“We’d better go now,” Chris says.

I still haven’t finished my coffee but I have to agree with him. There are dark clouds gathering out to sea and they’re coming our way. We have to get our guests to shore before this squall hits or they’ll be soaking wet on the plane ride home.

We are anchored just off Georgetown, commonly known as “Chicken Harbor.” Beyond Georgetown lies open ocean and with little between you and Africa, there is plenty of room for the seas to build. Pounding into 12-foot waves with 20-knot trade winds on the nose is not unusual.

Some sailors make it as far as the Dominican Republic or even Puerto Rico before turning back, their sails in tatters, the crew ready to mutiny. But many never find the courage to leave Georgetown. Which is why, at night, the harbour is a sea of mast lights. New York City, we call it. It’s kind of pretty. From a distance. We are anchored about as far west as you can go, far from the madding crowd.

Which is why we need to move the boat closer to Georgetown to disembark our guests and their luggage. Even if the squall missed us, they’d be soaking wet after the long dinghy ride to shore.

We motor to Georgetown and drop anchor as close to shore as we can, then a quick flurry of good-byes and Chris zooms to shore, the dinghy piled high with people and suitcases and two water jugs he’s decided to fill while on shore.

The dark clouds keep coming. I keep watching for him to return. The sky darkens, the wind picks up. I keep watching for him to return. I try not to think about the squall that hit us just after we dropped anchor in Lake Worth last year. The boat heeled over so far the port rail was in the water, and we had to motor ahead at full throttle just to keep our anchor from popping up. Could I do that? A dinghy leaves shore, heads towards the boat. Thanks goodness. I stop cursing him in my head and go to the aft deck to take his line. It’s not him.

I call him on the handheld radio. No answer. I close all the hatches, lock the cupboards. Finally he calls on the radio.

“I’m just going to get some wine.”

“Have you looked at the sky,” I ask him, incredulous.

“It will take me five minutes.”

The first drops of rain splatter on the windscreen. And the wind is picking up. I curse him out loud now. I’m raving, actually. How could he be so cavalier? Twenty minutes later I see him set off from shore. There are no other dinghys on the water.

So maybe I’m a big chicken. It was nothing. The squall hit us just as Chris climbed on board, the anchor held, it was all fine. Half an hour later we were motoring back to the anchorage under sunny skies.

I do understand why people are tempted to stay here all winter—many do, in fact. The beach on the ocean side goes on forever—despite our best efforts, we’ve never walked the whole length of it. We get distracted by big surf, pretty shells, tidal flats, bubbly pools. And the beaches on the west of the island are just what you imagine when you dream of being cast off on a desert island. The swimming is perfect, the water here is warm and clear—so clear you can watch starfish making their slow way across the bottom. Free water, a grocery store, a liquor store. What else do you need in life?

Sadly, it’s time for us to start the long journey home. We need to start heading north if we’re going to make it to Ontario in May. So reluctantly, we’re leaving this piece of paradise.

With full water tanks, fresh produce, and a freezer full of chicken.