LIVE ABOARDS IN THE CANARIES

Daddy's little girl

After a very busy trip back to the UK having seen lots of friends, visited George in Leeds, spent time with Emma at home and with my mother settled back in her home we headed back to the Canaries and the sunshine! Two days later we had our first visitor, my cunning plan of coaxing my girls to spend time with their parents over the next few years by buying them an air ticket to warmer climes paid of and we had the pleasure of the lovely George for a week. What a treat to spend quality time with her on her own, we had already had Emma to ourselves last year in Spain and loved that! Hopefully she will join us in the Spring when she has finished working in the Alps.

We spent a day in the sun in the Club Le Punto and then mindful of our youngest tendency towards sea sickness ventured an hour around the corner to Anfi del Mar and anchored in the bay. Such a lovely place and very calm,  beautiful weather so lots of sunbathing and swimming. Somehow the skipper was persuaded to buy a lilo for his little girl, a rather  questionable addition to the boat! We found a great bar for sundowners and then headed back for Spaghetti Carbanara, such a shame that the cartoon of cream I had purchased in the supermarket turned out to be Strawberry Yogurt!!

The next day we ventured a little further down the coast. Having annoyed one particular marina with my constant phone calls to enquire after a berth, its very confusing this Spanish Language of which I do not speak one word , we were unable to get one so we anchored outside Mogan and took the dingy in for dinner. It is well worth a visit with lots of lovely restaurants around the port and the weather was settled so George survived the night at sea!

The Fishermen

The next morning we were up early and set sail for Teneriffe.  The fishing rod was cast amid much excitement amongst the female crew very keen for our first catch, and we did hook one but it got away....  probably spurred on by our hysterical screams of excitement! However we had a cracking sail and made good time arriving in the early afternoon.

From Gran Canaria Teneriffe is a very impressive sight with its Volcano rising above the clouds, but as you get nearer it loses its grandeur.  Let us just say that after two nights we headed back the way we had come. The only memorable bit of our stay being my girlie day with George on a beach, reached by taxi, where we sunbathed, enjoyed a few glasses and calamari for lunch and put the world to rights with our constant chatter. Oh and a little retail therapy for mum, such a delight these grown up daughters!!

Anfi del Mar

We spent our last night with George back in Anfi del Mar and sadly said goodbye to our little girl who looked a lot healthy than when she had arrived. We spent a few more days there just chilling, working out how to use our TRX  and then it was time to head to Las Palmas to sort out the water heater.
As the ARC were in town there was no room in the Inn so we dropped anchor in the harbour as before. The next day we managed to get a berth just for the day and the Oyster Boys in Red T shirts came onboard and what a delight they were! Not only did they fit our new hot water tank but they gave the boat a full MOT and some very useful advice on future maintenance and oh what a joy to have hot water again!!!!!

We decided to stay in Las Palmas, until our berth became available at the Real Club Nautico once the ARC had left , and to spend the time working on the boat carrying out the maintenance items that had been suggested to us. We had been told that our engine and generator needed a clean, after three days of cleaning them I wasn't quite so enamoured of the Boys in red but actually they were correct they were both filthy and it will now be so much easier to see any oil leaks or problems. We also serviced the engine and I think even I could now do an oil change.  Having spent so much time working on the engine I have lost some of my fear of it, no bad thing even if my hands ended up looking like they belonged to an engineer! We also serviced all our winches and feel the boat is now fully ready for her crossing in January and I am happy to know that if I run out of face or body cream that Diesel is a very good alternative!

Las Palmas

 It was actually great fun being in town with the ARC, not only did we have the advantage of several contractors giving us a great after service but we also made and cemented some good friendships. The very wonderful Jorge, who had organised us a berth in the Real Club Nautico for December, managed to get us an early berth so we didn't have to bounce around in the harbour,  I loved him!! What  a fantastic club with such lovely facilities and charming people, we have both decided that the Spanish are fantastic, so laid back and friendly!! All in all we had a very jolly time, with only one particularly bad hangover which resulted in a day by the pool as we were fit for nothing! And of course we  gatecrashed the final arc party - well really there we were sitting on our pontoon with music blaring out in the Yacht club, it was too much, we had to put on our dancing shoes and sneak in!!

