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3rd Nov 2011 - 16th Dec 2011
Heading West – The Canary Islands and Beyond
As I sit comfortably in the climate-controlled environment of our home in New Jersey and look out on a cold winter landscape, the last month and a half spent on Bright Ayes seems a distant memory. But the rush of Christmas and New Years are over now, and before the memory becomes too distant, it’s time to record our experiences in the Canaries, our Atlantic crossing, and making landfall in the Caribbean. After all, this closing chapter of the past three seasons in Europe is, in many respects, the climax of our story. Since crossing the Atlantic west to east in 2009, this chapter has been lurking in the shadows of my mind, an inevitable conclusion to an amazing time in our lives. I wouldn’t say I was dreading crossing the Atlantic east to west, but I certainly didn’t expect it to be one of the most pleasantly memorable three weeks of our European adventure.
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Diary Photos
| 3rd Nov 2011 A typical cruiser anchored next to us in Lanzarote, Canary Islands |
| Before I begin this chapter, it’s time for a few words on the cruising community. Is this young man a typical cruiser? On the stern of his boat is the home port of Toronto, but after chatting with him we learned that he is charming young Russian who plans to cross the Atlantic by himself. After purchasing his small boat in Toronto, he sailed single-handedly across the Atlantic to the Med last summer, decided it was too costly and windless for his taste, and was now planning to give the Caribbean a try. Is this typical? Probably not, but his independent spirit, open and friendly demeanor, and self-sufficient attitude are traits we have found in nearly every cruiser we have met. As we walked along the streets of the seaside villages and cities we visited throughout Europe, we often made a game of pointing out the cruisers among the people we encounter. The cruising community is small, but once you know what you’re looking for, its members stand out in a crowd.
What does a typical cruiser look like? A cruiser will nearly always be hauling a backpack. Whether age 25, 75 or somewhere in between, a cruiser will be physically fit. A cruiser’s haircut is often poorly executed, having been either self-inflicted or the result of a session with a pair of scissors in the hands his partner. His clothes are never fancy, often patched and seldom spotless. And once he finds something comfortable, a cruiser will wear it for days on end. Many cruisers appear to be nearly penniless, living a primitive lifestyle on an incredibly small boat. Most survive on a strict budget, often required if they hope to continue the cruising life. Even those with large expensive boats and plenty of cash in the bank tend to adopt a conservative and environment-friendly lifestyle. Many fear giving up the cruising lifestyle to return to a dirt-based existence, because they feel that their lives have substantially changed as a result of having been cruisers. They fear that they may no longer “fit in” back home.
Wayne and I find the cruising lifestyle has brought us back to our Midwestern farm roots, in many respects. While growing up on a farm was definitely a dirt-based existence, it breeds the same self-sufficient, independent spirit that dominates a cruiser’s personality. I have to harass Wayne to exchange his stained t-shirt and patched blue jeans for something a bit more presentable when we leave the boat. And as you may have noticed, our haircuts are never professional and are often comical. Our galley’s cupboards are full of re-cycled jars awaiting their new use, and we pick up empty cans and bottles that we find along the roadside or sidewalk when we walk ashore to dispose of them properly. This is no small task in many litter-filled southern Mediterranean countries where waste receptacles are difficult to locate. And yes, as we prepare to spend nine months as “dirt-dwellers, ” I admit to feeling a bit worried that we aren’t the same two people who sailed away four years ago. But enough musing, and on to the Canary Islands and beyond. |
| 4th Nov 2011 The lunar landscape that is Lanzarote in the Canary Islands |
| After a 450 nautical mile sail from Rabat, Morocco, we anchored Bright Ayes in the harbor of Arrecife, the capital of Lanzarote, an island in the Canaries. While only 65 miles off the coast of Africa, the Canaries are part of Spain. I didn’t know much about this island group before we dropped our hook. I assumed it was named after the bird, but it turns out the bird is named after the Canary Islands, where Portuguese explorers found the small yellow and green birds. Then what is the source of the island’s name? Supposedly it is Latin for dogs (canaria has the same Latin root as canine), and the islands were said (about the time that B.C. became A.D.) to contain “vast multitudes of dogs of very large size.”
