Graciosa
The locals use man power to haul this boat
Washing day in Graciosa
It's all scoria rock in the Canaries so only dry gardens
Lanzarote Island
Morris & Mark give Pete a helping hand to pull out the prop shaft - not an easy task
Holiday resort on Lanzarote, mainly visited by the English
Gran Canaria Island
Tha ARC boats depart Las Palmas
This boat arrived at Las Palmas, ot sure where it had come from but it looked a bit precarious!!!
ATLANTIC CROSSING
Anyone for calimari, this litle guy tried to hitch a free ride
There were plenty of flying fish around, one flew right across our bow, ie from port to starboard, through the rigging & over the dinghy stowed up front
We "hot bedded" on the couch with the lee cloth up to stop us rolling out
Pete keeps a close eye on the bread maker
One of pete's pet projects on the trip was his home made auto pilot which we used regularly to give the main auto pilot a break. This consisted of a bicycle rim, bike tyre tube & bilge pump, which was connected to the main auto pilot brain. It worked really well most of the time but we had to keep an eye on it as the rubber tubes wore out fairly quicly & snapped. He eventually ran out of tubes so ended up stapling bits of tube together - good old McGiver!!!
Fish for dinner...... 
Land ahoy, St Lucia here we come!!!!!
ST LUCIA
One of the local boys selling fruit from his boat, we thought he was selling flags
We called in to Agies for a taste of the local cuisine - curried turkey with coleslaw, peas, taro & banana. The local beer's not bad either
Race day for the local boys on their dory's, they are 30ft long narrow boats (like a kayak) with a square sail. the boys stack out on poles which they take from one sided to the other as they tack. Their race course was through the moored boats to which the came precariously close at times.
These boys ahd a bit of an altercation as they rounded the mark
Pete keeps a close eye on the bread maker
One of pete's pet projects on the trip was his home made auto pilot which we used regularly to give the main auto pilot a break. This consisted of a bicycle rim, bike tyre tube & bilge pump, which was connected to the main auto pilot brain. It worked really well most of the time but we had to keep an eye on it as the rubber tubes wore out fairly quicly & snapped. He eventually ran out of tubes so ended up stapling bits of tube together - good old McGiver!!!
A lovely Dorado
Fish for dinner......
Land ahoy, St Lucia here we come!!!!!
ST LUCIA
Rodney Bay
One of the local boys selling fruit from his boat, we thought he was selling flags
We called in to Agies for a taste of the local cuisine - curried turkey with coleslaw, peas, taro & banana. The local beer's not bad either
Race day for the local boys on their dory's, they are 30ft long narrow boats (like a kayak) with a square sail. the boys stack out on poles which they take from one sided to the other as they tack. Their race course was through the moored boats to which the came precariously close at times.
These boys ahd a bit of an altercation as they rounded the mark
Castries
We took the local bus to the main town of Castries
We took the local bus to the main town of Castries
CANARY ISLANDS TO ST LUCIA
We managed to get Sali back into the water with out any dramas & headed back to an anchorage 10nm north on Lanzarote where we met up with our friends, Trish & Morris, on Cygnus II & some other Kiwis (JAFAS actually) Keith & Dianne on Chriselle. We also had a surprise visit from our Swiss friends, Peter & Leena, on Nicone (we met them in Turkey last year) which was wonderful. We had everyone on board Sali for a lovely Butter Chicken dinner cooked by Morris. This was to be our farewell dinner with Trish & Morris as well as a hello/goodbye for Peter & Leena as the next day we upped anchor & made our way to Las Palmas on Gran Canaria Island arriving on Sunday 23rd November. We were just in time to see the ARC Rally boats depart for St Lucia. It was quite something, with bands playing & people lining the marina to farewell the 214 boats participating.
