Back to Lanzarote

We left La Palma on Sunday 10 days ago. We were lucky - on Saturday evening the swell gate got stuck, but luckily while it was open, so the boats were able to sail in and out of the marina. It meant that night was a bit less calm as some of the waves got into the marina, but we were able to sail out on Sunday morning without a problem. There was still some 6m of water above the door.

We were able to leave quite early, well, early by our standards, so a bit before 8 in the morning. We had to ask for the permission to sail through the commercial harbour again. This is the city of Santa Cruz in morning mist.

At the beginning we were able to sail a bit more to the North, but later as we came from behind the island, wind was changing direction often, so we had to adjust our direction as well. All of a sudden Captain yelled: Whale! It took me a moment to find it, but it was only some 30m from the boat. Unbelievable! I took the camera but didn't move my eyes from the whale, because I didn't want to miss a moment, so I just pointed the camera in general direction of the whale and pressed the button many times. That's why the photos are not very good.

Whale slowly swam away and after couple of minutes I saw the last spray of water in the air. We were both very excited about the sighting and were scanning the sea in hope to spot another one. But we saw nothing else.

First day of sailing was fine, we did lots of motor-sailing since the wind was very light, and in the afternoon wind turned more to the North so we could sail by Northern side of Tenerife in the direction of Lanzarote. Night was pretty uneventful as well.

In the morning wind moved a bit more to the North, so we decided to gain some height and sail above our rhumb-line (direct line to Lanzarote). Wind was a bit stronger as well, but waves were still rather small, so sailing was nice and fast. Well, beating into wind is never very pleasant or comfortable, but this was much better than we feared it would be.

During the second day wind got stronger and stronger and the waves got bigger as well. In the afternoon we were flying on small solent jib and reefed main, but the waves from wind were about 2m on top of 1,5m swell and sailing got more uncomfortable. But as we progressed really well we knew that by middle of the night we would already be anchored near Playa Papagayo on Lanzarote.

We dropped the anchor almost exactly at midnight and were really happy it went so well and fast and that it was over. Anchorage was surprisingly calm, like a lake, and after a drink we went to bed and slept long and well.

Morning was bright and sunny, and a bit more windy than the night. There were quite some people on the beach and also some boats anchored along the coast.

We decided to stay on anchor another night. During the day we rested and did some small stuff around the boat, when you're sailing or rather beating into the wind it is not very easy to do anything inside the boat. I even managed to get into the water in the afternoon, but it was a very short dip. In the evening we had a great BBQ.

The night was not so calm as the previous one. After the breakfast captain went into the water to check the propeller and to see how much the boat is overgrown with algae and barnacles.

It doesn't look too bad.

Some through-hulls (skozniki) will need some cleaning.

Inspired by Captain I got into the water as well and stayed there longer than just a few seconds.

At noon we lifted the anchor, luckily without problems. The bottom is quiet rocky and many people were complaining that their chain got tangled around rocks or their anchor got stuck under them. The people on catamaran that was anchored next to us, tried to lift anchor for an hour, but without success, and they were sitting and waiting for help as we sailed away.

As we sailed around Punta Papagayo and turned NE, we expected wind on the nose. But it was from behind, not that we were complaining. This time forecast was completely wrong.

So sailing was again easy, although a bit slow. But we had time, there were only 15 miles to marina Lanzarote in Arrecife.

A little bit later we saw a catamaran in front of us that was sailing in all different directions, even made circles and Captain was already getting angry because he couldn't decide on which side to pass. But then we saw what was happening - the big pod of Atlantic dolphins was chasing big school of fish and the Gannets (strmoglavci) were helping. The catamaran was obviously following the dolphins. We sailed towards dolphins as well and soon a couple of them joined our boat and started playing at out bow.

The sea was quite choppy and it was very hard to make decent photos, as boat was jumping from one wave to another. After a while the dolphins returned back to fishing. 

There were many Gannets fishing as well, they were diving down into the water with great speed, looking like fighter jets. They are so much more elegant than pelicans. Adults are almost white, the young ones are grey.

Soon the wind stopped, then turned to its expected direction, NE, so exactly on our nose. We rolled the sails and motored towards Arrecife. The wind was getting stronger and waves bigger and our progress slower. It took us almost till 5 in the afternoon to get to the marina and tie the boat.

Marina is big and new and the staff very friendly. We had a nice burgers for dinner and then slept very well.

Next day we went for a walk through the town. The wind got strong and the sky cloudy, just as was forecast, but that's why we wanted to be safely tucked in marina. There is a big shallow lagoon with boats near the centre of the old part of town.

The skeleton of a Byrde's whale is of the whale stranded in Tenerife. I was amazed about little arms and fingers it has. Later as I was reading about Bryde's whales on internet, I started thinking that this might be the type of whale that we saw - it was of about the right size, it is most frequently seen whale around Tenerife, it looked just like on photos on internet, didn't show the tail and stayed near the surface for long time. It is possible...

We strolled to the old port with the walls...

and the fort. It is a museum now.

The old breakwater...

...and the anchorage.

Captain admiring old cannons.

I don't think the bridge still works.

This is our marina.

We planned on flying home for couple of weeks yesterday. This was one of the reasons why we sailed back to Lanzarote. But corona virus changed our plans - our plane tickets to and from Venice have all been canceled on Monday and today and as the situation is, it is very unsure if we could get home safely at all and then back to the boat as well. So we're staying here for a while. When the weather permits, we'll probably sail to Madeira - wind has to be more easterly than now. This was the second reason for coming to Lanzarote, to have a better angle for sailing NNW. As it looks we'll have to wait for at least a week, until then we'll try to be useful and finish some boat projects - we already installed a winch, bought new lines, captain climbed the mast today and washed the shrouds and halyards. And we'l try to have some good time while we're here, although we still feel a bit deflated after all the changes that happened in last two days.