s Cut.
-
-
Stel’s 87 year old father behind the wheel of his boat welcoming us back to our home creek along with our son Sam, and Stel’s brother Bud.
-
-
Cousin’s Gee and Tom with a welcome home wave!
-
-
Neighbor Bill and daughter Sarah pushing us along to the finish line
-
-
We were overwhelmed with a dock full of family and friends giving us a very warm welcome back home party!
-
-
-
-
-
An opportunity to thank family and friends for their prayers and moral support during our year-long adventure
-
-
Removing the white and flying the gold burgee on our bow, the official designation of completing America’s Great Loop!