GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Dalton DeVos had been dreaming of a grand adventure since he was a kid.

He figured it would be decades before he got the sea beneath him, until his mentor urged him not to wait.

But there was a hurdle. He needed support from his parents.

His mom, Maria, cried, and his dad, Doug, smiled and asked if he could come.

DeVos is back from 2-year trip circumnavigating the globe, happy to be spending the holidays with family.

His 76-foot boat, Reliance, covered nearly 50,000 miles, beginning and ending in Port Denarau, Fiji. Traveling at about 8 nautical miles an hour, that distance took 6,250 hours.

The small crew spent 260 of roughly 730 days at sea. The rest were used exploring 29 countries, Argentina to Vanuatu.

"The whole point was to find places you can only go by boat -- that are dangerous and remote," DeVos said.

DeVos was 23 when he began the trip making him the youngest Nordhavn owner to circumnavigate the globe -- and the 12th time the ocean-going trawler-style motor vessel has lapped the world, the California boat maker pointed out in a press release.

Reliance made a 3,500-nautical mile non-stop passage from Costa Rica to the Marquesas, and rounding Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope.

DeVos no longer sports the beard he had during part of the trip. His tan skin and shoulder length blondish hair give him a surfer look that stands out in a Michigan winter.

Taking two years off to travel around the globe was a bucket list item DeVos initially figured would have to wait until his retirement years.

"I wanted the adventure," said DeVos, who turned 26 this week. "I think that is the genetic part that comes from grandpa."

A legacy of adventure

He grew up hearing the adventures of his grandfather, Amway co-founder Rich DeVos. Before the elder DeVos founded the direct sales giant with Jay Van Andel, the friends embarked on a sailing adventure despite neither knowing how to sail.

They bought a 38-foot schooner named Elizabeth, and sailed toward the Caribbean. Among the places they planned to visit were Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

When their boat sunk off the coast of Cuba, the two adventurers were rescued by a freighter, and continued their 6-month journey by finding different modes of transportation.

They would acknowledge later in their autobiographies they made many mistakes along the way including not slowly introducing their boat to water after it had been sitting in dry dock.

Their story has become part of the Amway company lore, with this message at its heart: If you keep plugging away and learning every day no failure will sink you.

The bell salvaged from Elizabeth sits on the conference room at Amway headquarters in Ada, inspiring the next generation of leaders.

Rich DeVos has told his grandson that if he and Van Andel hadn't done that trip they wouldn't have built a successful company.

"I completely understand that now," Dalton DeVos said.

Rich DeVos' love of boating only grew as he amassed his billion-dollar fortune. He raised a family of avid sailors. Doug DeVos, his youngest son and Amway president, is the most devoted.

He has his own professional sailing team, Quantum Racing, that has won national and international championships. He recently announced he'll be part of the New York Yacht Club's long-awaited effort to reclaim the America's Cup.

When Dalton DeVos was in elementary school, his parents took him out of school for a month so they family could spend time traveling with his grandparents, Rich and Helen DeVos, on their yacht.

"We got to see a lot of world and that opened my eyes to what is out there," DeVos said.

At one point, his parents were considering their own voyage around the globe. When they told him of their plans, DeVos was so excited he couldn't sleep that night.

For his trip, DeVos credits his grandfather Rich for giving him the inspiration to take the trip, and his grandmother Helen for the courage.

Helen DeVos traveled around the world on the couple's boat even though she didn't know how to swim. He remembers his grandmother floating up to him. She was snorkeling wearing a life jacket.

"She never complained once even when something made her nervous," DeVos said.

DeVos was in Tonga near the end of his voyage when his dad called to say his grandmother suffered a stroke. He arrived home in October for her burial and memorial service.

During the trip, Dalton says he FaceTime with his grandparents monthly. He told them about his plans before he shared them with his parents.

They told him, in essence, to "Go for it, dive in, make the commitment, and don't hold back." They praised him for dreaming big.

29 countries in 730 days

He was still a student at Grand Valley State University when he approached his parents about the idea in 2013. The following year he bought the boat and hired a captain. Nine months after graduating with a business and marketing degree in December 2014, he began the journey.

The four-person crew were all in their 20s, including the captain, Chase Smith, of South Africa. He was the first to apply for the opening DeVos posted.

"I wanted somebody who was young and adventurous," said DeVos, who gave Smith control of the boat and the route they would take.

