The Bahamas just get better and better. We lay at anchor yesterday at West Plana Cay, one of a pair of uninhabited islands on our route. It took a wee while to find our right spot but once we found it we were happy. There were some near perfect coral heads around the boat, which were great to see. Before leaving in the morning we took the dinghy over to the long white coral sand beach for a walk, and returned with two huge bin bags of plastic flotsam and jetsam collected from the shore-line. Now to find a place to leave them…

We enjoyed a great 20-mile sail over to Aklins Island, which was much appreciated after two days of solid motoring. There are two islands here – Aklins and Crooked – curved around a huge shallow bight which in season is full of flamingos. More whale watching revealed nothing, but our arrival at Lady Slipper Cay revealed plenty: whilst enjoying our usual arrival swim we spotted Nursie the nurse shark, snoozing on the sand six feet from the boat. We managed to get a photo from the dinghy, but couldn’t persuade any of the crew to get back in with it for a close up selfie. We believe they are quite safe but, as always, input from our readership is appreciated.

We then took the dinghy over to the beach with the intention of walking down to the nearby settlement; immediately we were offered a lift there by a couple of local chaps who drove us along the bumpy, dusty road and told us they had just seen a tiger shark on the reef. We wandered through the tiny scattered settlement and along the beach, until we were met by the delightful Miss Roslyn Poitier in her little white pickup, who drove us along the north of the island to see the views. Then a walk back along the dusty track – past the grotto of Darling’s Cave - with a view of our first scorpion.

Matenka, another ARC boat had come into the bay and we went by to pay our respects. They had been just along the pontoon from us in Las Palmas so it was good to catch up again over a little cuba libre. Then home for a fine supper, cooked by Angus.

Exhausting!...