Finally! The US Land Border is Opening!

Wow.  We were beyond thrilled (not to mention surprised) to hear yesterday’s announcement that the United States land and ferry borders will be opening in early November.

This means Wild Horses can finally cross the border.

This means our Caribbean dreams remain alive and well.

This means planning, in earnest, for a September 2022 departure for the sunny south is a definite “go”.

Whoa.  Wait.  We still have to spend this winter in Canada?  Yup.  The unfortunate bit is that the news has come too late for us to head south in 2021.  Our route south involves taking the New York State canal system (Oswego and Erie) to the Hudson River, past New York City and then onto Delaware Bay, New Jersey and Annapolis, Maryland before connecting with the Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW) all the way to Florida.  A quick jaunt across the gulf stream and we will be in the Bahamas.  All of this is great…except the New York State canals close today, October 13. 

That’s okay though.  We are looking forward to our little apartment in Gananoque, Ontario and we are thrilled to be a giant step closer to fulfilling our dream.  The extra time in Canada will allow some of the US and Caribbean rules around vaccine and testing requirements to get settled, for the Covid case counts in the States to become less insane, for vaccination rates worldwide to get higher and higher and for us to visit our fully vaccinated family members in person. 

Weirdly enough, we are now actually looking forward to our extra winter in Canada.  Even more so today, now that we know it could very well be our last snowy, cold season.

And, although the timing of the border opening is a little off for our plans, we are really happy for our many friends and family who have also been anxiously awaiting the border opening so that they could head south to cottages, vacation homes and hot weather getaways.  They can now leave on time and get a full winter down south.

Yes, the opening of the US land borders is great news for so many Canadians (and Mexicans!).  For the crew of Wild Horses, it is a very early sign that we will be heading south to the Caribbean next September.  Yay! 😊

A view of our "backyard" (pic is taken from the stern of Wild Horses as she sits in her temporary dock slip at Trident Yacht Club)

Wild Horses at Trident Yacht Club near Gananoque. She will soon be moved to another temporary slip until we sail her to Loyalist Cove Marina for "haulout" on Oct 26