Arrecife means “reef” in Spanish; in this case a volcanic reef. As with the other Canary Islands, Lanzarote was created by volcanoes. Over 300 volcanoes, in fact, define its terrain. This volcanic activity was as recent as the 18th and 19th centuries, but on another Canary Island, El Hierro, a volcano was actively erupting when we were there, creating a new island just to its south. Luckily for me, ships were forbidden from passing too close, since I feared that Wayne would want to do just that when we began our Atlantic passage!
This photo was taken on Lanzarote’s Timanfaya National Park, a fascinating place to visit. We shared a car rental with our New Zealand buddy, the same fellow who toured Mallorca with us (Kerry) and a British woman on the boat next to us in the anchorage (Phillipa). Timanfaya was our first stop, and except for the sea in the distance, its eerie landscape definitely seemed out of this world. |
| 4th Nov 2011 Timanfaya by Camel |
| The most popular excursion at Timanfaya National Park is to visit its volcanic cones by camel. Still remembering our rather uncomfortable camel rides in Tunisia, we were happy to tour the park by car! There is a restaurant in the park named El Diablo, which serves the island’s specialties cooked on a grill over a hole in the ground fueled by geothermal heat. |
| 4th Nov 2011 El Golfo, on Lanzarote’s west coast |
| After being awed by Timanfaya, we drove west to the windward coast of the island. Here, a semicircular volcanic crater opens to the sea creating a large lagoon in the base of the crater. The sea crashing into the irregular shore reminded us why we always seek shelter from the sea on the leeward rather than the windward side of an island. |
| 4th Nov 2011 Something from Mars? |
| The sea’s effect on the volcano’s porous lava has, through time, given rise to spectacular formations at El Golfo. And the water rushing through these formations has created some amazing water spouts. You’ll have to take my word for it on the water spouts. Wayne made me put my camera in its case for fear of ruining it with salt water spray. |
| 5th Nov 2011 The resort at Los Jameos Del Agua |
| On the opposite corner of Lanzarote is an extensive underground volcanic tunnel almost four miles long running from the cone of the volcano down to the sea. Here, thousands of years ago, the molten lava from the volcano melted its way through everything in its path. As the surface solidified, the molten lava continued to flow inside, creating the tunnel. We toured an undeveloped cave where the tunnel reached the surface; unusual among the many caves we have visited since it was dry, preventing the creation of stalactites and stalagmites.
Then we drove just a few kilometers closer to the shore where the same tunnel had been used as the foundation for the beautiful resort in this photo, complete with restaurant, underground lake, above ground pool, and concert venue for up to 600 people. |
| 5th Nov 2011 The concert hall in Los Jameos Del Agua |
| The cave formed a natural amphitheater here, now the setting for the annual Festival of Visual Music of Lanzarote as well as for other concerts throughout the year. |
| 5th Nov 2011 The César Manrique Foundation |
| Again and again all over the island we found evidence of the influence of a single talented modern artist. Every traffic circle has a beautiful sculpture at its center. Every tourist attraction has artistic signs announcing its entrance. El Diablo, the restaurant in the Timanfaya National Park and the Jameos Del Aqua resort built in a volcanic cave were designed by this same talented artist/architect. His name is César Manrique, and he was born in 1919 and died in 1992. He recognized the potential for the tasteful development of tourism on Lanzarote, and opposed the spread of high-rise concrete across the coastline of Spain and her islands. His home on the island is now a foundation dedicated to the promotion of artistic, environmental and cultural activities. Visiting his foundation at the end of our two-day road trip was a great conclusion which connected the dots on all we had seen in our surprising and fascinating tour of Lanzarote. |
| 11th Nov 2011 Las Palmas, Gran Canaria |
| When favorable winds arrived to the Canaries, we sailed overnight from Lanzarote to Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria. It was from Las Palmas that we would provision the boat for the Atlantic crossing, greet our crew, and depart for the Caribbean. Las Palmas is the political capital and most populace city in the islands. In fact, it is the fifth most populous urban area in Spain. It has a lovely old town, seen in this photo, but also a vibrant modern surrounding city. By the way, the climate of the Canaries is enviable with pretty much the same comfortable temperature year around. |
| 12th Nov 2011 Roque Nublo (Rock in the Clouds) towers over the center of Gran Canaria |
| The Roque Nublo is all that remains of a volcanic crater formed millions of years ago. It is the most famous landmark of Gran Canaria and a common destination for hikers. It should not be difficult to believe after seeing this photo that nearly half of the people on Gran Canaria live in the city of Las Palmas. While the rest of the island is thinly populated, it is not the bizarre lunar landscape that we found so fascinating on Lanzarote. Many of the mountain roads overlook vast beautiful valleys, often being farmed with bananas, tobacco, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. During our day of touring the island, we were reminded of the beautiful lush valleys we saw on the drive through Puerto Rico’s Cordillera Central, the mountain chain which makes up the backbone of that island. |
| 12th Nov 2011 Kerry discusses kiwi |
| On Gran Canaria we again shared a rental car with Kerry and his crew. Kerry owns kiwi orchards in New Zealand, and he enjoyed chatting about the fruit with the owner of a local vegetable stand.
