We found Phicol just outside his fishing lodge and hopped in his truck for a trip out to Gun Point. That is where the big new boat basin is being blasted and chopped out of the rock. We had thought last year that it would be useful for cruisers as well as commercial vessels but it's not looking that way at the moment. There are no plans for a floating dock for cruising boats or their dinghies, and it is a long trip to town from there. Phicol, as chief councillor for the island, is trying to encourage a dock and golf carts or some convenient way for cruisers to commute. We'll see how it looks next year!

When we bought our brand spanking new outboard motor last year, we left our old Mercury 5 hp outboard with Phicol. He thought he could get it repaired eventually and would do something with it. We were thrilled to find out that he did indeed get it fixed and gave it to the old fisherman who lives on Buenavista cay. We saw him rowing for miles when we anchored there last year and we wondered this year if he was still around since the place seemed empty. Phicol says he sure is - but was away for a couple of weeks. This epilogue seemed just like the icing on the cake to our good news story of last season.

Percy picked us up again as we walked through town and delivered us to the beach where our dinghy had fortunately remained unmolested by his pig. (Although we did find pig hairs and dirt on one of the pontoons!) After changing into swimsuits, we set off across Southside Bay to the shoal on the other side for an idyllic final evening in the Bahamas. The tide was out and the sand bars were wide. I picked up one lovely penshell, and looked through the hundreds of sand dollars for a white one but they were all green and very much alive. We wandered for over an hour, as the ripples of water came creeping back over the sand and the sun dropped closer to the horizon. Then it was time to head back to Madcap and ready her, and ourselves, for departure to one more adventure.

We both slept for a bit, and then at 2am, the alarm went off. We poured coffee into our thermal mugs, pulled the anchor out of Bahamian waters for one last time, and followed our track out of the bay. Good bye to the beautiful Bahamas for another season.