We spent a couple more days at Las Palmas doing our final preparations & our final provisioning. It’s always rather challenging when we stock up, we usually end up with 3 big trolley loads & in this instance we had to maneuver them down the escalator & along the street to the taxi stand. As most of you know (the females anyway) the trolleys seem to have a mind of their own & pushing one is bad enough, but Pete managed to handle 2, that is until one went wayward & tipped over the curb & our groceries went sprawling all over the pavement. Needless to say, we were very grateful for 2 local ladies passing who helped us retrieve them. It’s also a challenge loading them into the taxi so there’s enough room for us as well. On this occasion we all managed to fit, however in Barcelona I had to find alternative transport back to the boat as there was absolutely no room for me….
Anyway by Wednesday 26th November we were finally ready to set off into the “Big Blue” – Atlantic here we come!!! We had a good wind to send us on our way, in fact we reached what was to be our trips’ maximum speed of 12.5 knots surfing down a wave. Our friends David & Julia on Daq Attack were at the bottom of the Canary Islands when we left & we managed to catch them up on our 2nd day out. They kept us company all through the night, along with another 65ft yacht called African Queen. Ian (South African) African Queen’s fulltime skipper is delivering her to Florida for the owner & had employed 4 other crew to help with the voyage. We kept in radio contact with these 2 boats throughout the voyage which was great for morale. As we progressed the distance between the 3 boats widened with Sali leading the way, African Queen hot on her heels & Daq Attack bringing up the rear, so the radio contact was also very helpful in reporting weather conditions to each other. We also joined in another radio network of around 10 Trans Atlantic boats which were at various stages of the crossing. We looked forward to the morning & afternoon scheds where we reported our positions, weather conditions & had a general chat session. There were 3 other Kiwi boats on the net, some Aussie boats & a few other nationalities.
The crossing went really well. The “Weather Gods” & Saliander looked after us well & we made the trip in 19 days instead of the 20-22 days we had anticipated. It took me 5 days to get my sea legs, which wasn’t helped by the fact that I had my $12 Scopeaderm patch stuck on the wrong way!!! So during this time Pete was not only Captain, Chief Trimmer & Chief Deckie but also Chief Galley Slave. Luckily I had prepared some meals & froze them before we left. However he did cook a couple of lovely roast dinners, one of them was a leg of NZ lamb to celebrate our half way mark, this was accompanied by a small bottle of bubbly. I was also pleased not to have to cook as most of the time we were rolling around with the sloppy seas.
The normal Trade Winds that carry you down here are late this year & there are a number of low depressions hanging around the centre of the Atlantic. Luckily we only came close to one which we managed to skirt around, however other friends got caught in the middle with 50knot winds, thunder, lightening & very heavy rain for hours on end!! With Pete’s great sail trimming we managed to average 160nmls per day & only had to use the motor for a 12 hour period when the winds were very light. The ARC Rally boats left 3 days before us & we managed to pass a number of them on the way.
Unlike the Med there is an abundance of fish life in the Atlantic. We saw flying fish galore & everyone was catching Dorado, Wahoo & Tuna along the way, it was not uncommon to get a double strike. We also had a great light show at night the first week. The stars were shining, the comets & shooting stars were flying, the phosphorescence was sparkling, & we had what looked like round glow sticks lighting up in the water as we passed. They glowed for several minutes leaving a trail of lights in our wake. We think they were jelly fish becoming electrified as their defense against us.
Pete’s got pretty good at making bread too, he makes a mean raisin loaf. He did have one failure though when he used a premix which had passed its “use by“ date. Consequently the bread was solid as a brick & got offered to the “Sea Gods” unfortunately we discovered 2 hours later that the bread maker paddle was still stuck inside the bread now at the bottom of the ocean!!! Not to be deterred “McGiver Pete” constructed a new one out of resin & it works great.
The 3 weeks went rather fast as one day seems to roll into the next. We did 4 hour watches during the day & 3 hours at night, getting through the night shifts with the help of marshmallows, music & an egg timer. The egg time was set a 10 minute intervals in case we nodded off to sleep. I can see why a lot of other boats take on extra crew for the trip as it’s pretty confusing for the body & mind having broken sleep for so long. Anyway the main thing is we made it & we’re still talking to each other, even though I got hauled out of bed in the middle of the night for sail changes!!!
