The barrier reef that protects the Bahamas is the third largest in the world, Leroy Grant, our pilot told us. We were 2,000 feet up, flying in a twin-engine nine-passenger Britten-Norman Islander aircraft. Below us, the islands in the outer chain of the Abacos sparkled in the turquoise sea like gemstones in a necklace worn around the neck of Great Abaco, the main island. What better introduction could you get to your new cruising ground than a flight right over the top of it?

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