Rosemary and I had a relatively uneventful journey to Nassau, apart from the long queue at bag drop and a bit of stressing about the amount of luggage I had (mostly work related and food ) the flight was very comfortable, although full and enlivened by chatting to Heather on her way to the her third home in the Cayman Islands. We were put in a taxi at the airport by “control” with someone on her way to a week’s yoga and relaxation on Paradise Island. The taxi driver was very concerned about the amount of traffic and at one point claimed we were being held up by a funeral, although I saw no sign of it, but after a drive across the island we arrived at Harbour Club Marina and were warmly greeted by Ted and Peter, who had been pulling out all the stops to prepare for our arrival. Ted and I immediately headed for the computer repair shop to try and get my computer (which had packed up in the hotel at the airport the night before) fixed, while Rosemary and Peter fought to get the bags below decks. Needless to say the man in the computer shop only had to turn the computer on and it behaved perfectly so it was back to the boat to unpack and settle back in.

We were soon drinking wine and relaxing and then it was time to head for The Poop Deck for a delicious evening meal in a very American ambience and back to bed after I had sent the emails delayed when the computer stopped working.

We were up bright and early the next morning in order to leave at the right time to have the sun overhead for crossing the area between White Bank and Yellow Bank in all of 2.7m with the fewest coral heads, on our way to Highbourne Cay. The sail was a combination of reaching, close hauled and motor sailing as we threaded our way between the coral and shallow banks but was very pleasant and we were anchored in good order in time for afternoon tea, and shortly afterwards sundowners.

The next day we arose in a more leisurely fashion and eventually made it ashore. The island is privately owned but has a marina which only seems to welcome bigger boats than Moorglade as Ted and Peter had been informed there was no room. (Didn’t seem to be the case as we drew the dinghy alongside the dingy dock) Although we had seen very little marine life round the boat the water by the dinghy dock was still and crystal clear giving us an excellent view of both a big ray and a large shark of unknown species.

We headed up the stairs to the restaurant for an excellent lunch and entertainment provided by a bananaquit hopping round the table expectantly. Then it was down to the beach for sunbathing and swimming. We all swam to an offshore bathing platform but only Ted and Peter could get on to it unaided but they managed to pull Rosemary and d me aboard. Rosemary and Ted had managed (with some difficulty) to persuade the lady in the marina office to  let us purchase tokens for their showers so we were able to avail ourselves of these before returning to the boat only slightly sunburned. Ti punches for sundowners and another spectacular sunset rounded off a most enjoyable day