The
weather is good, the visibility is correct. Today
is the 28th september and off we go towards the
Canaries Islands!
A
first cargo appears far away on port, here comes
the cargo rail. Now a second, then a third... we´ve
got a good speed (about 5 knots) and the rail is
about 8 miles wide : 4 miles for each direction.
We are carefull and keep looking at these floating
monsters. They remind us of those, overloaded, that
we used to sea on the Elbe from our offices in Hamburg.
Finally,
they are all behind us and the horizon strectches
out in front of Cephee, while the portuguese coast
slowly disappears.
The
sun goes down, replaced by thousands of stars and
a round full moon. We feel that latitude decreases
as nights are softer and softer. We fish successfully,
mostly small tuna, that we arrange in various dishes
: Tuna salad, tuna civet, tuna hachis Parmentier,
tuna papillotes... Helene is changing her mind on
this fish she didn´t really like. We have
to take out the lines in order not to catch too
much fish!
The
wind stabilizes from North, between 15 and 20 knots,
is that finally the trade winds we were looking
for !?! Conditions are great, even if the sea is
a bit agitated. If the wind doesn´t change,
we´ll reach the Canarians within less than
five days...
And
indeed, on saturday evening (we left on tuesday
morning), we can see the Alegranza island appear.
Night is falling and we hurry up to find a place
to anchor.
This
island looks like a stone in the middle of nowhere.
There´s nothing but birds on it and we read
this volcano appeared more than 3 million years
ago.
The
wind turns in the night and the eastern swell prevents
us to sleep well despite our fatigue. So, we decide
to go further to the Graciosa island (4 miles away)
while the sun rises.
We
land there, amazed by landscapes and water transparency.
Other boats are moored at the small harbour of Cabo
del Sobre, the only village of the island, and they
spontaneously come to help us. Our neighbour´s
name is Mamuroba, a french steel boat, occupied
by a 4 member family.
Graciosa
looks like Alegranza but bigger (27 km² against
5 for Alegranza) and is inhabited. The village,
with its small white houses looks like a postcard
picture.
Marc,
Muguette, Robin and Bastien, our neighbours, welcome
us and explain us that the harbour isn´t finished
yet, that´s why there´s neither electricity
nor water and we don´t need to pay. It seems
that it is the same since years and we wonder why
they don´t finish a harbour like this (pontoons
are new)...
The
village is in fact mostly made of houses to rent
for holidays to tourists. It grew a lot lately and
will probably become a touristic spot in a near
future. Water is driven by pipes from the next island
(Lanzarote), where it is taken from the ocean and
unsalted.
Made
of 4 volcano, from 100 to 265 m, its vegetation
is very limited as it rains about 15 cm a year.
A ferry feeds the island with victuals and tourists
twice a day.
Marc
and Muguete invite us for the dinner, they´ve
got too much fresh fish ! They built their boat
themselves in 4 years and the result is really good.
They foresee to cross the Atlantic this year, after
a stop in Cape Verde.
The
day after, we go walking on the nearest volcano.
From there, we´ve a wonderful overview on
the island and its neighbours.
In
the evening, we land on Ilo, a great aluminium Garcia
whose owners are Michel (29) and Marie (25). They
introduce us Patrice, Geraldine and their two daughters,
Eliza (3) and Marie Lou (5) who navigate on Gambade,
a concrete boat. Delicious Barbeque with very nice
people whose lives are full of travels and fabulous
experiences.
We
leave Graciosa with Gambade the following day, to
go to Arrecife, on Lanzarote island. On the way,
we see spermwhales, a few meters away from Cephee.
Arrecife
allows us to do some shopping and to find some change
pieces for Lucien, the flatner which is getting
old, but we don´t like the city and we don´t
stay. We go further to the south of Lanzarote.
Once
the Papagayo cape passed, the beaches offer a superb
anchorage. No hotel reached this place yet and the
bay, naked and arid looks like what we imagine of
some African coasts. We swim and enjoy the sunset
while tasting the freshly fished Bonita.
The
day after, we walk to visit the marina one told
us about. It is about 2 km away from where we anchored
and we discover on the way tourism ravages. After
the beaches, hotels, holiday villages, houses to
rent, brand new highway, cranes... and the marina.
Everything is new, and the cranes work hard not
to let the least unoccuppied area. Papagayo, how
much time is there left before you disappear under
hotels? The marina offers us the possibility to
repair our Spi, torn since the Finistere cape (they
can lend us a room) and to work a bit on Cephee.
On
the way back, we see a 4 star hotel and can´t
resist to its huge swimming-pool. We simply enter
and have a swim !
We
go back to our beautiful anchorage, where we finally
have the worlds biggest swimming-pool.
Then
we spend 2 days at the marina, where we get to know
Hilda and Simon, a formidable english couple. Retired,
they sail round the world on Calisto. Without them,
we coudn´t have repair the Spi. Real experts,
they spent a day with us to help us with their knowledge
in sail rpairs and their special sewing machine.
we thanked them with a good french dinner. Hilda
and Simon already crossed the Atlantic 5 years ago
and they do it again. We really spent a good time
with them.
Our next stages are Fuertaventura, then the Gran
Canaria where we´ll equip Cephee with a device
to allow our SSB to transmit, and maybe a water
maker. The 21st october, we´ll have Cecile
and Alexandre on board (Helene´s sister and
her boyfriend) for one week, which we´ll probably
spend in La Gomera (apparently one of the most beautiful
islands of the Canarians, not spoilt by tourism)
before we cross to Cape Verde, at the end of the
month.
A
local recipe:
Mojo
Picón :
Hot
Canarian garlic sauce
2-4
dry chilli peppers, 1 head of garlic, 1 teaspoon
of salt, 200 ml oil, 100-200 ml white wine vinegar,
1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of hot paprika,
1 pinch of powdered saffron
Pour
boiling water over the chilli peppers and leave
them to swell for 1 hour. Peel the garlic and chop
the cloves into not too small pieces.
Place
the cilli peppers, garlic, salt, 100 ml vinegar,
cumin, paprika, and saffron in a mixer and mix until
you achieve a homogeneous mixture. Then start adding
the oil bit by bit fluidly without stopping mixing.
Put more vinegar up to taste.
If
you prefer a creamy garlic sauce, add also red pepper
to the mixer.
This
sauce is perfect with boiled potatoes, rice, fish
or meat. There are two variants : the red and the
green which are served in all restaurants in the
Canarians.