The passage from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands was our longest to date. We left on the evening of November 9th and arrived on the afternoon of the 13th.
The first part of the voyage, transiting the Gibraltar Strait was interesting. We aimed to leave with the least amount of current. After checking the tide app, charts, and PredictWind, we thought we had a good departure time. It wasn't awful, but not our best speed. Thankfully, we avoided any traffic or fishing gear obstacles, as we went through in the dark (again, not our desire, but that's how the timing worked out).
First couple of days were motor-sailing, as we just didn't have the greatest wind. The wind gods must have heard our complaints and decided to teach us a lesson. The third day we sailed more and then the wind and swell increased so that we were running bare poles and contemplating launching the drogue. It wasn't the 12+ foot waves behind us that were the issue, as Roundabout surfed down them just fine. It was the random westerly swell slamming into us and rocking us 90 degrees HARD that was the worst part.
However, we learned a lot and our confidence in our tank of a boat soared sky high. She is amazing and we love her.
With Graciosa island in sight, our crew danced a big happy dance. As if on cue, the fishing pole whizzed to life and we brought in a nice skipjack.
We dropped the hook off Graciosa island around 3pm, had a nice fish dinner, and had a well-deserved early night. *Some people commented that skipjack is not good to eat. We marinated it in soy sauce and it was nice. Some friends of ours marinated it in soy sauce, ginger, and honey and said it worked a treat.
The next morning, we set off for Marina Rubicon on the neighboring island of Lanzarote. We wanted to avoid some bad weather and reunite with friends. A week later, after getting some boat supplies and taking a whirlwind trip around the island to explore, we set off for Fuenteventura island. A short stop for a few hours and we continued on to Gran Canaria.
The anchorage outside of Las Palma marina was packed, as the ARC boats filled the marina to bursting! We found a spot and settled in to watch the chaos of the ARC preparations. The anchorage cost us about 7 euro per day, which included access to marina services. It was not ideal, but better protected than any other anchorage on the island. It is also closest to all the shops and hub of the city. Due to the ARC's presence, the chandlery is very well stocked, as are the grocery stores.
If you need to get your passports stamped, you need to either walk the hour to the commercial port authority/customs building or take a 10 minute car ride. The building is located near the Cepsa fuel station. While we were there, we befriended one of the officials. He was so kind to help us as we wandered around looking for the correct building. Then he took us to their large Christmas tree and took our family photo, and drove us back home. All along the way we chatted about sights to see and learned a lot about the island. We are having lunch with him tomorrow, in fact. We love how this cruising life leads you to meeting all sorts of nice people.
Thanksgiving was spent with several other families with lots of laughs and good times. The night before the ARC left, we were treated to a mega fireworks show! The next morning, we took some friends out on Roundabout to have a front row seat for the ARC's departure, wave farewell to friends, and just have an excuse to get moving for a little while. We anchored near the start buoy and enjoyed the sight of over 200 boats sailing for the Caribbean.
A few days later, we left Las Palmas with the expectation of exploring,but our mainsail tore at the leech, so we anchored for the night to avoid bashing upwind. Jared dove in to clean off the worst of the growth but we will need to anchor out again to clean the rest of the hull before we cross.
5am the following morning found us heading back to Las Palmas, where we got a spot inside the marina.
The cruising community here is amazing. Everyone is helping other cruisers with various tasks and the energy level is high. We all are ready to just get off the dock and start this journey already!
Our mainsail is getting a full service, along with the leech repair. We are also finishing off our to-do lists of boat jobs, buying more spares, and provisioning! A car rental has allowed us to explore the island a bit more and run errands a lot faster. We feel as if time is slipping by and we are trying to get so much work done (not just boat jobs, but our regular jobs). Stef had a book published recently, getting ready to launch a second one, and is working on an outline of a third. This, in addition to teaching the kids and managing all her usual boat tasks.
We leave as soon as our friend arrives to help with the crossing (he arrives on Thursday 12/6). That is the quick and photo-less update. I will go back and add photos as I find the time, but right now we are prepping to cross the Atlantic, so time to blog is low on the list of priorities. Thanks for staying with us and we are excited to get to the Caribbean. If all goes well, it can take us anywhere from 14-18 days (good sailing) or as long as 21 days if we don't have good wind. We will have about 7 other boats crossing along with us. Our goal is to get to Barbados or Martinique before Christmas, but of course it all depends on the weather.
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