Lanzarote – Tuesday 30 August to Friday 9 September

We are actually in Lanzarote until 21 September when we depart for Tenerife.  This blog takes us up to

Friday 9 September.  Other rally boats are gradually arriving in Lanzarote and the marina is looking very colourful as they dress overall and hoist their Barbados 50 rally flags.

The time is pretty much our own, however, next week we start afternoons of seminars covering various topics relevant to our future Atlantic crossing and sailing generally i.e. medical emergencies at sea, safe diving and snorkelling, communications and how to obtain weather at sea, energy management on passage, boat preparation for a long voyage, strategy and tactics for the Atlantic crossing. Like being back at school!  There is an island tour organised to a volcano, Mountanas del Fuego Timanfaya, plus a day trip to Fuerteventura (the only Canary Island we won’t be sailing to).

Ken’s nephew Peter Stokes and friend Jazz have come to stay with us for a couple of weeks. They have assisted with some boat chores which has been much appreciated.  Sometimes we lack enthusiasm as the list is never ending so their assistance has encouraged us crack on with necessary maintenance etc. We took the rudder off ‘Harry the Hydrovane’ (our self steering gear) and they scraped/pressure washed it clean of seaweed and barnacles. Whilst the pressure washer was connected they washed all our cockpit cushions; they’ve not been done for a while!  We took the second headsail down and noticed chaffing from the pole so have sent it off to a sail-makers for repair.  Ken has serviced the winches.  We traced and removed some ‘dead’ wiring and so it goes on!  Worth it though as we rewarded ourselves with the newly discovered strawberry gin!

Their visit has also given us an excuse to take time out from day in, day out boat chores and enjoy the sand, sea and Island.  It’s great having young people about; we are still big kids at heart!  I have even taught Jazz to stand on her head and drink upside down –  her new party trick!  The canoe was fun although we did get a bit worried when Pete and Jazz disappeared for a good couple of hours.  We had visions of them being swept out to sea with the tide, or being run down by a cruise ship.  We took a stroll with our binoculars to the end of the marina to see if we could see them; thankfully we could.  They were perfectly safe and sound, just investigating the harbour and surrounding area to its max!

We decided to hire a car for three days (in my name, so I got to drive on the wrong side of the road!).  Our first stop was Salinas de Janubio (salt fields).  Then on to Los Hervideros, blow holes in the volcanic rock formation.  A fantastic lunch at El Golfo then beach back near the marina for a late afternoon swim and sunbath.  It was later than planned due to us getting lost on our return route – give the navigator his due, a lot of roads were closed due to roadworks!  That’s his story and he’s sticking to it!! A fun evening aboard White Ibis for tapas rounded the day off nicely.

Thursday 8 September

Day two in the car took us to the North of the Island, to volcanic caves, Jameos del Agua (created by the eruption of La Corona Volcano) where we discovered an underground lake, the only home of ‘blind crabs’ – quite how they know they are blind I’m not sure.  Fascinating none the less. 

The car has a CD that tells you all about the various famous landmarks as you are driving along.  It was a bit like being ‘The Stig’ learning Spanish whist driving along, except the commentary was actually in English!!  We could tell Pete and Jazz were really interested in it – Pete reading his book and Jazz having a little nap!

Further North was Mirador del Rio, a very high vantage point, 475 metres, overlooking the island of La Graciosa. 

We joined a tour around a second set of volcanic caves, an enormously long tunnel going underground, also created by the eruption of La Corona Volcano.  Described as a journey into the bowels of the earth, it certainly was a spectacular, unique experience.

Our return journey took us past a cactus farm, producing various wines, including cactus wine, so a quick handbrake turn ensured we didn’t go whizzing past (not that we could whizz anywhere in the particular car we’d hired).  Cactus wine duly purchased we set off for our  final sightseeing experience for the day, an amazing cactus garden – Jardin de Cactus (funnily enough).  There were over 7000 cacti, over 1000 different species.

Friday 09 September

I made the mistake of weighing myself first thing in the morning and was horrified to see I’d put on 5lbs.  It was time to start running again.  Off I went to the beach and back, a 3.7 mile round trip.  Pete and Jazz have been running most mornings since their arrival but somehow I knew I wouldn’t keep up with them, being half my age, so I declined their kind invitation to join them!

The third and final day in our hire car was to the very South of the Island to Playa Blanca.  Here we met up with some friends from Harbury/Kenilworth, Jai Purewal and Nicky Hunt who happened to be holidaying at this resort.  We ate lunch at their amazing hotel, went for a walk to the Marina Rubicon for an ice cream (ice lolly in my case) and spent the afternoon swimming and snorkelling on the beach.  Swimming out to some rocks we saw lots of different species of brightly coloured fish in very clear blue waters.