That night
Saturday

22:00

The Atlantic Storm
1 nautical mile off Nassau, The Bahamas
Position: 25.0600° N 77.3450° W
145nm logged

Dave and I were awoken by the anchor, as it plunged down into the water.

It was dark as we both joined Ryan and Tommy on the bridge. Ryan passed us both a coffee from the large pot on the table.

"All quiet, ma'am!" Ryan chuckled.

"Thank you, captain!" I replied with a smirk.

Ryan showed Dave and I where we were on the chart and explained the anchoring procedure. Tommy was packed off to bed while the three of us checked that all was secure and we shut down the engines.

Ryan went off to join his wife in bed, while Dave and I went back to our own stateroom, looking forward to some fun, the following morning.

The following morning
Sunday

06:00

Nassau, The Bahamas
Position: 25.0600° N 77.3450° W
145nm logged

Dawn broke warm and pleasant.

I opened my eyes to see my husband looking back at me, a big grin on his face. However, before we could consider doing anything, the door to the stateroom burst open and Anne-Marie ran in and jumped on the bed.

The seven-year-old was dressed in her one-piece swimsuit, but with shorts and t-shirt over the top – she was barefoot.

"You look happy, this morning," I commented.

"It's beautiful out there!" The little girl exclaimed.

I had to agree with her, the view out of the starboard windows was awesome and the sunlight streamed in indicating a beautiful day.

"Come on, Dave – time to get up!"

"Oh, Cathy said coffee is on and breakfast should be ready in half an hour," Anne-Marie said as she bolted for the door.

I went to check on the others.

..._...

Chloe looked very pleased with herself as she emerged from her den of iniquity that morning and I noticed some marks on her neck.

"Please tell me that you did not bring that damn collar?"

Chloe smirked.

"I would never lie to you..."

"Well, I wish you would – ewww!"

"What's ewww?" Megan asked appearing in the lobby.

I was about to say 'nothing' when Chloe grinned fiendishly.

"You remember that collar which Mindy threatened you with – you know; the strip naked and be a bitch collar?" Chloe chuckled.

"Vividly!" Megan replied with a painful grimace which had Chloe laughing before Megan then turned on Mindy. "I can't believe you told Chloe about that, you bitch!"

"You sure you don't want to dress down for us?" The fifteen-year-old teased.

"No!" Megan growled back, blushing furiously.

"I wouldn't mind seeing you in only a dog collar, Mindy..." Josh commented with a grin, joining the conversation.

"Well, I wouldn't mind seeing somebody ripping off your dick and balls!" I replied with a smirk. "Somehow, I don't see that happening, either..."

"Moving on..." Josh said smoothly as he headed for the Galley and breakfast.

The Galley

I was impressed!

Cathy must have been up for ages – there was a virtual mountain of food on the table and Josh dived straight in. The other kids appeared, one by one, looking tired, but amazed at the view out of the windows. Outside, it was hot, however inside, with the air conditioning, it was comfortable.

Off to the south, about a mile away, was Nassau, the capital and largest city of the Bahamas, and the towering hotels of Paradise Island. Around us were several other mega-yachts, all at anchor. I grabbed a coffee and a plate of food before heading up to the Sun Deck, the highest point on the Atlantic Storm.

I found Ryan already there, with his nephew.

"Morning, Ryan, Curtis."

"A lovely day, Mindy!" Ryan replied.

"I've never seen anything like it..." Curtis commented.

"Plenty more to see, son, plenty more..." Ryan added.

Breakfast was fun, and a good chance for everybody to chat and enjoy the hot sun and perfect view over the azure waters of the Caribbean. Curtis apparently, had enjoyed ensuring that Megan was thoroughly covered in sun screen – he had been slapped, though, when he thought that the skin covered by her bikini top also needed sunscreen! Surprisingly, Stephanie had allowed Tommy to do her back and shoulders – without maiming him. Anne-Marie had thought that Curtis' behaviour and the fact that Megan had enjoyed it, was thoroughly disgusting!

"I'll bear that in mind when you are wrapped around some boy, in a few years' time!" Megan retorted, receiving a scowl from the younger girl.

..._...

After breakfast, we opened up the boat garage at the stern and put our tender in the water.

The fifteen-foot Castoldi Jet Tender, in white and dark blue, slid gently into the water. The tender was capable of over thirty knots and could carry seven people. The propulsion was provided by a single 110-hp, diesel engine which powered a waterjet at the stern. This had the advantage of there being no propeller to be worried about in shallow water, or when beaching the tender.

At the tender's maximum speed, we would have fuel for just over three and a half hours.

I went out with Chloe, Megan, Anne-Marie, Stephanie, Danny, Curtis and Josh. It was the first time out for the tender, so we needed to thoroughly test it. We all wore compact inflatable life-jackets – just in case.

"You know how to use that life-jacket, don't you, Josh?" Megan teased.

"Would you like to test yours?" Josh growled back with an evil smirk. "Right now?"

"Err, no thanks, Joshua..." Megan replied with an uneasy grin, swapping seats with Stephanie, to get further away from Josh.

"Does this boat have a name, Mom?" Danny asked.

"Yes, this tender has a name: Tempest."

Tempest

We bounced over the waves at around twenty knots, passing between other yachts and enjoying the cooling breeze and salt-water spray as we moved.

Everybody was holding on tight as the ride was 'active' to say the least! After several fun minutes, I slowed to allow Chloe a turn at the helm – she took off like a bitch in heat, which was not altogether surprising considering Chloe's love of speed and we rapidly exceeded thirty knots.

All of the kids loved it!

For a bit of fun, we headed towards Paradise Island and ran the tender into the shallow water and we all went onto the beach and enjoyed the feeling of the hot sand between our toes. None of us had experienced such beauty as there was on that beach. Beautiful sand and azure waters that were warm and clear.

All of the kids learnt very quickly not to drink the salty water as a massive water fight erupted – mainly caused by Chloe and we were all very quickly soaked, not that it mattered as the hot sun rapidly dried us off. Josh was able to find us some enormous ice creams which went a long way to refreshing us before we pushed the tender off beach and headed back towards the Atlantic Storm.

It would have been great to spend more time on the Bahamas, but we were on a tight schedule – maybe on the return trip. As we circled our floating home, I got in some really good, high quality photos and video. Dave and Cathy were waving at us as we cruised past – I also noticed that Dave was holding a camera and he videoed us too.

I hoped to have many happy mementoes of our first family holiday.