November 1 – 19, 2018 Lanzarote, Canary Islands & Being Joined by a Friend

This post might be a little boring, because although we continued to explore Lanzarote, we soon lost interest in some of the outdoor attractions due to the deteriorating weather. We are only renting cars for a week at a time about every other week in order to split the time between preparing Destiny and touring. With the time change we have limited daylight hours to drive here and are trying to drive only during the day. Driving at night is its own bag of tricks and best performed by locals and daredevils, as the roads are not lit except in the sparsely populated areas, most have no shoulder, and in many areas they simply drop straight off into lava fields. Some of the main roads serpentine up the mountains with absolutely no guardrails. How crazy is that?

The small inner harbor at Arrecife

Vineyards, believe it or not 

A defunct vineyard

We finally reconnected with our friends Mark and Laura Pitt (Sabbatical III) whose yacht is situated at Marina Rubicon. They have introduced us to their favorite places to eat and stroll within the Papagayo and Playa Blanca areas. Here are some photos from a hike with them.

This is a typical "hike"

A little beauty growing right up through the pebbles

Add caption

 

Mark and Laura

We also found a few more boat projects that needed attention and so we tended to those as parts and products became available and spent a lot of time going back and forth to IKEA where space saving products and innovation is king for Cruisers. Walking and riding our bikes along the promenade that meanders for a few miles along the coast has become a favorite pasttime. We went for a few hikes, treks really, OK walks in the rocks! The views are magnificent, digging lava stones from our shoes hasn’t been so magnificent. Our favorite spots for enjoying the dramatic coastline and the panoramic vistas are El Golfo, Mirador del Rio and Los Hervideros.

Interesting roundabouts throughout the island...

Cesar Manrique designed sculpture in a roundabout

The walk to Playa Blanca from Marina Rubicon

Looking back at Marina Rubicon from Playa Blanca

A little bit now about our Hungarian neighbor who is without a doubt the kindest, most generous young man we have met. When he told us his name, one that doesn’t have very many vowels, we must’ve looked really puzzled so he said; “Just call me George!” Right away he and Frank became buddies, although our Hungarian language skills are nonexistent and his English is spotty but improving, we manage to enjoy one another’s company a great deal. He brought us several cans of very expensive teak oil that he didn’t need after treating his own decks, and from there the gifts and generosity continued to flow. One week he had several visitors from home who prepared delicious Hungarian meals, always making enough to bring us “leftovers” enough to feed the Jolly Green Giant. One day it was Hungarian Goulash, another it was homemade crepes rolled with various sweet fillings, other times it was a variety of portions of whatever they were eating or had purchased. George will not let us pay him when he buys an extra amount of something or other to bring back to us. So, we have him over for drinks and meals and help him whenever he needs an extra hand for a job. George has already sailed around the world in a race but now he is preparing his large personal yacht for passage and has started a YouTube channel about his adventures that is subtitled in English. We love him and we love it because his adorable personality shines right through in his clever videos. His channel is called Kundalini Sailing. He has a lot of fun with it, as do we. We invite you to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kundalini+sailing

November 14^th- Jim Collins has arrived!!!! Jim is joining us for the passage to Cape Verde and then onward to the Caribbean. He is an avid sailor and is looking forward to an ocean crossing. Frank and I have always done passages alone but are now 10 years older than when we first started out and are quite happy about having another set of eyes, ears, limbs and brains for this final step across. His luggage was nearly empty because he needed the weight capacity for the bottles of single malt Scotch he brought for Frank. That is a very good way for a guest to arrive on Destiny. We had planned to take him around the island for about three days to see the sights and then head to Tenerife before moving on but once again the weather is giving us the old; “Oh, I don’t think so!” attitude. It is windy, stormy and cold but we did manage to take him up to Mirador del Rio, Cueva de los Verdes and El Golfo. He and Frank set off one day to gather fishing equipment for the passage and more junk food because every passage needs a fair amount of that. 

Jim Collins with Frank

Some of the interior of the Cueva de los Verdes formed by the volcanic eruption

Can you see the monster in the cave?

A view of Graciosa Island from Mirador del Rio

The marina continues to be very uncomfortable. Two nights after Jim’s arrival we actually snapped a dock line, ripped apart right at the dock cleat. No one is sleeping well and the level of irritation over this is about to trump the fun factor of being here. 

We are casting off this morning to make a 40 NM trip over to Gran Tarajal on Fuerteventura, the next island over, and we think we have tempted George and his two crew, Thomas and Omar to join us. Im surrounded by handsome men, what more could a woman want?