Harriette Leaving Canaries
Having spent a lazy winter in the Canaries, mainly Tenerife, we are now on our way
north towards the Mediterranean, which we plan to cruise for the
summer.
Many thanks to our friends who came out to relieve the monotony. The latest were Roland
& Sanyu who flew out to Tenerife, with a flight back from Gran
Canaria. Very brave, seeing as they had never sailed before and this involved at least one
all-day passage across a wind acceleration zone. They survived it well, not needing the
bucket even once! In the end it was difficult to prize Sanyu off the helm, and Roland was
always first on deck before dawn preparing the jackstays and mainsail.
We spent last night in the purpose-built resort of Puerto Castillo, in Fuerteventura. This
is built round a semi-circular yellow sandy bay, ideal for a family holiday with kids
since the sand slopes gently into the water and the bay is very sheltered, with the marina
tucked into one corner. Here we met Rafael and Mary Luz, on their 38 foot yacht which they
keep in Puerto Castillo, because it's a lot nicer than Arrecife, where they live. After
seeing each other's boats inside, and eating in a restaurant that they recommended, we
went back and had drinks on board their yacht.
Today we have motor-sailed to Correlejo, in the north of Fuerteventura. As we entered the
harbour Rafael & Mary Luz waved to us from a ferry, on their way back to Arrecife.
They had already checked where we could berth, so here we are, alongside a pontoon
opposite 2 Guardia Civil launches.
Which reminds me, last night in Puerto Castillo we watched the Guardia Civil empty a
5-metre wooden boat with an outboard and tie it up. They took away about 15 Africans who
had evidently just come across illegally from Africa, which is only 60 miles away.
For the last 3 days the weather has turned quite hot and sunny, after a dissappointing few
weeks (although not bad compared with England, I suppose). We spent yesterday on the beach
catching up on the tan (and getting burnt in places where the lotion missed).
We saw 4 dolphins the other day and quite a lot of flying fish. In spite of what it says
in our fish book we're convinced that they actually do fly, not just glide. One went for
at least 60 metres without touching the water.
We have crew fixed up for our passage back to Gibraltar via Madeira, although there is
still room for one or 2 more for the Lanzarote to Madeira leg, if anyone is interested? We
plan to leave Lanzarote in the morning of Friday 18th May. It should take about 3 days to
Madeira - just a long weekend, really.
Then, after a day or 2 sightseeing, revictualling and refuelling we'll leave for the
longer crossing to Gibraltar, hopefully with Andy Winter, Frank Kormos and John Enston to
share the watches.
After that, for anyone who is interested in holidaying or crewing with us, we plan to
spend the rest of June plodding up the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca, July cruising the
Balearic Islands, August on the south coast of France, maybe September in the Gulf of
Genoa and Corsica and October in Sardinia. Then we'll probably spend the winter in Tunisia
and the summer of 2002 cruising the Greek and Turkish islands. That's the dream, anyway!
We'd welcome help with the few overnight crossings, for example Menorca or Mallorca back
to the mainland (Barcelona or further north) at the end of
July, and Sardinia to Tunisia in the Autumn.
On On, Fair Winds and Love,