Gran Canaria to Lanzarote

Talulah's Web Diary
Paul & Anette Morris
Wed 2 Aug 2006 19:25
Well we left Gran Canaria after looking at the weather forecast, to sail north east to Lanzarote.    As usual in the Canaries, the wind was on the nose and we banged into a lumpy sea for the whole of the trip of 95 miles, which took us 16 hours.   But......the sun shone! and then a quarter moon came out.    The weather was predicted to drop to a force 4 or 5, but it was 6's and a bit of 7 all the way!    However, we reached Lanzarote (Playa Blanca) at 2 in the morning, dropped an anchor, had a couple of stiff drinks and went to bed.
 
Sunday was great, moved to another anchorage and spent the day snorkelling and swimming in the clearest waters I've seen so far.   Dived and took a tour of inspection under the hull and noticed that in the rough weather somewhere in the last 2 weeks, we must have hit something (obviously a whale!!), and the antifouling has been damaged - and more importantly the anode on one of the sail-drives has come adrift and is spinning loosely.   Fortunately the marina we are going to has the capability to lift a 'cat' of my size, so I'll be able to repair the damage in a few hours later in the year before we set off for the Caribbean. 
 
Next morning, before the wind blew up again (monday), we moved into the Marina - which was great!   Brand new, very hospitable and for a 'cat' - reasonably cheap!   In addition, we have a large swimming pool that we can use for free - Anette is in seventh heaven!   Good neighbours too with lots of stories to tell.
 
Photos are:
1.    Sunset underway from Gran Canaria to Lanzarote
2.    The Autopilot doing a great job from Gran Canaria to Lanzarote
3.    Anchored off Punta de Papagayo (the point of Parrots!!??) in Lanzarote
4.    At last in the Marina - with a drink in my hand!

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