23/10/11 Arrived Isla Graciosa, Canaries

Innamorata
Steve & Carol
Sun 23 Oct 2011 13:12

29:13.42N 13:30.35W

We arrived at 8am this morning having slowed down to arrive in daylight and are anchored in a small bay near the only village on the island.

On reflection a great experience of what the Atlantic will probably be like. When the winds is strong and the seas a little rougher life on board becomes more difficult for normal day to day activities like cooking and sleeping, even getting dressed or undressed takes much more effort and is more hazardous. But when the winds are gentler and we are sailing along with full genoa / cruising chute etc enjoying a comfortable sail it makes it all worth while.

We had problems with our sat phone and PC connections so need to sort that out and power consumption was a real issue – while the solar panels had been enough at anchor but when sailing the sails cast a shadow over them most of the time and the extra power consumption of gear means that we need to look for alternative means of charging the batteries. On arrival with internet access we see that Kahia has also gone to Porto Santo hopefully we will all meet up again soon.

We are going to be in the Canaries for a month or so , so if anyone wants to visit (we have a shopping list!).

Once again it was great to get your sat phone messages when sailing and we can't thank Cain enough for the weather updates especially as the sat phone / PC issues meant we couldn't get grib files for ourselves.