We're Ba-ack. 43◦16'.552N 079◦51'.759W. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIBBS and HAPPY INDEPEDANCE DAY to all our American friends.

What a welcoming committee we had! We made it home safe and sound and 1hr early! Once we had the bridge in sight, we really started to feel it. 

As much as we are sad to end our journey, it sure is nice to be home. Our first contact was on the VHF with Henry, Cathy and Kevin on "Blue Blazes" who were waiting for us at the bridge. 

We then saw our kiddies from afar, waving us in.

Next was a sports fisher coming up beside us in a hurry and we finally realized it was Curtis and Angie on "Fog Cutter". 

We spotted a dinghy as we crossed the bridge and that was Bruce and Marg from "El Lobbo". Round the corner Simon was hiding, trying to catch the perfect shot. That's about the time I realized I had no fenders down and I better hop to it! 

Entering the bay we were greeted by the many little sailboats of our neighboring yacht club out for their usual Saturday morning exercises. What a sight for sore eyes,

 and as we rounded the corner, the rest of the welcoming committee was standing at our decorated slip. It was awesome! Alex, Vicky, Ross and Fran, Tracey, Queen Fran, Shirley and Bill, Jane and John, Debbie and Dave, and Andrew. Wow we were flabbergasted! Stuart, Gord and Barb all joined a little later, and Steve, Morag and the grandkids dropped by for a visit as well. We spent the afternoon yakking and reminiscing and dinner at Fisher's (thanks Kevin) and resumed our socializing on the dock after dinner. It is good to be home!

As we close this chapter of our lives and begin to get into the routine of "regular life", it is of course, time to reminisce a bit. We have had many good times over the course of our 6925 miles, we learned many lessons along the way. We enjoyed almost every minute of our adventure, with the exception of those rough days at sea where dishes were lost and messes were cleaned up. But the two lessons that stand out most of all are as follows:

 #1 Surround yourself with beautiful people; because no one can make it through this life alone! #2 Carpe Diem because you never know if you will be granted another one!

Thanks to all our "beautiful people" All those who have been around a while and all the new ones we met along the way. A most special thank you to Gord, Bruce and Captain Chris Caldwell who were always there when we had a question and help us keep our baby in tip top shape.

Our Perfect Balance is now for sale as we prepare for the next adventure.

Hope to see you all on the water someday soon!

Our Last night on the Water. Toronto On. 43◦37'.551N 079◦28'.466W

Well this is it. One last night of sleeping under the lulling rocking of a boat at anchor. We set out from Cobourg in the early morning, accompanied by a flock of ducks surrounding our boat and apparently trying to drown one of the females in the flock. Oh wait, they're mating! Opps

Anyway, we sailed across open waters, a few miles from shore, so there was not much to take pictures of but the water was calm, with a small chop to rock us along.

We are now in Humber River Park's small bay, surrounded by nature on one side and sky scrapers on the other. Almost like New York! With the CN tower majestically standing it's ground in the sky line. It feels nice to be almost home.

Tomorrow, we set off for our final leg of this trip. We should be crossing the famous Burlington Bridge somewhere between 12:30 and 1pm. The bridge only opens on the half hour here so there will be no in between.  And we are looking forward to hoisting that gold burgee finally and officially.

See you all on the water. 

It's beginning to look a lot like summer 43◦57'.263N 078◦09'.964W

We made our way through the Murray Canal and slowly up lake Ontario to Cobourg. Our arrival at the harbor was coloured with summer activities. There is a fair going on, complete with Ferris wheel and competitive training exercises for rowers.  Which of course made it look a lot like summer, despite the cool temperatures a mere 16◦C for a high. The lake was not glass, but relatively calm with a moderate chop to lull us back to the cruising life. Man I love it out on the big water. We completed our 297^th lock yesterday and I must say, I am OK with not seeing any locks for a while.

We arrived in good time today, so we took advantage of the sunshine and went for a walk into town. We ran across the old city jail and Jim could not resist taking a picture. They don't make them like this anymore!

We are having a quiet evening in, although the word quiet is not quite right. There is loud music coming from the fair grounds and the bee bop music is starting to get on my nerves.  Once we go to bed, hopefully we won't hear it too much.

Tomorrow we are heading to Toronto for our last night at anchor for quite some time. Better get some sleep, cause we have a bigger day tomorrow.

Good night all 

Canada Day in Trenton 44◦06'.093N 077◦34'.445W

Here we are, only 3 days from completing our loop. Wow time flies! I made Jim promise me we would be somewhere with fireworks last night and true to his word, we had front row seats to a beautiful light show.

We also got to meet another 5 looper boats and their crew. I am envious as they are just starting their trip, all from the Northern US. We chatted with all of them, exchanged boat cards and wished them all well.

When we arrived here, there were few spots to tie up and by 7pm every single slip was full. I think everyone had the same idea, since the fireworks were released in the park right across from this marina. This is such a good spot, that people came and set their lawn chairs all over the shore line to watch. I don't think they were expecting perfect balance to block their view. 

We were also inundated with small fishing vessels. They were everywhere! We found out later that this was a fishing derby staging area. Lastly we were entertained by a guy wearing a water jet pack, bouncing around the bay. It was really neat to watch, it would be neater to try it. Unfortunately he was so fast I could not get a picture of him.

