Following an afternoon of much calmer conditions - force 5's and 6's with a moderate sea state - we finally dropped our anchor off Isla Graciosa at half past one this morning. 

After 5 days at sea and covering a distance of approximately 600 nautical miles we both can honestly say the journey flew by apart from the last few miles which seemed to take FOREVER! From sighting the twinkling lights off Lanzarote at approximately 10pm time just seemed to slow down and even the final approach to our anchorage up the channel between Graciosa and Lanzarote felt like hours!

We dropped our anchor and about 50m of chain in 13m of depth amongst a couple of dozen boats and after a celebratory drink headed to our bunks for a long and peaceful sleep at last. 

We woke this morning to get our first glimpse of the Canary Islands and Isla Graciosa. It is a beautiful spot with a wide sandy beach; clear water, steep cliffs of volcanic rock and a mountainous backdrop. In the distance to the southwest the craggy outline of Lanzarote looks almost ethereal in the misty atmospherics which hang persistently over the land here...... yep it's pretty!! 

We have had a very lazy day; getting Hamble Warrior ship shape again after her big journey; chatting to our families and making plans for our next few weeks as we explore these islands. Unsurprisingly our enquiries about marina berths have mostly been met with the news that everything is full with the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) boats now arriving ahead of their crossing which departs at the end of November. That's not really a problem; we are happy to stay at anchor and we have already identified several suitable spots.

For the time being we might enjoy a lazy couple of nights here before we head to Lanzarote just across the way and then Gran Canaria next. 

We were delighted to find out once we had arrived and had phone signal again that these blog updates had posted successfully. There are still some things we need to refine - we hope to have a map soon which will plot the coordinates we give in each update so that you can see our progress. I will also attempt to attach a picture at some stage but this isn't possible while using the satalite phone to post updates so most pictures will be posted on my social media accounts as and when we can get data ashore. We are still learning!!!