'It Don't Get Better Than This' - the title of a Barefoot Man song.

   The day of the Barefoot Man concert dawned clear and blue.  The docks at Orchid Bay Marina were abuzz from early morning with plans for the big day ahead. The concert (party) was due to start at 1 p.m., but the sandy path leading up to Nippers Bar was thronged with Barefoot pilgrims from early in the day. 

How to describe the day?  The only way is to use the title of a Barefoot Man song - "It Don't Get Better Than This"!  The sun shone, the beer flowed, we were surrounded by so many boating friends from around the Abacos, and we became so hoarse with singing along with Barefoot Man, that we had to order more beers, and then some more.  We wandered down to the lovely beach and cooled our heels in the warm Atlantic waters, and then, once more, joined the throng. Barefoot Man didn't seem to need a break, and carried on and on as the audience danced and sang this lovely afternoon away.

But all good things must eventually come to an end. As the sun sank closer to the horizon we wandered down the sandy track back to Orchid Bay and had a lovely dinner watching the sun set over the crystal clear waters of the Sea of Abaco.  As a perfect ending to a perfect day, some of us actually saw the 'Green Flash' - a prismatic effect of the setting sun and only rarely to be seen in the tropics on crystal clear days.

     The next day we set off for a sail of about 10 miles across to 'Treasure Cay'.  The wind got up on this short trip and we managed a nice sail. Our crew, John & Alex, were happy to have the engine turned off and the sails full!  We stayed at Treasure Cay for a night and sunbathed and swam at the lovely crescent-shaped white sand beach.  The next day we made our way back to Hope Town. The day was perfectly blue, but the wind was light and on the nose. We sunbathed and relaxed. We had left 'Reserved' cans on our mooring ball in Hope Town harbour as we had paid for a month's stay.
But would you believe it......we found a boat had tied up to it! The air was blue with our comments as we headed for this rogue boat and asked (told) it to move off!!  Mary was steering 'Southern Vectis' with first mate Alex, and we just skated past the side of this offender!  They left quickly, and we tied up successfully at the end of our five day sailing adventure with our perfect crew.

John and Alex had three more days back at the Hope Town Marina Hotel, and we dinghied over most mornings to meet them for coffee and/or breakfast.  We rented bikes and cycled to the south end of Elbow Cay one day, and had lunch at the Abaco Inn. We had dinner at Capt'n Jack's but didn't manage to get there early enough to snag a table for the Bingo!  On our last night we had a lovely dinner at the Hope Town Harbour Lodge. And then we sadly had to say 'goodbye' to our lovely guests as they left for their flights over to the next part of their Bahamas adventure on Harbour Island, Eleuthera.  We miss them, but hope they will return soon.....most people do!