Morocco to Canary Islands

The trip from Mohammedia to the Canary Islands was 500 nautical miles & took 3 days (60 hours). The majority of the time we had a good tail wind to blow us down, but did have to motor for about 12 hours. One morning we discovered we had some hitchhikers, a few flying fish landed on the deck over night, unfortunately for them they didn't survive the journey. We also had a few other visitors when I was on watch one day. In the space of 15 minutes I had a little bird arrived, he hopped all around the cockpit having a good inspection. At the same time I had 15-20 dolphins arrive to play around on our bow wave, then a turtle floated by - talk about a menagerie!!!!
We arrived on 8/11/08 & spent a couple of days on the small island of Graciosa. This island only has 2 small towns which although they have dirt streets are very well kept. The island is volcanic with no soil to be found, only scoria, however they manage to grow a few crops to supply the local population, such as potatoes, bananas, papayas & cactus (they eat the cactus fruit), which have to be protected by nets from the large rabbit population. We took a tour around the island, on one of the many Land rovers on the island, & saw some stunning scenery. Red volcanic mountains, beautiful golden sandy beaches with great surf on one side, rocky foreshores with crashing waves on another & crystal clear blue water.
From Graciosa we went to Lanzarote Island & we’ve been on the hardstand at Puerto Calero, Lanzarote for the past week, so we haven’t got very far & haven’t seen much of the rest of the Canary Islands yet as it’s been head down /bum up, working to get Saliander ready for the big crossing to the Caribbean. We’ve ended up doing a lot more work than we anticipated, including getting a new propeller shaft. It’s been a bit of a saga, but that’s boats for you!!! We’re hoping to get back in the water tomorrow, then we’ll finish getting ready & provision up for our trip. In the meantime we’ve met up with a couple more Kiwi boats, some Aussies & English people which has been great. Unfortunately so far we haven’t managed to meet up with any of our friends we met in Turkey last year, however we’re still hopeful we can meet them either here of in the Caribbean. Lanzarote is also a volcanic island & I have a feeling that the rest of the Canaries are very similar i.e. rocky scoria, with no soil & very little vegetation, although we did see some vegetable crops planted in the fine scoria fields (not sure where they would get any nourishment from). The houses on Graciosa & Lanzarote are mostly one level, with flat roofs & painted white, it reminds us of the villages in the Greek Islands. Lanzarote’s main income would appear to come from tourism, mainly English, & here along the coast there are several large hotels & lot of holiday apartments. Luckily for us it’s a great place to get work done on your boat as there are plenty of chandleries/hardware stores & a large number of the marine mechanics & electricians etc are English speaking. The marina is very nice & the staff go out of their way to help you. We have met an English couple, David & Julia, on their boat “Daq Attack” who have a great knowledge of the Island as they have family living here.
Cygnus II are also on Lanzarote as they are waiting for electrical parts to arrive from Spain, however they will be staying in the Canaries longer than us & then calling into Cape Verdie on their way to the Caribbean. So once we leave here we may not see the Cygnus crew for a while as they will be heading to the northern Caribbean & making their way down, where as we are heading to the southern Caribbean & making our way north.The Canary Islands are under independent Spanish rule, their first language is Spanish, however luckily for us a lot also speak English. There are also a lot of English expats living here.

We plan to leave the Canaries the first week in December so that we reach St Lucia, our 1st Caribbean land fall, before 26th December which is when we are due to meet Mandy, Pete’s daughter. The trip is 3,000 nautical miles & will take around 22 days’ non stop, depending on the weather of course. December/January is the time of year when the trade winds are most suitable for going from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean. There are a number of boats already on their way down & on 23/11 there’s a big rally, the ARC, with 250 boats leaving from the Canaries & going to St Luca. Most of the people we have met are either leaving before or after us, but no doubt there will be a number of other boats heading down at the same time as us, so we hope to make radio contact with some of them. The “Caribbean Cruising Season” is from December to May, if you’re there any other time of the year you risk getting hit by hurricanes, hence the mass migration of boats that’s happening now. A lot of the other boats are taking on extra crew to make the trip a little easier, however as there will just be the 2 of us on Saliander we will be having 3 hour watches during the night & 4 hours during the day. It takes a little getting used to, but after a couple of days your body clock adjusts & you settle into the routine. Though no doubt we’ll be pretty tired by the time we arrive & will take some time to re-adjust!!! Anyway as this is all a bit of a rush, sorry haven’t got time for photos. It will probably be the last blog before we get to St Lucia, we hope you all have a wonderful Christmas – we’ll be thinking of you Cheers!!!!!