We had an excellent if somewhat boisterous sail from Hermitage Bay in Antigua to Deshaies, Guadeloupe yesterday – sailed the whole way and averaged 7.85 knots! Now anchored in about 40 ft of water.

Today we visited the Botanical Gardens with Lisa and Andy from Kinetic, a sister (OK, somewhat younger) Outbound and had a lovely time. It’s hot here and the bloody garden is a mile up a steep hill! Interesting gardens and some nice aviaries with Parrots and McCaws…

The Gardens start with a fish pond!

Then Parakeets!

Pink Flamingos

Big Bugs

Here’s a flower that got stuck in the viewfinder

And a large McCaw!

We’ll probably stay here another day and then head towards the Isles des Saintes so that we can have a quick and easy jump to Portsmouth, Dominica where we’re planning to donate the aid we’ve been carrying from the USA – and to do some hard labor – as yet to be defined! Several other boats have said they’ll be coming too – the more the merrier!

We also learned that for the second year in a row, we’ve recruited the most new members to the Ocean Cruising Club – last year we won with a paltry 7 new members. This year we badgered 35 into joining!!! Woo Hoo!

OCC ‘s Flying Fish