The Committee Boat for the Arc

The night before the ARC left the wind switched up a notch and by the time they left on the Sunday it was blowing 25 knots and there was a big sea running. I felt very sorry for them, having spent so many weeks in harbour anyone prone to  sea sickness was probably in for a bad couple of days, I know I would have suffered. We went out with Jorge, his brother Jose and friends to watch the start and wave them of, it was quite a spectacle watching all the boats come out of the Marina with bands playing and horns blowing. I felt quite exhilarated by it all and excited for them, while at the same time feeling very sad that we weren't going with them.

Loving this shop

The last few days we finished of our chores and I took advantage of our time there and stocked up on liquids and dry goods for our crossing. Of I trotted to  El Courte Anglais, a fantastic departmental store with an amazing food hall. The next day everything was delivered to the boat - so easy! A few problems with the language again, but then it is rather arrogant of me to come to their country and expect them to speak English, a spanish language app for the crossing perhaps....

As you can see no wine....

We have loved living on our boat again, so easy to keep on top of all our emails and our life & we do realise how very fortunate we are to be able to have this adventure! Despite the odd spate, and some bickering ,  Andrew and I have been getting on famously, it is like the old days, until I look in the mirror that is!

As the time to leave approached I kept  wondering how I was supposed to leave our lovely vessel,  she is so very special, just as special as our Sigma 33 and anyone who knew me then would now how very special that is!! I am absolutely certain that this adventure of ours is the correct thing for us to do at this time in our lives but it is hard with certain ties at home, my mothers welfare a constant concern. This trip my aunt, who is childless, was rushed to hospital and is not at all well. Many phone calls to England again and anxiety as to wether I should go and see her, happily she is improving and has many good friends who have been visiting her and looking out for her.  Having never been very driven before by any one thing in life I am only just coming to realise that if you really want to achieve, or do something special it is often necessary to be selfish. Good thing I wasn't talented at anything, I would have been a nervous wreck!!

Jorge in charge with  Jose looking on..

So we left the boat with a very heavy heart, secretly hoping that we had left our passports behind by mistake and would miss the flight!!!! However she is in excellent hands and we cannot thank Jorge enough for all he has and is doing for us in making sure the good ship Hullabaloo is safe and ready for our return in January when it will very defiantly be time to go to sea again!!

THE BOBBING BEGINS....

Happy Days!

Almost 30 years ago with our feet dangling over the bow of my Dad's boat Sea Streaker we had a chat about sailing around the world - 26 years ago married and on the first Hullabaloo, a Sigma 33,  we promised each other that once our kids - not then born - were grown up we would set sail - after almost two years of preparation and a massive amount of work by my lovely husband and  thirty years of anticipation we finally left the Hamble on 8th September.
Delayed by a week with outstanding jobs to be completed we were finally ready to go - off I went to the supermarket to buy supplies leaving Andrew to deal with last minute jobs - you can imagine his horror when suddenly all the bilge pumps switched on and smoke poured out of the floor boards!! Fearful of a fire it turned out to be our hot water tank which had chosen this moment to explode - not the best of timings! Still who needs a hot shower - we never used to have such luxuries in the past and we were sure worse things were likely to happen in the next few years - so at four o'clock we slipped our berth and motored out of the Solent in calm seas, tired but excited and to be honest a little shell shocked - it all seemed a little surreal.

Farewell Blightey

Mindful of bad weather ahead we were keen to get through Biscay so through a combination of Sailing and Motoring we

Happy Skipper

headed for Northern Spain and crossed the Bay in four days and nights. There was a swell running but conditions were good and we settled into a three hour watch system at night -
catching some sleep in the day when the need arose. Having downloaded some films and tv programmes on our laptops, for the first time ,watching them at night whilst on watch was a revelation - they certainly help to pass the time and we just loved being at sea just the two of us on the start of our big adventure.

