Lanzarote - not a lot grows here!
It was great to catch up with friends from home for a couple of days on the beach, and not only were there some great restaurants around Marina Rubicon, but there were some great walks along the cliff tops near the Marina
The marina.
Papagayou Bay, about 30 minutes walk from Rubicon - great beach, well worth the walk.
These are the works of an Artist whose studio overlooks the marina - they all look rather tragic, but that's probably not surprising as the models are cast in concrete and the resulting figures frequently then exhibited underwater!
We had to wait in Rubicon for a weather window before we set off for Gran Canaria and when we got there the marina was packed - Gran Canaria is a major point of departure for several organised rally's across the Atlantic The ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) alone is a fleet of 200, and most of them were already in the Marina so there was no room for us.
Las Palmas Marina, Gran Canaria - standing room only for one man and his dog!
We are anchored somewhere in this crowd outside the marina - the swell was quite bad at times, it was incredibly busy as it's the entrance to a huge commercial port but there are very good Chandlers there.
And also a busy sailing school - this was a frequent occurance, the Oppies head out of the harbour past one of the many cruise ships in the port
And being towed back in at high speed after the morning lesson.
As soon as conditions permitted, we set off for Tenerife. In order to be sure of arriving in daylight we set off in the evening and had a very peaceful and enjoyable overnight sail, arriving at Santa Cruz at first light.
Santa Cruz harbour is again a commercial port, and clearly the harbour entrance is a major refurbishment centre / parking spot for oil rigs
We were completely dwarfed by these bits of floating machinery.
We were joined in Santa Cruz by our daughter Clare and Jamie so we hired a car and set off to see the sights ... Firstly Santa Cruz itself.
The marina is being refurbished - and no doubt it will be lovely when it's finished but at the moment there are a few hazards!
Once off the boat, it's a 20 minute walk to the town centre, however a pedestrian bridge over the road is nearly completed and will greatly reduce the distance to the city centre.
It's worth the walk to see the Auditorium, a huge wave of shiny white mosaic and very similar in feel to the Arts and Science Centre in Valencia.
The Auditorium is on the waterfront and the breakwater rocks have been decorated in an appropriate manner.
There is a splendid market in the town centre where you can buy a huge selection of fresh produce, again worth the walk.
A fine bronze outside the market but it did seem a bit out of place to have what appeared to be a milk maid on an island where we have yet to see a cow!
This one seemed more in keeping - fishermen pushing their boat up a beach.
The island is completely dominated by Mount Teide, which at 3718m is the highest mountain in Spain. The whole area is a National park, there is a cable car that takes you to within 200m of the summit but you need a guide and permit to go to the top, and no permits were available during our stay.
The volcanic landscape, it took us 2 hours to queue for the 8 minute ride in the cable car - the queue wasn't big, just very slow. The other option was a 5 hour walk, which was beginning to look like the best option by the time we got in the tiny cable car.
The views from the top were spectacular, and the path through the lava challenging!
Clare and Jamie, with Mt Teide in the background.
I'd decided that you can never see too much of a Volcano, so we went on another walk in the lava fields a few kilometres south of the peak to see the Roques de Garcia, ancient pillars of lava left behind after the surrounding land has eroded away.
Apparently this used to feature on the 1000 pesos note
Ancient lava spikes, with lava from much more recent eruptions flowing past.
It really is a harsh but beautiful landscape. Surprisingly we saw quite a few people hunting (presumably rabbits) with dogs, but the only living things we came across were lizards.
They were very interested in our lunch!
Apart from the volcano, another Tenerife highlight is whale and dolphin watching. The straight between the western coast of Tenerife and neighbouring La Gomera is considered to be amongst the worlds finest whale watching areas and although we have frequently seen both whales and dolphins when we've been sailing, the only way to guarantee a sighting is to take an organised trip. It greatly exceeded our expectations.
Pilot Whales
A family unit - the youngster is apparently only about 3 months old.
The whales dive to feed on giant squid that live in these waters at a depth of about 1000 metres, so following the depth contour was a good way of getting close to the whales
The whales appeared completely unbothered by the presence of our boat and our driver had to take care not to run into them they were so close to us.
We also saw several pods of bottle nose Dolphins - again they seemed interested in us, not bothered in the slightest.
In the spirit of leaving no stone unturned (and acknowledging that maybe not everyone shared my enthusiasm for all things volcanic), we searched for other attractions on Tenerife - we discovered that the little town of Icod de los Vinos boasts the oldest and largest Dragon Tree in the world ... Apparently over 1000 years old.
The Tree. Show me a volcano any day!Sadly our visitors had to get back to their 'Real Lives', so now it's time to leave the comfort of Europe and head South. Next landfall should be Mindelo, Cape Verde - 800 or so miles and about a week's sail from here.
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