Whilst the sunshine was very welcome, there was absolutely no wind on the day we left Dartmouth bound for the Solent.  We motored 80 miles to Lymington, where we were due to meet some friends from the 2nd half of the World ARC rally - Chris and Tracey from ‘Mageia’.  Coming through the Needles Channel into the Solent was a watershed moment.  It had been 1,902 days (5 years, 2 months and 15 days) since we came out through the Needles heading the other way.  Everything looked so familiar, and yet felt out of place.  This was to become a familiar feeling!

We’d set ourselves the target of arriving back in Southampton at 2.00 pm on Saturday 27th June 2026, and had booked a berth at Ocean Village Marina ready for our final homecoming.  That gave us a date to aim for and, more importantly, family and friends who wanted to welcome us back knew where to be and when!  So after Lymington we spent the Friday night in Cowes on the Isle of Wight so that we were strategically placed for the following day. It also gave us a few hours to tidy up and hoist our flags.  Traditionally yachts are ‘dressed overall’ when they return from a circumnavigation.  We felt very proud as we motored up Southampton Water on the Saturday morning with all our flags flying, although no one else actually seemed to notice!

We loitered about outside the entrance to Ocean Village Marina for a few minutes after 2.00 pm to allow all latecomers time to get themselves in place before we arrived, before entering the marina to the sound of air horns and whistles.  John responded on his trumpet.  It was an emotional moment to see the gathering of familiar faces on the quayside as we approached our berth.  

Reflecting on the experience of the last five years, we feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to sail around the world.  We have seen some beautiful places, experienced different cultures, and made some great friends.  It wasn’t always comfortable or easy, and sometimes we were downright scared, but we feel a real sense of achievement that we made it all the way around the world.  Our favourite places tend to be the ones we knew little about before we got there, and our least favourite  - the ‘instagram’ famous spots.  So we loved the San Blas Islands off Panama, for example, and the lesser known islands in the Pacific, but Bora Bora wasn’t a favourite.  We remember some places for the natural beauty and power of nature: the Namibian sand dunes; the bubbling volcano of Tanna in Vanuatu; the mighty Agulhas current off South Africa; the enormous breaching whales in Tonga; the cute penguins in New Zealand and in Cape Town.  Other places we remember for the sense of safety or comfort after being in remote areas: delight at seeing a slice of tomato on a pizza in Tahiti as we hadn’t been able to buy tomatoes since Panama, for example.  There’s so much to reflect on that it will take us a while to work out a good way to capture our thoughts and memories.  We each have around 25,000 photos to review for a start! Would we do it again?  Hmmm - maybe!  We have no regrets at all about the journey and Casamara was a wonderful home during our time away, but we probably won’t devote that much time to ocean sailing again.  We’re looking forward to more travelling, but not in that unique way.  So this is the final chapter in our circumnavigation blog.  Thank you to all of you who’ve followed our journey and sent such encouraging feedback over the years. It meant a lot to us.