Risso's Dolphins, toilet rolls & a full moon on the way to Las Palmas (1)
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Sun 15 Feb 2009 14:33
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28:07.72N, 15:25.57W Our time in Puerto Calero Lanzarote finally (and sadly) came to an end after extending our visit an additional 2 weeks for our weather window to enable us to move on. With our wonderful friends taking the trouble to drive down to see us off we motored out of the marina with heavy hearts, waving fond farewells Keith, Nina, Jenny & Ricardo - we will miss you all - but take with us so many happy memories. And we now have a new guardian angel onboard- a new brown bear has joined the crew of AJAYA - welcome JERINIKE. (No prizes awarded for how the name came about!)Our 22 hour overnight voyage was notable for 3
events. A visit from (if our dolphin spotting book can be believed) 2 large
Rissos dolphins as we passed between the island of Fuerteventura and the
southern end of Lanzarote. We have never seen this species of dolphin
before, being light in belly colour with heavy markings and a blunt snout
which is different than the Common, Bottlenose and Atlantic dolphins
of which we have seen on mumerous occasions since leaving the UK..These were BIG
dolphins! Nikki also choked on her cup of tea as she saw a whale surface some
distance off to port a little later - but it didn't show itself again so didn't
get a good look to identify what it may have been. Probably better that way
really.
Also as we passed between the two islands we
noticed first one or two, then tens, and then 100s of loo roll 6
packs bobbing past us heading towards the north coast of Fuerteventura.
Boy! are the beachcombers of that island in for a treat in the coming days. Tons
of soggy loo rolls adorning the beaches.
Finally, when going back to sea overnight for
the first time in 3 months it certainly helps to have some moonlight, and we
were fortunate to have an almost full moon which beautifully lit up the
surrounding seas all night, making the lack of wind seem less of a nuisance
than it otherwise could have been. At least we gave both engines an
extended run with no breakages along the way.
So we are now on our way again - who knows what the
coming weeks will bring. Never a dull day - that's for certain.
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