28:27.3N 16:14.8W Madeira to Tenerife
Gaudeo
John and Prue Quayle / John Quayle
Thu 20 Sep 2007 14:15
|
16 - 17th September: Madeira to Tenerife
(260M).
Only a light NE breeze was forecast but airline
schedules for homeward journeys on Thursday 20th meant we had to
leave though in retrospect it might have been better to wait another 24 hrs
for the wind to increase since we had to motor for 24 hrs - Arthur who
had put up a good show as the only dark blue in this otherwise light blue boat,
had as planned jumped ship earlier to return to work.
Glacial calm sea, vividly royal
blue in colour since leaving Portugal, and sparkling phorescence at
night with a sky crammed with stars combined to make what is
usually a monotonous passage by engine exceedingly pleasant. The
following day after a beautiful dawn, NE breeze returned and we were soon back
making 6-7 knots for the last 24 hours. The only event just before
dawn was an urgent course alteration on account of the
risk of collision with a low lying star!
The crew were well settled into boat routine and
arrived with a almost a full quota of sleep. Moreover, all had shaved
and showered long before arriving in Santa Cruz which is a miracle!
Spotted en route: Birds - Numerous Cory
Shearwaters, a Great Skua, 3 migrating Heron, Manx Shearwaters, Bulwer
Petrels.
Mammals
- Numerous Bottlenose Dolphins, 1 large whale (unidentified), a pod of
Pilot Whales.
19th September: Tour by taxi through the beautiful
forested Valle de la Orotawa and on to the spectacular huge expanse and volcanic
plain of the Teide national park (summit 3715m) and then to
the attractive old part of Puerto de la Cruz and the not so attractive
modern tourist area.
20th September: Edward Pank and Richard Genochio
return UK; David Bostock is being joined for a few days by Angie his wife in the
N of the island; I am tidying up over the next 2 days before returning to
Shrewsbury.
So ends another over 60s outing. A
wonderful start to a gap year.
I return with John Smith, Jonathan Lane on 12
November; Richard Burbidge comes out 2 days later; and we set off for the
Caribbean (Grenada) on 18th
November |
