Although we escaped the Straits with no real drama, we spent the day and night beating into the wind down the African coast. After 130 miles of that, it seemed that spending a night in Casablanca would make sense while we waited for the wind to turn more favorable. As it turned out, sailing vessels are not allowed into the busy port and we were directed to Mohamedmedia to look for a berth. We did manage to get the only open spot at a rather rickety dock. The customs officer was friendly and helpful, stamping us both in and out of Morocco so that we could depart in the early morning, which we did.
We continued motor sailing through the day until the wind came around and finally at midnight we were able to rig the pole and go wing and wing. Morning brought turtle and dolphin sightings as well as a little gold finch hitch hiking on the stern life line! The wind continued to be a mixed lot as we worked our way south over the next few days arriving in Lanzarote around 9am on Monday Sept 19. We pulled into Marina Lanzarote in Arrecife on the east side of the island and found a comfortable, new marina brimming with boats participating in Jimmy Connell's Barbados rally.
The next day we rented a car and drove around the island's north end with it's fields of lava, stone and cactus. We went into the Cueva de los Verdes - an underground volcanic tunnel that is 6km long, and drove to the lovely town of Teguise passing vineyards planted in ash with vines surrounded by lava rock walls. The island is big enough to warrant a two day drive, so we toured the south end the following day. There we visited the Montanas del Fuego Parque Nationales de Tianfaya - a required bus ride through the volcanoes.
Lanzarote was a pleasant surprise but then it was time to move on! An 8 am departure for Gran Canaria started with....motoring but was soon followed by a romping wing on wing sail, rolling with the swell, and careening along at between 6-8 knots through the night. We sailed down around the southern side of Fuerteventura with it's beautiful cliffs and hills, across the channel and busy shipping lanes and into the unbeknownst to us "acceleration zone" where it blows 30+ knots on a regular basis - just when we were trying to slow down! Thankfully it was behind the beam. Then just as suddenly as we accelerated, we hit the "deceleration" zone and calmly entered Puerto Mogan just as it was stirring to life, like 9:30 am. Such is life in the islands!
That's the news from EQ, where the winds are fair, the seas calm and the crew content.
With Equanimity and Joy...
