The most expensive place in the world to live

Yes that's Bermuda. It was certainly expensive, with bread costing $5, a pint of beer $10 and other prices commensurate. However, it was also surprisingly pretty and we did enjoy our time there. Nick, our crew for the next stage of the journey, had been there for four days when we got there. Fortunately he has a cousin living on the island so he was able to stay a fifth day whilst we carried out cleaning tasks from the trip and dried out the wet gear from the storm.

With Nick comfortably on board, we set off to explore the island. We walked along one of the disused railway lines, now converted to walking trails, that criss cross the island.

We also visited his cousin Nigel and his wife Diana in their fantastic house with acres of gardens. They showed us the nest sites of two tropic birds and we were able to look inside both and see one chick and one female incubating her egg.

Nigel and Diana then took us on their launch around Harrington Soun, then to a pizza  take away before anchoring in a bay inside the reef surrounding the island to eat pizzas and drink wine - a truly enjoyable evening.

With time needed to buy fresh food and further provisions for the 1,800 mile trip to the Azores, there was only time for a walk to te nearby beach for a swim so we had to forgo our plans to visit the naval boatyard and museum. However, our trip to the beach was rewarded by sightings of enormous ,  brightly coloured parrot fish and lots of yellow - breasted kiskadees

After a week, with a favourable weather forecast and a well stocked boat, we were ready to set off on the crossing to the Azores, my longest ocean sail yet.