The dinner turned out to be a splendid evening. There were about 17 of us all told, many yachties and a couple of the resort guests.

The food was excellent, salsa and guacamole appetisers unlike any I had ever tasted before. That was followed by a delicious, spicy beef dish served with a mixture of vegetables, some of which were new to me, rice and beans. I had to get the recipes, this food was so good.

As is my want, I was drinking water, so popped into the kitchen to top up my glass (it’s all self service as far as drinks are concerned and it operates on the honour system), there I met Dalia, the head cook.

I told her how much I had enjoyed the meal and I simply must get her recipes. Delia is a lovely girl, only 21 and 1 of 15 children. We chatted for a while and it soon became obvious that she was passionate about cooking. So I suggested that she make a CD or book of her recipes and sell them for a couple of dollars, to make some extra money. She was overjoyed with the idea and we arranged to meet up the next day.

After a lovely evening, Roger and I sat on the afterdeck with a hot chocolate (and a generous helping of rum in Roger’s) enjoying the peace and quiet and the amazing array of stars.

We woke to a perfect day, not a ripple on the water, not a breath of wind, sun shining brightly, all in all a great for exploring in the dink and snorkelling on the reef.

The snorkelling here is excellent, so much better than anywhere else on the island, in our opinion.

Plus there is very good diving and lots of places to choose from.

We even christened the new swim ladder, boy that makes such a difference. Instead of scrabbling up and throwing yourself into the dink, looking like some floundering fish, now I can simply climb aboard.

After we had dried off we were just sitting in the dink when a school (pod, whatever??) about 12 dolphins swam past, just our luck, it would have been cool to have been snorkelling with them.

Later that afternoon, I came ashore and met up with Delia and we started work on her cookery book. Because we won’t be around to see all the dishes prepared and photograph them we have enlisted Jeremy’s help to take them and insert them in the appropriate place.

Mango Creek is such a lovely place, more like home than a resort. We climb up through the gardens, spotting hummingbirds and monkey LaLas on our way up to the lodge. Usually, there is no one else around, so we sit in the lounge, with Sailor, the gorgeous Lab, Rottweiller cross and Krispy Kreme the pretty little black and white cat.

The views are gorgeous and the sounds of the wind in the trees and the various animals are very tropical. It really is a nice change from sitting on the boat.

Terry is a yachty himself and makes yachties welcome. So that evening he invited everyone to join him to watch a presentation from Paula and Steve.

Paula & Steve, a couple on a yacht called Long White Cloud (work it out Phill!!!!) gave the presentation about their boat and their voyage to date. They built their boat from scratch, it took them 7 years and is built on a 1930 classic design. They have been very successful in winning the Antigua Classic Race week in 2006. It was an excellent evening, very stimulating and also thought provoking. After talking with them Roger and I are reviewing and revising our future plans. So it looks like revision X is in the pipeline.

Once again we sat had our nightcap on the after deck enjoying the stillness of the night and the wonderful stars. Guess it was the calm before the predicted storm?

The weather front came through in the middle of the night as the winds howled, gusting up to 28 knots and a couple of squalls came through. Roger sat up a while, just to make sure the anchor didn’t drag, although we did have the anchor alarm on. But we had a good night with no mishaps.

Pendragon dragged anchor a couple of times and reset their anchor sometime in the night but other than that everyone survived the front pretty well. Hiatus also had anchor problems, so upped anchor and headed out for French Harbour, but not before giving us their charts for Cartagena, thanks Kent and Heather, very much appreciated.

Pendragon were still struggling with their holding, it can be a bit of an issue in Port Royal because of the depths and bottom type so they too headed for French Harbour.

That left the anchorage somewhat empty, just Long White Cloud and ourselves. Excellent!