Here is Bob holding the Q flag. When a ship enters a new country, even a pleasure craft like ours, it must enter at a port of entry and it must enter flying the Q flag. Once cleared, the vessel flies the country's courtesy flag.

The history of the Q flag is not clear.

Certainly the solid yellow flag stands for the letter Q in the maritime flag alphabet. If you've ever seen a ship entering port with many colorful flags strung up and down its masts, these are probably not for decoration. They could be a message spelled out in the maritime flag alphabet. So, perhaps the Q-flag is stands for "quarantine."

But, the solid yellow flag was also historically (and sometimes still) flown to indicate disease and death in the house. That might come from yellow fever (a viral disease that can turn your skin yellowish).

Whatever the origin, the modern use of the Q flag is to indicate that the boat is disease-free and ready to be boarded for inspection. No one is supposed to leave the boat until the national authorities have cleared the boat into the country.

For us, in fact, clearing in took just a few minutes (after walking the dog) with some pretty bored-looking officials (and lots of money - now taking visa, master but not discover).

We were boarded later in Nassau. Three men with large guns came aboard and "inspected" the vessel. They were super polite and professional.

In the end we have pile of paperwork to show for our Q flag.

p.s. We never actually got to raise the Q flag because the seas were too rough. So, we entered flying the American flag. Now, we are flying the Bahamian courtesy flag from the starboard yard!