Tenerife – take it or leave it
12:50UTC 23/08/07 28’02.0N 016’48.2W We’re just leaving it. Tenerife, at least the South and East coasts that we have seen, has clearly been a near desert of scrub and brutal volcanic landscapes for thousands of years. Now, however, much has changed, and it is a near desert of apartment blocks, strip malls and brutal resort […]
Poor advertising strategies #1
We were driving back down the mountain, feeling a bit peckish and in the mood for beer and a snack. A roadside sign says ‘bar’ and Ian swings our little car to the right and pulls up outside a promising looking building. We’re about to get out when Amanda spots the above sign and the […]
Into the hills
La Palma is a fascinating island, find out more on wikipedia, and we hired a car to go inland and explore. The volvanic crater, Caldera de Taburiente, dominates the centre of the island and also hosts an international observatory, because the skies are so clear. Obviously, this is a bit of a climb from the […]
La Isla Bonita
18:30UTC 18/08/07 28’40.7N 17’46.0W La Palma, the pretty island, and indeed it is. We arrived at 3am, inched our way into the harbour and, despite a substantial language barrier (“non comprende, Inglesa”, “Espanol?”, “non, Inglese”, “eng..con..ish..random stream of spanish….”) we moored succesfully at the Club Nautico de Santa Cruz de La Palma. We rented a […]
Fast progress, and happier boat!
08:20UTC 17/08/07 30’16.8N 17’24.3W Almost 24 hours since leaving Madeira and we have covered 145 miles, meaning that this will probably be our fastest day so far, by 1 mile! Thanks to Kevin at YachtBits in Lowestoft, we have a working plotter and radar. He’d got in touch with Raymarine who said “have you done […]
On the road again
17:00 UTC 16/08/07 31’55.5N 17’00.4W We left Funchal as planned, at 10am this morning, after chivvying ourselves through the pre-departure tasks and getting away easily from the marina. In the lee of the island, there was little wind but a good force 5 was blowing outside, so we unfurled the jib and romped away. Funny […]
Uncommon courtesy
It is good ettiquette, and downright required in some places, to fly a courtesy flag, being a small flag of the nation you are visiting. We have one for Spain (Canaries) but didn’t plan to stop here in Madeira so we didn’t have a Portugese flag. No problem, out comes the almanac, with pictures of […]
Madeira m’dear?
And here we are, in Funchal, Madeira after 1100 miles of sailing. The crew are enjoying their shore leave – one of them has even found a MacDonalds for lunch..?! We’re going to stay here overnight, and whilst the marina quay wall is less than perfect, free wifi and showers makes up for it, and […]
The Cap’n sanctions a port visit
14:30UTC 14/08/07 33’27.0N 16’19.0W Discipline on board this ‘ere pirate vessel is a finely balanced parrot, if ever there was one. The threat o’the cat o’nine tails and the promise of a share o’the plunder is usually enough to keep the crew in line, but as’ee all know, familiarity breeds contempt and the wise privateer […]
Light airs, and visitors
07:50UTC 14/08/07 33’59.1N 017’04.7W The wind has died away to almost nothing, and we’ve hoisted the biggest sail we have, the ‘drifter’ that we tried out going down the Solent. Together with the big jib, in 8 knots of breeze we were still doing 4 knots, which for such a heavy boat is remarkable. Now, […]