( CNN ) -- Some 518 days after she first set off alone in her sailboat , 16-year-old Laura Dekker glided into a Caribbean port on Saturday to complete her historic , and controversial , voyage around the globe . The Dutch citizen arrived in Sint Maarten around 3 p.m. ( 2 p.m . ET ) , her spokesman Anton Van de Koppel told CNN . And a picture linked from Dekker 's official website Saturday shows her standing behind a group of children holding a sign , `` Congratulations Laura Dekker ... Welcome back to St . Maarten . '' While other teens have made similar sea voyages -- some of them without stopping , as Dekker did -- the Dutch girl unofficially appears to be the youngest to do so sailing alone . In 2010 , Australian Jessica Watson finished a non-stop , unassisted solo circumnavigation days before her 17th birthday . But sailing journalists have said , and her team did n't dispute , that her route was less than 21,600 orthodromic ( or , in the same direction for a great circle ) nautical miles , which is the length of the equator and the distance generally used for round-the-world sailing records . Dekker states on her website that she traversed about 27,000 nautical miles on her own solo voyage aboard her 38-foot yacht , which she has dubbed Guppy . She was 14 when she began August 21 , 2010 , in Gibraltar and then headed west across the Atlantic Ocean , through the Panama Canal , across the Pacific , through the Indian Ocean , around the Cape of Good Hope , and ultimately to her final destination in the Caribbean . The trip almost did n't happen -- not because of problems at sea , but rather due to a high-profile legal fight by Dutch authorities to prevent the teen from setting sail , for her own safety . 14-year-old attempts world record . In August 2009 , Dekker was put under state care for two months , following her parents ' refusal to prevent her from undertaking the voyage . Then , in October 2009 , a Dutch court ruled the girl could n't sail around the world because she was not considered experienced enough to do so . But it left the door open for a future trip , deciding that she could depart if she fulfilled certain requirements the court had established for her . `` As a 13-year-old girl , it was never my intention to be the center of world news , '' Dekker wrote on her blog three days before docking in Sint Maarten . `` Now , after sailing around the world , with difficult port approaches , storms , dangerous reefs , and the full responsibility of keeping myself and the Guppy safe , I feel that the nightmares the Dutch government organizations put me through , were totally unfair , '' she added . 16-year-old circumnavigates the globe . Dekker made stops in numerous coastal sites during her trip , in places such as the Galapagos Islands , Bora Bora and Cape Town , South Africa . According to multiple published reports , including in the St. Maarten newspaper Today , she had once planned to return to Gibraltar by going through the Suez Canal , but altered her route and headed around South Africa toward Sint Maarten to avoid pirates . The day before docking for the last time , she reflected on the early days of her voyage , including her initial time in the Caribbean more than a year earlier . `` It feels like it was just yesterday but at the same time it seems like it was an eternity ago , '' wrote Dekker , who was actually born on a boat in port in New Zealand . `` Back then I had no idea I would be back now with a life load of new experiences and 27,000 nautical miles under Guppy 's keel . `` But here I am having almost circumnavigated the whole world . Yes , that idea is slowly sinking in ... But I do n't really believe it . '' CNN 's Sherri Maksin contributed to this report .
Sint Maarten was at sea or in port for October 2009 , her website states . She traversed 27,000 nautical miles before docking in Laura Dekker . The teen fought efforts by Caribbean authorities who did n't want her to sail .