Lanzarote Canary Islands 28:51.4N 13:48.8W
Rubicon
Sun 25 Oct 2015 13:44
We arrived in Lanzarote, on the southern coast at Marina Rubicon on October 7, 2015. Staying at Marina Rubicon was fun. There was a lot of activity, lots of restaurants, shopping, and renting a car gave us the freedom to explore. The roads were excellent, and there wasn't much traffic. I took Pavel to the AquaLava water park and we had a blast on the waterslides and in the wave pool. There was also a play area, with the large bucket on top that fills up and then tips over, dousing the area with a huge splash. We also went to the Aquapark which was north of Arrecife. This was a large park, with big and small waterslides, that were just slides, ones using a tube, and areas where you hold onto a handle, slide over the water, and fall in. It was a lot of fun sliding with the kids. I decided to do the adult only slides and it was scary and fun at the same time. At the top of the highest one, I paused and had second thoughts, it was really high and steep, but
I did it anyway. Vlad thought I was crazy.
I also drove through the winery district. Grape vines are planted in round depressions with some rocks on one side for support. Apparently this is to protect the vines from the wind. The earth is all black, and it is such a strange landscape. I tried the Malvasia while dry wine, delicious! I tried the sweet wine, delicious! The Bodega that I stopped at was run by an older couple, and was a small family run affair. When I bought a bottle of each, they picked up a couple of unlabelled clear wine bottles out, filled them up from the metal casks, and popped in some corks! I loved it:) Finding these cool places makes me smile. It is one of the great things about travelling in the way we do.
We had the engine and generator serviced. We found a great grocery store, found ziplock bags and containers, rice noodles, sushi supplies and loaded up on canned fruits, veggies, and meats for the crossing. Then watched the weather carefully. There have been quite a few “lows” recently, meaning very bad weather systems are coming past the Canaries, and we didn't want to get caught by one travelling from Lanzarote to Gran Canaria. We left Marina Rubicon in the afternoon of October 18th, and were expecting light winds and easy conditions. I didn't put on my scopolamine patch until we were underway (bad idea) and I had a rough passage, as the waves were confused and I was the most ill I have been to date. At least I had made a lasagna ahead of time, that Vlad could enjoy. The kids were OK, I had given them Gravol, and they slept through the worst of it. Made it into Las Palmas and were berthed on pontoon S ( the kids pontoon as it turned out). So now
planning to explore the city, the island and get through the 47 jobs on the list that need to be done before we leave for the Caribbean.