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!