The north swell finally subsided and we left Deshaies this morning for Antigua ... a very nice 48 nm close/beam reach between 6 and 7 knots ... now anchored outside Jolly Harbour from where we had set out for our Caribbean cruising during the first week of January.

Originally we had planned to arrive in Antigua already last Thursday with Jez and Tab still aboard but the pesky north swell kept us pinned in Deshaies (after an overnight stop in Marie Galante and three days in Les Saintes). We rented a car for two days and got to explore the quite beautiful inland of Guadeloupe before we dropped off our Australian guests at the airport in Point a Pitr� from where they continued to New York for a week of "urban vacation". It was great to spend a week aboard Namani with you - have fun in the big city now!

Deshaies (on the NW end of Guadeloupe) provided pretty good protection from the northern swell that peaked last Thursday morning at about 17 ft in the north eastern Caribbean. The local police had advised us to go to the southern end of Guadeloupe for shelter but the local fisherman were quite confident that their bay would be safe to anchor in and they proved to be right. Together with perhaps 15 other boats in th bay we sat through two somewhat rocky nights but felt quite comfortable and safe overall. Getting to meet the crews of Finnish, German and French boats close to us was an added bonus.

Now we plan to spend two nights outside Jolly Harbour (missing the company of Sea Bright with whom we were here before) and then to go to the northern side of Antigua to anchor off Bird Island - said to be a beautiful spot protected by coral reefs. Stay tuned ...