On Monday, 2/19/24, we woke up early and left as soon as it was light enough to see fish pot markers bobbing in between the swells.  The sail to Guadeloupe was quite pleasant and we were able to sail from the harbour amost all the way to Pigeon Island on the leeward side of Guadeloupe. 

Steve was at the helm for most of the trip.  Half way between Antigua and Guadeloupe, he called me up to the helm.  I had been napping and it was taking me a minute to get myself oriented.  Along the side of the boat, approximately 6 feet away, there was a long, brown/grey whale sunning itself.  Steve had to alter course to avoid hitting it.  The whale was looking up at us as if to say, “Hi guys.  It is a beautiful day.”  It was not bothered by us in the least.  Unfortunately I didn’t think quickly enough to grab a camera.  It was approximately 15-20 feet long and 4 or 5 feet wide.  I think it was a Sperm Whale. This is the first time that we’ve seen a whale up close like that.  It was really neat!

We arrived at our anchorage off of Pigeon island around 4:30p and hung up our Q flag.  We were going to leave at first light in the morning for Les Saintes, where we would officially check into Guadeloupe.