May 26, 2009 Nordhavn wanted to throw a celebration party for us at their offices in Dana Point, but with our trip to Greece and Eric going back to work, we had trouble coming up with a date that worked everyone. We finally agreed to the 26th for the party, with us taking the boat up there on the 25th and leaving for San Diego again on the 27th.

Sunday was another day of ridiculous jet lag for Christi, with her again getting up at 0200, her body thinking it was time to rise and shine. We spent the day doing chores. Christi put in a load of laundry and the washer broke. Sigh. We suspect it may be a belt. We are so thankful that it broke now, after we are done with the trip. Our marina has a nice laundry room, so not having the washer right now is no hardship. But, it would have been awful if the washer broke while we were on our journey. Do it yourself washing facilities can be hard to come by in many countries, and we have heard cruisers complain like crazy about laundry services ruining their clothes. Remember that the washing machine manufacturer refuses to ship parts overseas, so getting a replacement belt would have been difficult.

On Monday, we got up at 0530 to get Kosmos ready to go to sea. Remember, we still feel like we are in “trip” mode, so leaving again felt natural to us. In many ways, San Diego felt to us like a stop no different than any other and it was time to move on, just as we always moved on. During the 10 hour ride up to Dana Point, the seas weren’t flat, but were calm overall, making for a fairly smooth ride. However, we noticed there was some soot in the engine room and realized we had an exhaust leak in the smokestack. Oh no! We suspect it is related to when the smokestack fell over. It is actually a very small leak outside the engine room where long external pipe couples from the base pipe out of the engine room. When the stack fell over it bent the base ever so slightly. It is interesting how it showed up now.

When we arrived, we were struck by the fact that we have returned to our exact starting point. Our journey really began in February 2006 when the boat arrived here on a freighter from Taiwan. The PAE crew had finished her up and we took delivery in May 2006. This was our starting place, and in several allegorical ways, it is our ending place. The physical circle is now 100% complete. This will be the last of several welcome home celebrations. Eric will go back to work in a couple days. Our sabbatical from “the rat race” will be officially over after this party ends.

Emotionally, we are torn. Part of us is ready to settle down to regular life. But, the bigger part of us wishes this was just another stop on the way and from here we would keep going north, up to Alaska. We really do wish we didn’t have to stop. And, quite frankly, the fact that we really are done has not sunk in yet.

Nordhavn had told us that before the party started, they would do some warranty work for us, and first thing this morning a crew member was at our door to get the to-do list. The biggest job turned out to be the horn. The horn is apparently a pain to work on in general, and had two problems: the membrane needed to be cleaned and one of the lines was pinched. Nordhavn also changed the blower out, too, as a precautionary measure. Now our horn makes everyone jump when we honk it.

They also fixed the broken black water pump, which made Eric happy. He wasn’t enjoying hand pumping the tank. Another thing we mentioned a long, long time ago is that the breaker for our sea water pump for the spigot at the front of the boat meant for washing the anchor chain was too small. Nordhavn put in the correct 20 amp breaker, so we no longer have to use fresh water to clean the chain and anchor. Yay. They checked the propane sensor and determined it was bad, too. They installed a new shaft brush on main shaft (part of the anti-corrosion system on board).

They also secured the smokestack properly for us, which made us happy, by putting something at the top to keep it from ever falling over again. While they were up at the top of the mast anyway, they changed out the anchor and spreader lights for us, too. And, finally, they sealed up the small exhaust leak using a hard epoxy. All the work was covered under warranty. Nice.

We were most surprised when another crew showed up in the morning to wash Kosmos’ exterior. They had been hired by Nordhavn. We guess PAE wanted her to look pretty for the photos. Nice.

The party was great. About 40 people came, including a few blog readers. It is always fun for us to meet blog readers. Ron, our crew member in Thailand, also came, and it was good to see him. You can read all about it and see lots of photos on the Nordhavn site.