Just a quick update to say that we are now back in Fort Lauderdale, getting Discovery Magic ready for the Miami Boat Show.

As we dropped anchor in Lake Sylvie, our log read exactly 15,000 miles.   We were back in America, surrounded by impressive houses and expensive yachts. The last 800 miles from the Dominican Republic were very easy, with an excellent sail up to the Bahamas.  I must have got acclimatised to the heat as on one night watch I find myself wearing a jumper and a coat, when the temperature had dropped to 24.5 degrees C!

I liked the story behind the two, twin-spired churches that we spied as we sailed past Clarence Town on Long Island.  They are the largest churches in the Bahamas outside of Nassau and both built by Father Jerome:  the first when he was a staunch Anglican and the second when he had converted to Catholicism! We felt we had to stop en-route for a snorkel, as it may well be our last for some time.  Thunderball cave, near Staniel Cay, was a fortuitous choice, with its fantastic coral and large variety of fish.  Close to where we were anchored we could see pigs of all things on the beach.  Taking some stale malt loaf with us, we went to investigate, but didn’t have a chance to get ashore before a pig ran in to the water and made a bee line for us.  I had no idea that pigs could swim so fast! We had to reverse at high speed to stop it climbing in to the dinghy with us and, even so, it almost made it. 

So, we are now back in the ‘Land of the Free’.  But we have been so free: free to sail where we choose; free to explore for as long as we want; free to see fantastic sunrises and sunsets and to travel hundreds of miles just using the wind; free to seek solitude or to be immersed in the hub-bub of a new culture; free to stand-back and enjoy the unexpected.

Our plans will take us back to England, but we intend to have lots more sailing adventures, starting again in the Mediterranean.  We shall greatly miss living on board for the time being, but we have a great many amazing experiences to hold on to.