Hi All:
It has been a while since we have posted to our blog, the
last time being when we did our partial Pacific crossing.
But we are now back aboard Two Moons , enjoying our 13
th
season and true to form, unexpected events have occurred which delayed our
departure from the winter berth in Almerimar, Spain by more than a month.
Things, which worked perfectly when we lifted the boat in the fall of 2015, inexplicably
required repair or replacement. In cases for which a spare was not aboard, 80%
of the job was chasing down a replacement.
The pic shows how not to overload your boat, if you don’t
want to attract attention. This 42 foot boat was escorted into the Almerimar
marina by the Spanish Coast Guard, because they only had about 6-8” of
freeboard showing, before the decks were awash. At the dock they unloaded 11
tonnes of marijuana and hash. The captain claimed he didn’t know it was there.
All this was inside the white boat .
From Almerimar, we sailed directly to our last Mediterranean
port of call - La Linea
de la Conception, with further hopes of acquiring spares to complete the
repairs. It was not to be. We stayed in this Spanish port for another two weeks
scouring all the automotive, chandler and repair shops for parts, until we finally
gave up and decided to make do and bring the parts back the illusive parts in
our suitcase next spring.
La Linea is right next door
to Gibraltar, which involved only a 20 minuet
walk to The Rock, which we did practically every day. Although we had already
visited the top of the rock when we entered the Med in 2010, the return
experience couldn’t be missed. The Barbery Apes continue to stand guard and the
vistas are just as satisfying. We didn’t repeat the tunnel walk inside the
Rock, which is about 200 yards long, but subsequently, learned that there are
26 miles of tunnels inside.
In the mid left is the Gib airport runway. North is where we are moored in Spain. South is all Gib.
Although Gibraltar is right
at the gap leading into the Med, timing is everything when leaving. If you
don’t get it right with wind and tide, the sea can be more than unpleasant.
Added to that, the constant stream of container ships passing through the mouth
of the Med is one of the busiest channels in the world. So we planned and we
waited until the wind and tide and stars were all perfectly aligned. At the two
hour mark we were quite chuffed with ourselves. We got it right. Then the fog
closed in. There was not fog in the forecast. At one point in the trip we
needed to cross the shipping lanes. Ship fog horns where blaring from
everywhere, but you couldn’t see them. Without the use of AIS, GPS and radar,
it is not a trip we would ever contemplate.
There were two places we had tentatively wanted to visit on
our exit. First Tangiers, which has a brand new billion dollar marina, with
which they hope to attract tourism. It would have been a nice stopover, but
were denied entry because the Moroccan king hasn’t officially opened it yet. So
it sits unused until the royal visit. The second place was Madeira.
We took a pass on stopping here because of our previous experience with
Portuguese officialdom. We are at the end of our allowable time in the Schengen Territory and didn’t wish to give them
opportunity to fine us for overstaying our welcome again.
So we sailed directly to The Canary Islands, which was a six
day passage of rock and roll. We have prepared for this down wind sailing, when
crossing to the Caribbean, with something
called a Twistle rig configuration, but it seems best bent on when in port, not
underway.
We stayed well off the African coast (50 miles) not wishing
to make ourselves available to any uninvited guests. Twice, fishing boats appeared
from ocean side and seemed to come closer than need be, only to turn and
continue shoreward. In both cases nerves were on edge until they were out of
sight.
Our landfall was La Graciosa, the most NE island of the
Canary archipelago. We anchored in a beautiful sandy bay, out of the wind,
surrounded by the volcanic hills of La Graciosa and Lanzarote. It was a superb
place to recharge despite the arrival of the afternoon tour boats.
Apparently each of the islands have their own personality
and La Graciosa is not yet on the tourist flight plan. The topography is all
volcanic with no vegetation. All roads are packed sand, so Land rovers are the vehicle
of choice. PIC
We moved south on to the next island – Lanzarote- because of
a high wind forecast. The Trades have definitely settled in with a constant
breeze of NE 10-20 knots. It is much like La Gaciosa, with volcanic hills and
planes. Not much vegetation, but an interesting attempt at growing grapes. Each
vine lives in its own pit out of the impact of the wind. The end result is a
rather sweet, expensive red. Sorry, couldn't get a picture of that.
Lanzarote is also trying to minimize the impact of the
growing tourist industry, which is beleaguering its cousin islands. The white-washed
block house, with their mandatory blue, green or brown painted woodwork have an
eye pleasing uniformity.
We have three more islands to visit before holding up for
winter, which is where we will pick up on our next posting.
Good summer to all……….Mike and Grace