Speaking of typical cruisers, Kerry is another example. He admits to having saltwater in his blood. While he is a single-handed sailor, he often invites friends to sail with him, and he finds crew for long passages from people he meets along the way. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. Since initially meeting Kerry in Mallorca, where he was traveling alone, he had “picked up” a German and a French man for the Atlantic crossing before we saw him again in Gibraltar. By the time he arrived in Lanzarote, he had shed the French man due to incompatibility, and had added a French woman (who was reputed to be a good cook but who had seasickness issues) and a Polish woman (who had just finished medical training and consumed only bottled water and natural foods – no meats). He was anticipating the arrival of a Spanish woman to “round out” his crew. Since we had carefully pondered whom to invite to cross the Atlantic with us, we were constantly entertained by his casual acquisition of a multi-national crew whose ability to communicate with each other was somewhat limited and whose potential incompatibility with each other on a three-week passage across the ocean would remain a mystery until it was too late. We can’t wait to hear his account of their crossing. |
| 12th Nov 2011 Our last stop on our tour of Gran Canaria was at Dunas de Maspalomas |
| As Wayne and I watched from the top of a dune, Kerry and his female crew ran up one side the dunes and tumbled like children down the other. This southern coast of Gran Canaria offers the unique opportunity to be in a desert by the sea on a beach that runs for miles. |
| 13th Nov 2011 Las Palmas: ARC boats filled the marina and NARC boats dotted the anchorage |
| Las Palmas is the jumping off point for the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (the ARC). For the past 25 years, the ARC has left Las Palmas and headed for St Lucia in the Caribbean in mid-November. There were over two hundred ARC boats in 2011, filling the marina at Las Palmas, each proudly flying its ARC flag, many flying multiple ARC flags to reflect several years of participation in the rally. Seminars and social events for ARC sailors were ongoing for weeks prior to the departure of the ARC boats from Las Palmas on November 20, six days after our departure. I found it interesting that as we sailed from Gibraltar to Rabat to the Canaries, we had formed a community of sailors, nearly all of whom were planning to be crossing the Atlantic this fall or winter, yet none of them were part of the ARC. We called ourselves the NARC (Not the ARC) and most of us would also leave the Canaries from Las Palmas. But with the marina full of ARC sailors, we all anchored outside the marina, refusing to feel “second-class.”
