The Bondarenkos have finally settled in Nova Scotia after a decade and a half roaming the sea.

The Russian family became famous in Bermuda when they arrived on the Island in June 2005 and remained in Bermuda for seven months while they waited out hurricane season, Canadian visa snafus and winter storms.

The family returned to Nova Scotia this past weekend, CTV reported, after 20 months of uncertainty.first wrote about the family after they said they would sail to Bermuda if Canadian Immigration officials forced them out of the country in November of 2004. They were granted an 11th hour reprieve and told they could wait out winter in Canada and did not set sail for Bermuda until the spring. The family, made up of Vitaly and Marina Bondarenko and their two children Ivan and Vasil, are originally from Moscow and started travelling aboard their 36-foot sailboat in 1991. In early 2004 they settled in Nova Scotia and decided they no longer wanted to call the ocean home. However, in order for their Canadian citizenship to be granted they had to leave the country first and then make the necessary applications.

When they arrived in Bermuda they anchored near St. George?s harbour. Government granted them an unprecedented visa extension. Ms Bondarenko?s fear of flying also held them up. The family refused free Air Canada tickets to Nova Scotia. They left Bermuda, under the Department of Immigration?s insistence that they keep to the agreed deadline, on January 17 2006. They arrived in the British Virgin Islands and visited Bermuda again in May to stock up on supplies.