Rounding out the crew was Alex George, the boat's engineer, and Mitchell DeVries, a longtime friend, who had worked on the DeVos family's boats growing up. DeVries took a hiatus from Hope College to go on the trip.

The crew alternated all watches around the clock. Dalton's shift was 9-12 in the morning and at evening.

"It was important to me to be part of the crew," said Devos, who was responsible for cleaning the boat's interior. That meant polishing the stainless steel, wiping floors and cleaning the head, the boat's common bathroom, and taking a few digs when his work wasn't up to the captain's standards.

Even though the crew had their own rooms, the large boat could feel confining at times. There wasn't anywhere to escape when they had disagreements.

"I think the biggest success is that we got along for two years," said DeVos, adding that he feels bonded to his shipmates, and considers them among his best friends.

During the trip, they visited and explored the following countries: Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomons, PNG, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles, Tanzanie, Mozambique, Mayotte, Madagascar, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia, St Helena, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Falklands, Antarctica, Chile, Ecuador, Costa Rica, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Niue and Tonga.

The group spent two months exploring South Africa, in part because Smith knew the country so well.

"It reminds me of Colorado or Utah but you also have all this shoreline," DeVos said of the terrain.

One of his favorite spots was Patagonia in Southern Chile, where they hiked the mountains. They often didn't see other boats as they explored the region through a labyrinth of canals and fjords

DeVos says he was never worried about his safety. The crew regularly communicated with family and friends, often using an app attached to a satellite phone. The only downside was a lack of privacy. The messages could be seen by everyone on the boat.

They had their share of challenges: engine problems, leaking hatch, electronics going out.

DeVos remembers the time the generator broke, and they had to travel between three towns in New Guinea to find someone to fix it. Another adventure involved a wild taxi drive in Mozambique to find parts after the hydraulic hose burst.

The closest they got to disaster happened when an anchor chain snapped as they were preparing to go to ashore to explore one of the Marquesas Islands. The wind was blowing 40 miles an hour and the swells were pretty powerful at the time.

"If we weren't on the boat, we would have drifted ashore. We would have been carried to the rocks and smashed," said DeVos, noting that although the general procedure is to leave someone behind to safeguard the boat, the crew always did their adventures together.

"You don't make it around the world without luck," DeVos said.

Photos show the men barechested and barefoot on the boat. With the exception of their jaunt to the Antarctic, most of their days were hot as they traveled south of the equator.

They spent nearly three weeks in Antarctica, and encountered their roughest waters, 32-foot waves, as they were leaving.

"One of the points of the trip is that I wanted to take some time and challenge myself," DeVos said. "I think one of the biggest thing I learned is to build a team and work as a team and put aside ego."

During his voyage, friends, cousins and his sisters visited. His parents came twice.

Doug DeVos did get a chance to join his son on one of the more adventurous legs of the journey, maneuvering around Cape of Good Hope, a stretch of Atlantic off South Africa known for treacherous waters and fierce winds.

"It was really special," said DeVos, adding that his dad celebrated his birthday during the adventure.

DeVos spent his childhood sailing with his dad. They two sometimes paired up with his Uncle Dick DeVos and his son, Ryan, for the Chicago to Mackinac races, which they have done about 10 times.

In 2014, the two father-and-son duos captured second and third place over Father's Day weekend in the 160th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta.

Despite his extensive sailing experience, Doug DeVos says he had mixed emotions about his son's plans to travel the world on boat and worried about his safety.

"But, at the same time, we realized that this was something he was fully committed to do. He had thought about it from many angles and was determined to do it. It was an experience that would shape him forever - like it did my dad - and I think it has," Doug DeVos wrote in an email to MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.

He says the short leg that he and his wife, Maria, joined their son on the trip is one of their most cherished memories.

"It was a joy to see him completely in his element aboard the boat and, for Maria and me, getting a chance to participate in that was a significant moment. We were most proud of the teamwork that we saw and full of pride that Dalton had a role in creating that. He and everyone aboard should be tremendously proud of their accomplishment and the dedication that it took to make it happen," Doug DeVos added.

As Dalton DeVos transitions back to West Michigan, he has been spending his days going through his photos and writing down memories in the journal he took with him on the trip. He plans to sell his multi-million dollar boat.

He's ready to settle down in West Michigan as he contemplates his future. Although he loves to travel, DeVos says he is happiest when he is surrounded by his family. One of the reasons he attended GVSU is so he could be near his parents and three younger sisters.

"I'm always going to look for that next adventure but I'm glad to be home," DeVos said.