I’m trying to write this entry as we prepare for our passage departure for Cape Verde this morning, so it’s a bit of a rush job…
The sail over to our next stop at Fuerteventura was about a 40-mile motor passage. We were so desperate to get out of Marina Rubicon that we didn’t care if we had to swim the leg. Passing by the longest part of the island we were able to see what the guidebooks mean when mentioning the sand dunes of the middle. This island and Lanzarote are very different in that this one consists of miles and miles of rolling sand dunes and is known for its beautiful beaches. Some dolphins came out to play, and although I tried to capture them on my iPhone but only manages to catch the splash. We moored at Gran Tarajal Marina, a small marina down on the bottom of the foot of the island. It was heavenly to be in a comfy place with the quaint little town just a few hundred yards around the jetty to the golden sand beach. There wasn’t much to the town; in fact no car rental, no wifi in the marina and not even a Vodafone shop (rare!) around. As soon as we tied up a couple of young ladies showed up to greet us. One is an American, Claire, who is teaching English in the local elementary school and the other her visiting Norwegian friend, Lindie. Fortunately Claire was able to interpret for us when the marinaro arrived to tell us we could not stay in the berth we had chosen which was the only one available to accommodate our size. Whether it was her charm or lovely looks, we got to stay for three nights. Blissful non-rolly, jerky or screechy nights!
Kundalini and crew, Zsolt/”George”, Thomas and Omar, arrived early the next morning. We were thrilled they hadn’t chosen to go to Cape Verde directly from Lanzarote. We chose not to explore the island because of poor weather conditions so spent our time strolling, shopping, hanging out at beachfront bars and cafes and eating. Zsolt and the guys invited us to dine aboard Kundalini on Thanksgiving night. Thomas, who is a superb chef, prepared the meal of fresh market tuna and accompaniments. It was so delicious, Frank told him we have a spot for him on Destiny. I wouldn’t mind at all although Zsolt and Omar wouldn’t appreciate that a bit. These young guys have really touched our hearts. I wish I could adopt all three of them. Gosh we are really going to miss them when we separate.
On the afternoon of Nov 23rd, we set off to sail overnight to Puerto Mogan on the southwest end of Gran Canaria. The trip was just ok with decent wind a fair bit of the time but we struggled with the kite. It has literally been years since we had flown our giant asymmetrical “spinnaker”, and unfortunately it is one of the few items aboard we had neglected to pull out for reconditioning before leaving port. Duh! The sail is fine, but we needed to do a lot of lubricating on any metal part of it’s rigging. Finally getting it up, our speed kicked up to around 8 knots for a while, but then night began to fall and we weren’t comfortable leaving it up during the night. There are too many wind sheers and strange currents between these islands. Getting the sucker down was a bit of a Keystone Cops job and quite stressful because we had too much wind, and each of us had one issue or another befall us in our tasks. As evening approached, large waves developed on the starboard beam and throughout the night the wind was up, up, up and down, down, down. No one slept well, but no one ever does on a one night overnight.
As we entered the port of Mogan, Judith Jacbosen, another Island Packet owner was taking photos and waving us into our berth. We knew Judith from the IPY owners group and from OCC, so finally we got to meet in person. She gave me a quick tour of the port before their yacht set off for Las Palmas. They are also crossing this year but not until after the holidays.
While at Puerto Mogan we drove up into the mountains and then over to Las Palmas to do a bit of shopping and to meet back up with s/v Touché for dinner. It is so gorgeous here and drastically different from both Lanzarote and Fuertaventura. We dined in a cave restaurant for lunch and noted the many homes built into the caves with great balconied facades facing out from the cliffs. We could spend much longer here but are eager to get moving across. Jim did not join us the first day out, choosing to just hang out around the port. This is good for everyone to have a little disconnection time because living on top of one another 24/7 is tough stuff. We want to remain friends at the end of this!!!
It is now 8:45 on Tuesday, November 27, 2018. We are prepping Destiny for a week-long passage to Mindelo on Cape Verde (Capo Verde to many).
I’m sighing off with a promise to post photos when we are once again back online.
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