Anyway we are now heading towards lake Ontario, after a little visit to the farmer's marker.

Only 3 more sleeps to go.  See you soon!

Did someone forget to tell Mother Nature it was Summer? 44◦15'.944N 077◦35'.880W

It was a cold and stormy day...well it didn't start out that way. Up at 5:50am (yeah you would think we were back to work already) and on the road again by 6:20am, Jim and I had a 30+ mile run to do to get to our first lock this morning and we thought we would get a head start. It was warm, sunny, the birds were chirping and all was right with the world. That is until we got to the first lock. It started to rain moments before we got there and did not let up until we tied up for the night. It seemed as though every time we got to a lock it rained just a little harder, sometimes much harder. I think mother nature is trying to tell us not to go back to work! Lol.

Still we made it through tight railway bridges and high currents near the dams.

The water level is obviously rising, when they closed the gate at Healey Falls lock, the water was pouring over the gates in a waterfall that made us wonder how on earth can they get water out of here when it's pouring in so fast.

                           Heck even the Heron was surprised as he looked on.

Regardless of the rain, we did make it down that lock and a few others. I luck out in my Job since I get the covered stern, but Jim just got saturated.  We now find ourselves at the Glen Ross lock, hoping to sleep in tomorrow am because the locks don't start until 9am.

By this time tomorrow we will be snug as a bug in Trenton preparing ourselves for the light show celebration. Hopefully Mother Nature will co-operate. They are calling for rain in the am but it should clear by nightfall.

Happy Canada day everyone

Meeting up with old friends in Peterborough 44◦17'.287N 078◦18'.530

We've had a really nice day both weather wise and with meeting up with old friends. Started our day out with sunshine and warmth vs the rain we've been having recently, what a treat. When we arrived in Lovesick lock, we got to see some beautiful flowers growing right out of the tree. 

We saw kids playing on the beach 

and as we continued our pace we got to experience the Peterborough lift lock yet again. I actually took these shots, which is kind of a miracle considering my fear of heights. I took the one of people below just to give you  real idea of how high we were. 

The lock is 65 foot and we sit 8ft above water at the bow, so I was actually standing 78feet above these folks and still managed to look down. 

At the next lock, we were slowed down as other boats where locking through. We realized after a few minutes that it was Steve and Shelly on Pura Vida. Unfortunately we were heading in opposite directions, but we did get to chat for a few minutes.

 I saw Shelly jumping off her boat and running across the lock towards ours while they were still in the lock. It surprised me quite a bit. She handed me two coasters that Steve made for us, hoping we would meet up again somewhere in Canada. How awesome is that? We love them, thanks guys.

Continuing on our merry way, we found out that Dave and Michele were in Peterborough tonight, so although we planned on making our way as far as possible, we stopped at Scott Mills lock and biked over to their Marina for a visit. We ended up having dinner with them as well as tree other couples who are also loopers. A wonderful night all around. Biking home was fortunately uneventful as well. Thank god, because we have no lights on our bikes!

Tomorrow we keep heading towards Trenton. Our hope is to make it to the Trenton Marina for July 1^st so we can participate in Canada day celebrations, but for now, I must bid you adieu. 

On the Road Again - Buckhorn Lock 44◦33'.359N 078◦20'.751

We are back on the road again, after a weekend retreat in Ottawa. We got the starter of course, and then made our way to Fenlon Falls. The weather has not been great but this is not keeping the boaters from getting out in droves. When we got to Fenlon Falls the lock was packed both above and below the lock. I don't think I have ever seen this many boats at a lock. Perhaps the fact that they have power and water makes them a more popular choice.

We did have a nice stay here and then made our way to Bobcaygeon lock on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately we had to drop mom and dad off at this point, because we had a date in Ottawa for a Canada Day celebration at my baby brother's house, but not before a nice lunch with Jim's Sister Diana who came to pick them up and our baby Stephanie who came to pick us up. We have had a wonderful week with my in-laws despite our delays and rainy days.

Once we got to Al and Natalie's house, my nephew Matéo made us feel very welcomed as he played the host with the most. I assume his mom Natalie is to thank for that!  We ate and ate (thanks Nat and Al),











We played like kids

But Mom did manage to get us all quiet for a few minutes so we could get the 9 of us in a semi decent picture.

From left to right-
Top Marie-Anne, Liane, Gilbert, Me, Cécile
Bottom Row: Al, Léo, Mom, Gerald and Bob.
I wonder if my mom looks at all of us and thinks, what the heck did I do to deserve this bunch of ...

Stephanie and Photographic underwater goggles

We had a wonderful time on Saturday but today it rained like a sun of a gun. Thank God Steph was the driver, because our little shenanigans left us a little tired and worn out.

Imagine trying to get 9 of us to dive and hold our breath long enough for an underwater shot? 

Once we did get back to the boat, somewhere around 2pm we set out up the Trent Severn again. We still hope to be home by the 4th of July but our little starter issue sure did slow us down a bit.
Thanks to our Host Al and Nat for Saturday and Marie-Anne and Danny for brunch today. Love you all and we had a lot of fun, However, I think sleeping in would definitely be in order for tomorrow.
Good night all.