We celebrated our arrival in Rodney Bay, St Lucia with a few rum & cokes, then waited for the sun to go down so we could go to bed (we slept for 10 hours that night – what a luxury) We’re still in Rodney Bay which is filling up with boats arriving across the Atlantic & coming up from southern parts where the boats have been stored during the hurricane season. The marina is also full of ARC boat, so the place is buzzing which is great. We got to know a number of other cruisers through the radio contact we had on the journey, including some other Kiwis, Karen & Graham on “Red Herring” from Nelson. They arrived in Barbados but are planning on coming to St Lucia in the next few days, so we’re hoping to meet up with them.
We’ve now got a bit of a plan for the next 2 months. We pick up Mandy, Pete’s daughter, on Boxing Day & will make our way down to Grenada with her, stopping off at St Vincent, Bequia, Tobago Cays etc & drop her off on 12th Jan. We then have friends Karen & Miles, an English couple who we met in Turkey last year, arriving. They have left their boat in turkey for the winter & crewed on another boat across to Antigua.
We’ve been busy giving Sali a big spring clear & getting her ship shape again. We’ve also been provisioning up & found .a bulk buying store which is great as food is very expensive here, especially meat – we may have to go vegetarian!!! The fishing lines will certainly be getting plenty of use.
We managed to get Sali back into the water with out any dramas & headed back to an anchorage 10nm north on Lanzarote where we met up with our friends, Trish & Morris, on Cygnus II & some other Kiwis (JAFAS actually) Keith & Dianne on Chriselle. We also had a surprise visit from our Swiss friends, Peter & Leena, on Nicone (we met them in Turkey last year) which was wonderful. We had everyone on board Sali for a lovely Butter Chicken dinner cooked by Morris. This was to be our farewell dinner with Trish & Morris as well as a hello/goodbye for Peter & Leena as the next day we upped anchor & made our way to Las Palmas on Gran Canaria Island arriving on Sunday 23rd November. We were just in time to see the ARC Rally boats depart for St Lucia. It was quite something, with bands playing & people lining the marina to farewell the 214 boats participating.
We spent a couple more days at Las Palmas doing our final preparations & our final provisioning. It’s always rather challenging when we stock up, we usually end up with 3 big trolley loads & in this instance we had to maneuver them down the escalator & along the street to the taxi stand. As most of you know (the females anyway) the trolleys seem to have a mind of their own & pushing one is bad enough, but Pete managed to handle 2, that is until one went wayward & tipped over the curb & our groceries went sprawling all over the pavement. Needless to say, we were very grateful for 2 local ladies passing who helped us retrieve them. It’s also a challenge loading them into the taxi so there’s enough room for us as well. On this occasion we all managed to fit, however in Barcelona I had to find alternative transport back to the boat as there was absolutely no room for me….
Anyway by Wednesday 26th November we were finally ready to set off into the “Big Blue” – Atlantic here we come!!! We had a good wind to send us on our way, in fact we reached what was to be our trips’ maximum speed of 12.5 knots surfing down a wave. Our friends David & Julia on Daq Attack were at the bottom of the Canary Islands when we left & we managed to catch them up on our 2nd day out. They kept us company all through the night, along with another 65ft yacht called African Queen. Ian (South African) African Queen’s fulltime skipper is delivering her to Florida for the owner & had employed 4 other crew to help with the voyage. We kept in radio contact with these 2 boats throughout the voyage which was great for morale. As we progressed the distance between the 3 boats widened with Sali leading the way, African Queen hot on her heels & Daq Attack bringing up the rear, so the radio contact was also very helpful in reporting weather conditions to each other. We also joined in another radio network of around 10 Trans Atlantic boats which were at various stages of the crossing. We looked forward to the morning & afternoon scheds where we reported our positions, weather conditions & had a general chat session. There were 3 other Kiwi boats on the net, some Aussie boats & a few other nationalities.