In Las Palmas, the “us vs them” mentality was palpable, albeit in jest. The consensus among ARC sailors seemed to be that the NARC sailors were moochers, taking advantage of the facilities at Las Palmas meant for those who had paid dearly to participate in the ARC. But NARC sailors resented the implication. Las Palmas has been the starting point for crossing the Atlantic since Christopher Columbus did it in 1492. And November through March has long been considered the optimum time of year. We NARC’s proudly proclaimed to each other that we didn’t need the company of a couple hundred boats to cross the ocean, and that helping another nearby boat in distress a thousand miles from shore didn’t depend upon having paid a large fee to join a rally. To further distinguish ourselves from the ARC, the coined-term “NARC” was modified further to “SNARC” (SO not the ARC)! |
| 14th Nov 2011 Our fabulous crew: Teddy and Uwe |
| When our long-time friend Alan could not join us for the Atlantic crossing as planned, we scrambled to find other crew. I probably was scrambling harder than Wayne, since I think he would have been fine with just the two of us making the journey. As it turned out, it would have been fine, but it wouldn’t have been wonderful. With Teddy and Uwe, a German couple whom we had met on the Eastern Med Yacht Rally in the spring, the passage was wonderful. Following in Columbus’s wake, the four of us left Las Palmas at 3:00 pm on November 14. |
| 15th Nov 2011 Sunrise, sunset |
| What is it like to cross an ocean in a sailboat? For us it was literally 20 sunrises and 20 sunsets with a whole lot of time in between. Before agreeing to accompany us on the trip, Teddy had asked another long-distance cruiser this question, and she was told that it was like being always in the center of a huge disk of water. Good analogy.
With Teddy and Uwe on board, the night watches, a dreaded part of long passages for me, became something to look forward to. We each stood watch for just three hours, giving us each nine hours free to sleep, or at least rest. Wayne has long enjoyed night watches, something about feeling the immensity of the universe and his own insignificance. But this is the first time that I became philosophical, even poetic, during my three hours in the center of the universe, at least at the center of our universe.
I found myself mesmerized by the multi-dimensional blanket of stars overhead. Only the light from the chart plotter, turned to its dimmest setting, diminished the brilliance of the night sky. Usually Venus or Mars would meander across the canopy above, and the Southern Cross, only visible in these southerly latitudes, made an appearance each night. I imagined the smudges of light in the blackness to be each composed of hundreds, maybe thousands of stars, each potentially with its own orbiting planets. My pondering was endless, or at least it lasted until Teddy emerged from the cabin to relieve me of my night’s work, and I went down to bed.
And during the day, it was always a rare sight when another living thing entered our personal water disk. Occasionally a single bird would appear, circling the boat for a few minutes, never gathering enough courage to join us for a much-needed rest. When the closest land was a thousand miles away, we wondered where the beautiful creature was going and from where it had come. As we sailed further south, we were entertained by flying fish, soaring just above the surface of the water for hundreds of feet before crashing into a wave and disappearing back into the sea. It was a rare treat when dolphins found us and played with our bow wake, but even rarer to see signs of human life. We saw the sails atop two boats, but neither ever came close enough for us to see the boats to which the sails were attached. Only twice, we saw a large cargo ship or tanker, one coming within a mile of us. The ocean is not a crowded place. |
| 16th Nov 2011 Wing and wing |
| The wind was nearly always on the stern, as we knew it would be. This meant that a strong wind was needed to propel the boat. Just as you don’t feel much of a breeze when you are walking with the wind behind you, the boat’s sails didn’t fill easily when we were moving with the wind. So we constantly wished for more, and we put one sail on each side of the boat (wing and wing) to capture as much wind as we could. We did encounter a “wind hole” during which we had to motor for four or five days, but otherwise we were able to sail, or at least motor sail around the clock. Our sport fisherman neighbors here in New Jersey were amazed when we told them that we burned about 100 gallons of fuel during the 3000 mile journey –less than they consume on a weekend fishing trip!
Having the wind on the stern also meant that it wasn’t able to exert a sideward thrust to stabilize the boat. Instead, large waves from storms in the North Atlantic, a thousand miles away, rocked the boat one way, while smaller waves from local winds rocked the boat the other. Amazingly and thankfully, this constant rocking and rolling didn’t bother my sensitive stomach in the slightest. Maybe Wayne was right – you do finally get over seasickness.
