Peter Island 2

Many are saying how unseasonal the weather is this year. The locals are revelling in the unusual coolness and hoping it lasts, as the summers can be unbearably hot. The cruisers are commenting on the 'northers' still plaguing the Bahamas with gale force northerlies. For us Europeans, the climate seems perfect – hot days and warm nights. However, we cannot sensibly move on until we see a decent window. The Bahamas offer little shelter from gale-force winds, even 25C ones, and there are fewer places to go ashore and take stock when you draw 8ft. Cabin fever is a real possibility if we get the wrong side of a strong blow. We hope to run through to cover the 1200 miles to Florida as quickly as possible.

The locals also are keen to chat about life in the BVIs. Although they seem so westernised after the more southern Antilles, ex-pats find that life is remote and monotonous after Europe, the US or South Africa. They crave some culture – museums, cinemas, concerts – and also crave the temperate weather, basking in the prospect of snow and cold. Despite this, they admit that they are well placed for groceries and restaurants. The BVIs have a higher GDP per capita than the UK and everyone makes a good living. Most of this is off the charter boat trade, bringing wealthy tourists with money to burn, determined to have a good time and eat well. We shall provision thoroughly before leaving as it seems unlikely we'll get such good, or any, supplies through the Bahamas with our limiting draft and isolated cays.

Life has not always been so comfortable in the BVIs. On Peter Island we explored a ruined house that belonged to a New Hampshire family who had gone bankrupt. The large house was overgrown collapsing, with just the servants' furniture and a few rusting kitchen appliances left. It would have been an imposing dwelling, situated on a sharp ridge between two exclusive bays, complete with their own private jetty. The children delighted in the dilapidation and found lizards, hermit crabs, caterpillars and cocoons in the debris.

Matthew cannot stay out of the water. He snorkels as soon as he wakes up and is now confident to be in the water alone and some distance from the boat. This morning I spotted a large turtle near our anchor chain and Matthew had the opportunity to swim with it excitedly for some minutes. Once we retrieved him, we sailed for the smallest inhabited island of the BVIs, Jost.