We had lots of Dolphins accompanying us - one pod stayed with us for an entire night and we had a whale swim under the boat which was literally breathtaking! Luckily we didn't see him coming Andrew just noticed this whirlpool of water on the starboard bow and he popped up to port about three boat lengths away blowing a huge plume of water - we think he was a Sperm whale about 60ft long - an amazing sight and one we probably don't need to see again at such close quarters!
We made land at Ria Arosa happy to tie our vessel to the shore - headed straight for the showers with a quick detour to the bar for fags, wine/beer and food!! Then a quick nap before dinner - except we didn't wake up until the next morning - clearly more exhausted than we realised!

Club Reale Nautica

Woken by the stern banging into the dock and a howling wind we had an interesting couple of hours securing the boat, the skipper very worried that she would break loose from the finger pontoon and crush the small boat moored next to us - it somewhat supprised us when this couple emerged on deck a few hours later having slept through it all - if I had known they were there I would have dragged them out!

We stayed another night and then took advantage of a break in the
weather to pop round to the lovely town of Bayonna tying up at the Club Reale Nautica de Yeats -an amazing club house built below the old castle where the staff were all very welcoming.

The next morning tropical storm Henry hit, we recorded 45knots at times and were very happy to be safely in harbour - I ventured out to visit the laundrette and had to hold on to the railings to get back to the boat the wind was so strong! We stayed for three nights in all - having wandered out to the sea front the day after the storm and seen an enormous Ro-Ro boat with her bow slamming against the waves we decided lunch was a much better option and Andrew took me to the lovely Parador Hotel which is a very special place.

Lisbon Bridge

We then set sail to Lisbon overnight hoping to catch our lovely mates Geoff & Belinda who have recently moved there but ended up arriving as they flew back to England for a few days - we couldn't quite believe how unlucky we were. We spent a happy day sightseeing - thrilled to have finally reached the sun. It is a fantastic city with such a lovely vibe.

Cape St Vincent

Then two nights at anchor on our way down the Portuguese coast - the last at Cape St Vincent before we said goodbye to mainland Europe and headed out into the Atlantic next stop the Canaries. Once through the shipping lanes there is nothing out there and the sight of a ship is a rarity - absolute heaven nothing for me to panic about!! Lots more dolphins - we even saw a bait ball where the birds and dolphins work together to find food  - the birds spot the fish and the dolphins swim around the shoal rounding them up with their mouths wide open to feed - any fish that manages to escape upwards is taken out by the birds - quite a feeding frenzy! And four more whales were spotted between us but in the distance - you could just see them blow.

It took us four days and nights to get to the Canaries - we had lovely weather and at times had to motor due to lack of wind but we were happy to be enjoying the Sunshine and the freedom - cold showers by now an absolute pleasure! Having now spent many hours at sea and had plenty of time to put the world to rights I marvelled at the experience of just being - nothing to worry about - nothing to be done but bob along. At times you could smell Africa wafting across the ocean I have never been there but I know what it smells like now!                                                                         

We heard a radio call one evening from a boat 120 miles south talking to the Coast guard - they had come across a boat full of refugees and wanted advice as to what to do - we never heard the outcome but it got us both thinking - we would also have to go to their aid if we found such a situation but the authorities didn't seem to be very helpful as to the correct course of action.

I couldn't quite believe it when we spotted Lanzerote - such a sense of achievement to have sailed all that way - I am sure I will change my mind at times as we progress on our journey but at the moment the world seems a smaller place - no doubt after a large storm in the Atlantic it will seem b..... enormous!

Bliss

We spent two nights in the Puerto Calero and then three at anchor south of the island - unheard of I believe to have such settled weather with very little wind and flat seas. Another night in Fuertaventura where we had a very romantic stroll on the little Isla De Lobos which we had all to ourselves after the day trippers had all left. Then a days sail to Gran Canaria and two nights at anchor in Las Palmas which seemed like a very large & busy city. And we bought a fishing rod - with high hopes of our first fish we set sail for the bottom of the island and our final destination on this trip - I psyched myself up for the first kill ready with the gaff to spear this enormous fish I was sure we would catch - maybe next time....