We had only one stressful event in the entire passage. Early one morning, Wayne noticed that the big jib was not pulled up tight on the bow’s forestay. It appeared to have slipped a bit. He asked me to tend the helm while he tightened it using a winch on the mast. On his first crank of the winch, the shackle holding the top of the sail to the top of the mast let go, and the entire sail dramatically slid off its track along the forestay and fell into the ocean. Teddy and Uwe, still asleep at the time, heard him shout for me to put the engine in neutral to prevent the sail or its lines from becoming tangled in the propeller. (They probably also heard my startled scream.) They joined us topside in their pajamas and together, we managed to pull the sail back into the boat, rig a strong rope with a knot to replace the broken shackle, feed the sail back up the track on the forestay, and return it to service – all before breakfast. |
| 27th Nov 2011 St. Nicholas Day aboard Bright Ayes |
| So what did we do for entertainment besides pulling the sail out of the water? Many books were read. Even I, who normally would never consider reading underway for fear of becoming seasick, read voraciously and finished a needlepoint Christmas stocking for our new grandson. Preparing and eating food became a major activity and highlight of each day. Teddy had brought along some of their favorite German foods to supplement my generic provisioning. Even though the boat’s motion made it a challenge to keep plates from sliding along the countertop and glasses from tipping over as we cooked each meal, we enjoyed working together. Using food as the reward, we concocted a half-way party and celebrated each time zone change as well as American Thanksgiving (with a canned ham to replace the turkey). And we shared Christmas customs since Teddy had brought along Christmas napkins, candles, an Advent wreath, and a CD of German Christmas music. |
| 4th Dec 2011 Land Ho |
| Every day just before 3:00 pm, we had a contest to see whose guess would be the closest to the number of miles we had covered that day. When it became obvious that we would first sight Barbados some time in the middle of the night, the final contest was to see during whose watch it would happen. Uwe, during his 3 am – 6 am watch, won that contest, and we all celebrated at daybreak on December 4. |
| 5th Dec 2011 Bright Ayes shares the dock with Queen Elizabeth in Bridgetown, Barbados |
| Somewhere between the Canary Islands and Barbados, the hot weather arrived. It came on gradually as we went from jackets and long underwear during cool night watches the first few days after we left Las Palmas, to the least amount of clothing we could force ourselves to wear during the hot days in the Caribbean. |
| 5th Dec 2011 Beautiful Bathsheba, Barbados – pure Caribbean |
| While Barbados wasn’t our final destination, it was the first land we encountered and was not far out of the way. Barbados is the most easterly island in the Caribbean. Thanks to the strong easterly trade winds always found in that part of the world, there is a joke among cruisers that the only way to get to Barbados on a sailboat is from the Canary Islands. None of us had been to Barbados, so we stopped for a few days to relax and explore. As we often do, we took the public bus around the island, always a great way to meet the locals and witness their lives away from the tourist resorts in the capital of Bridgetown. Bathsheba, on the east coast of Barbados, is famous for its surfing and beautiful beach. Another bus ride took us to the northwest coast and Speightstown, where we had a great lunch of local food – bread fruit, fish cakes, fried plantains, jerk chicken. It was good to be back in the Caribbean. |
| 5th Dec 2011 A roadside coconut wagon in Barbados |
| Yes, it was good to be back in the Caribbean where coconuts are harvested green right off the tree, then hacked open with a machete and served with a spoon used to scoop out the soft custard-like contents. |
| 5th Dec 2011 Painkillers made with Barbados’ own Mount Gay rum |
| On our final day in Barbados, we toured the Mount Gay Visitor’s Center before stopping at the fish market for some fresh mahi mahi. Watching the whole fish be quickly and efficiently gutted and filleted before our eyes was worth the cost of the fish, which was delicious that evening for dinner. But after a painkiller or two, what isn’t delicious?! |
| 13th Dec 2011 Breakfast at our old anchorage in Trinidad |
| We left Barbados and sailed on to Trinidad, which was our final destination. There Bright Ayes will remain on the hard, not only through the winter but also through the summer hurricane season. Trinidad is below the hurricane zone and is considered a safe (although very hot) place to store a boat. As we prepared the boat for storage, Teddy and Uwe made plans for two more weeks in the Caribbean visiting Trinidad and Tobago before flying home to ski in Switzerland over Christmas. After nearly a month together, we were not looking forward to their departure. It was difficult to imagine a more enjoyable Atlantic crossing, and we knew that we would miss their companionship.
In mid-September we will return to Bright Ayes and Trinidad, continuing our travels in the western Caribbean, new territory for us. Between now and then, we have another adventure planned – getting to know our new grandchild. |
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