This morning we left for Highborne Cay, 35 miles away. Roger, Tari and I left 40 minutes after the first two boats, and after we rounded the island, put up sails and sailed. Sometimes it was a bit light, and the wind was from in front, but it was sailing. It was a close reach for me, almost sheeted in all the way, but not quite and sometimes it eased a bit. We both were patient and left the motor off and enjoyed one of the best sailing days we've had in months. I don't remember another day like this on the trip. Except for dodging the coral reefs, it was heaven.

Coral reefs - they are marked on the chart, most of them, but not all. I passed over the edge of one at one point and held my breath. They show up as very dark patches of water - if you are watching ahead. Of course, your boat also makes a dark spot on the water, so I can safely say I was afraid of my shadow more than once. You try to avoid sailing through patches of coral, but in some cases you have to bite the bullet, otherwise you can't get there from here, so you pick the path of least resistance - or danger. Today we crossed the Yellow Bank, which is only 13-20 feet deep if you stay in the deep water.

The wind is from the east everyday. So we are on the west side of this north-south island. If the wind ever came from any direction other than east, this anchorage would suck. But instead, the anchorage is busy because the wind only comes from the east this time of year. The first time I anchored, I was 10 feet short of being over the anchor from the boat behind me. He wasn't happy about that, so I had to move. I wasn't happy about that, but I am better positioned now. I still have a ways to go to figure out where to anchor when other boats are around. If there are parking stripes marking out the parking spots ... I haven't found them yet.

Did I say we had a beautiful sail? We sailed!