Passage to Las Palmas - 13 October

Dearloves
Sat 15 Oct 2005 22:03
We left Isla de Graciosa yesterday afternoon, after the children had made some more new friends, who had some baby tortoises as pets on their boat!
 
Baby Tortoise
 
We also saw one boat growing tomatoes on its foredeck!  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that but here is a picture of one of the other residents:
 
"My other vehicle is a Harley Davidson"
 
Pip did her last fishing in the marina before we left:
 
 
On the journey Alice and Pip made themselves comfortable on the staysail - the weather was perfect:
 
 
 
The journey to Gran Canaria took around 20 hours and early this morning we undertook a dramatic rescue.  Two turtles had become caught in some tangled fishing net, and we spotted them as we sailed past.  We quickly turned around and maneouvred to get them onto Keoma's swimming platform.
 
Charlie cutting the first (smaller) one free
 
Passing it back to Alice
 
Alice gives it a hug to try to comfort it
 
Charlie cuts the larger one (the mother?) free and puts it in the water
 
The second turtle is launched (rather unceremoniously) and swims away
 
This is the net that we cut away
 
We really hope that they survive, but they were very weak by the time we found them. 
 
Our plan is to stay in Las Palmas for three days now, hopefully ordering the final things we need for the shopping list, ready for the ARC crossing to St Lucia, which leaves on 20 November.  First impressions of Las Palmas are that the marina area is a building site, so we are keen to be away as soon as possible, and will visit the other Canary Islands.  We will then return to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, two weeks before the off for the final preparations and parties.  Oh yes, and there are some seminars too.  There is an ARC website at www.worldcruising.com which has details of all the participants and lots of information about the event.