more Lanzarote …..

Fixing our boom took some more time, than initially anticipated. The main reason for delay was, that the expert at the yard in Puerto Calero, not only wanted to just weld the cracks around the boom-vang attachment, but thought the material around the whole area has weakened over time, and that a proper re-enforcement would be the only way to do it right. Well, except from getting a new boom extrusion, but that would have taken until mid August to get shipped from Sweden. Bending the re-enforcement plates to properly follow the rounding of the boom, required a hydraulic press that could do the delicate multi-step bending process. While the shop at the shipyard is rather well equipped with machinery, it doesn't feature such a press. The only one on the island is in a large shop in Arrecife, a shop that was recently equipped with the latest machinery, after getting the order to build the new radar dome on Lanzarote's highest summit. At the time of our arrival, that press was rather busy punching out hundreds of similar parts for the local electricity company, this way introducing the first 3 day delay. But then, when all the parts were done, they found that they had the wrong measures and started all over again. So, in the end we had to spend exactly two weeks in Lanzarote.

This wasn't really bad though, maybe except for being in the most expensive marina in the islands, as we kept discovering more and more new beautiful sites on this island. Manrique has left his traces everywhere on the island and his good puristic style, that is so pleasing to the eye, seems to have caught on to the whole island. With its clean and minimalistic appearance, that island stands out from the rest.

After exploring the vicinity of Puerto Calero, walking over to Puerto Carmen, and on another day taking the dinghy there, we again rented a car to check out some of the popular sites that we hadn't yet seen during our past three visits. We found the lava caves, again different to those we had seen in other parts of the world, especially due to the well thought out lighting. Then there is a wonderful old fort containing an impressive museum of modern art, and another lava cave with an underground lake reflecting the outside world. Via a beautiful outdoor poll, this is connected to a vast underground auditorium in a large lava cave.

So, in the end we were not too unhappy to be forced into a longer stay at this fascinating island. Meanwhile our friends Henry and Kikki on Enderlig had sailed on to inspect Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria. We know Gran Canaria, but haven't been to Fuerteventura, so that will maybe be on another trip. On the day we got our boom back, we took off through the night, to join our friends again in Santa Cruz de la Tenerife.

Lanzarote

Lanzarote, very different from other Canary Islands, is best characterized just as Volcanos and Caesar Manrique. Nothing but the two seemed to have had more influence on the appearance of the island, with its minimalistic beauty. For us it was the third visit to this island and we keep finding new stunning places every time. This time we spent two days exploring the island together with our friends. And while less sunny in the volcano area, we had the pleasure to have e decent view from Manriques outlook over the 'Rio', the canal that separates Lanzarote from Graciosa. Last time we tried to go there, it was all fogged in. So, both the outlook and the Manriques Cactus-garden were new to us. And of course, both are magnificent. His house near Arrecife, built into lava-tubes, we had already seen, but it is always worth seeing again and again.

Two days ago, Endelig left for Fuerteventura an island we have yet to se ourselves, but it will have to wait for another Taniwani roundtrip, as we are still stuck at Puerto Calero, waiting to get our boom repaired. Remounting it is now planned for Sunday, but who knows… In any case we will then sail through over night to Tenerife to catch up with Endelig there.

by the way, clicking on a picture makes it bigger and you can then flip through the set.

Taniwani - Sailing from Madeira to Graciosa and hanging out in a great anchorage

On Thursday, May 16, Taniwani's adventures for 2013 started by leaving the Marina of Quinta do Lorde to briefly anchor just around the corner at Baia de Abra. Next day, 3 in the morning the alarm got us up as planned and by 3:30 we were under way out of the bay and on a course to lead east of the Islas Desertas in an SouthSouthEasterly direction to the Island of Graciosa, a smaller island just north of and separated by just a narrow channel from the better known Lanzarote. With the wind around North we had a gentle but still swift passage, mostly wing-wing under poled out Genoa and main. Once past the Desertas, several freighters kept crossing our path and on two occasions we actually had to alter course to stay safe.

After 270 miles and 35 hours we dropped the hook in Baia Francesa, the inly bay in the south of Graciosa where anchoring is still allowed. Nowadays the whole area north of Lanzarote, including its northern tip, is a national park and a stay has to be pre-annouced and is limited to 10 days. The area is simply fabulous and in the high season, many yachts cramp into the only remaining anchorage. But this early in the season we just found one other British yacht anchored fairly well into the large bay. As we are now traveling in company with our old friends Kikki and Henry on Endelig, we made sure they would find a good spot between us and the other yacht, when they would come in after darkness fell. And it all worked out exactly to the plan.

While still a bit cold, and untypical that early in the year, with the strong NE-wind usual in the summer, we really enjoyed the four days we spent there. The scenery is simply spectacular, the view from the rim of the volcano stunning and the little village of Calheta del Sebo just awaking from a sleepy winter season is in the best possible state, with just few early tourists and the restaurants offering huge amounts of excellent sea-food at bargain prices.

Given a plan to sail along most Canary islands and then to the Azores and all their islands before our friends would depart northbound in late August, we had to eventually move on a bit and sailed down the east-coast of Lanzarote to a huge Marina, Puerto Calero, from where we plan to explore Lanzarote. Unfortunately, our plans are now a bit at jeopardy, since we discovered a crack on Taniwani's boom, when we again sailed wing-wing along the island. Nothing exciting caused it and so it is probably simply metal fatigue around the high-stress area where the boom-vang attaches. To be on the safe side, we just took the main down and sailed on with just the genoa.

Now we are just exploring our options: One is to have it repaired here, by what seems a competent shipyard, fabricating and welding on some re-enforcement , or by checking with Selden in Sweden what time it takes to ship a boom-extrusion, (the tube), to Tenerife. As we know know, the repair approach would keep us here for a week and is the more likely path. Endelig could move on a few days earlier and we would catch up in Gran Canaria. We shall see and we will keep you posted.

Ready for another summer in the Atlantic Islands

On April 17, Taniwani launched again after a winter in the shade of the Madeira runway. Now ready and awaiting new adventures. The good old crew plans to set sail in mid May and head south to Selvagens and Canaries.