Maderia / Canaries
Flinns
Terry/ Nicola Flinn
Tue 7 Nov 2006 12:20
make our way to Madeira.We spent time with the families on 2 Irish boats who
were both taking a year off exploring the Atlantic Islands and Caribbean.
The marina at Funchal, Madeira was completely full of local yachts and
day-tripper boats and we were forced to spend our time there at anchor. We
enjoyed exploring the very pretty city and really fell for the local honey
cake. We visited the Botanical Gardens to obtain a permit to visit the
deserted and remote Salvagen Islands which are almost halfway to the
Canaries; in the event, the wind and weather were not suitable for this
detour and we decided to sail directly to Tenerife. We had an exhilarating 2
day sail and arrived in Santa Cruz on the morning of Tuesday 24th October
just before the start of a week's very unsettled and stormy weather. Again
we had hoped to visit the islands of Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma, but
the conditions were just too rough. We took full advantage of our week
off and caught up with cleaning and shopping. The marina boasted self
service
washing machines and Nicky managed 4 loads, all of which dried in a flash in
the strong winds.
We were very excited at the prospect of visits from Helen and Andy joining
us at Tenerife, then to be replaced by Jenny and Andy who would fly into
Lanzarote a week later.We had anticipated that they would be bringing
goodies from home, but were overwhelmed by the masses of stuff Helen
produced from her luggage.Their bags were bulging, but they brought very
few clothes for themselves. They were full of gifts from family back home,
Christmas decorations including a Xmas tree and lights; we know that Jenny
too has been given the job of delivering even more.
Unfortunately, Helen and Andy's first day with us was disappointing as
all the shops were closed because of a public holiday and we were deluged by
torrential rain all day long. We set off next day and had a great sail to
Gran
Canaria where we had a day off. We continued our tour of the Canaries with
passages to 2 harbours on Fuerteventura and finally another great sail to
Lanzarote.