The crossing went really well. The “Weather Gods” & Saliander looked after us well & we made the trip in 19 days instead of the 20-22 days we had anticipated. It took me 5 days to get my sea legs, which wasn’t helped by the fact that I had my $12 Scopeaderm patch stuck on the wrong way!!! So during this time Pete was not only Captain, Chief Trimmer & Chief Deckie but also Chief Galley Slave. Luckily I had prepared some meals & froze them before we left. However he did cook a couple of lovely roast dinners, one of them was a leg of NZ lamb to celebrate our half way mark, this was accompanied by a small bottle of bubbly. I was also pleased not to have to cook as most of the time we were rolling around with the sloppy seas.
The normal Trade Winds that carry you down here are late this year & there are a number of low depressions hanging around the centre of the Atlantic. Luckily we only came close to one which we managed to skirt around, however other friends got caught in the middle with 50knot winds, thunder, lightening & very heavy rain for hours on end!! With Pete’s great sail trimming we managed to average 160nmls per day & only had to use the motor for a 12 hour period when the winds were very light. The ARC Rally boats left 3 days before us & we managed to pass a number of them on the way.
Unlike the Med there is an abundance of fish life in the Atlantic. We saw flying fish galore & everyone was catching Dorado, Wahoo & Tuna along the way, it was not uncommon to get a double strike. We also had a great light show at night the first week. The stars were shining, the comets & shooting stars were flying, the phosphorescence was sparkling, & we had what looked like round glow sticks lighting up in the water as we passed. They glowed for several minutes leaving a trail of lights in our wake. We think they were jelly fish becoming electrified as their defense against us.
Pete’s got pretty good at making bread too, he makes a mean raisin loaf. He did have one failure though when he used a premix which had passed its “use by“ date. Consequently the bread was solid as a brick & got offered to the “Sea Gods” unfortunately we discovered 2 hours later that the bread maker paddle was still stuck inside the bread now at the bottom of the ocean!!! Not to be deterred “McGiver Pete” constructed a new one out of resin & it works great.
The 3 weeks went rather fast as one day seems to roll into the next. We did 4 hour watches during the day & 3 hours at night, getting through the night shifts with the help of marshmallows, music & an egg timer. The egg time was set a 10 minute intervals in case we nodded off to sleep. I can see why a lot of other boats take on extra crew for the trip as it’s pretty confusing for the body & mind having broken sleep for so long. Anyway the main thing is we made it & we’re still talking to each other, even though I got hauled out of bed in the middle of the night for sail changes!!!
We celebrated our arrival in Rodney Bay, St Lucia with a few rum & cokes, then waited for the sun to go down so we could go to bed (we slept for 10 hours that night – what a luxury) We’re still in Rodney Bay which is filling up with boats arriving across the Atlantic & coming up from southern parts where the boats have been stored during the hurricane season. The marina is also full of ARC boat, so the place is buzzing which is great. We got to know a number of other cruisers through the radio contact we had on the journey, including some other Kiwis, Karen & Graham on “Red Herring” from Nelson. They arrived in Barbados but are planning on coming to St Lucia in the next few days, so we’re hoping to meet up with them.
We’ve now got a bit of a plan for the next 2 months. We pick up Mandy, Pete’s daughter, on Boxing Day & will make our way down to Grenada with her, stopping off at St Vincent, Bequia, Tobago Cays etc & drop her off on 12th Jan. We then have friends Karen & Miles, an English couple who we met in Turkey last year, arriving. They have left their boat in turkey for the winter & crewed on another boat across to Antigua.
We’ve been busy giving Sali a big spring clear & getting her ship shape again. We’ve also been provisioning up & found .a bulk buying store which is great as food is very expensive here, especially meat – we may have to go vegetarian!!! The fishing lines will certainly be getting plenty of use.
