- Mariposa Voyage -
October 2014 : Canary Islands
Alegranza
Wednesday October 8th after a good 24 hours navigation with good winds (our speed was around 7-8 knots) and with some dolphins, we see Alegranza Island.
We anchor in front of Alegranza at the end of the morning. This island is at the northeast of the Canary Islands archipelago and it is also desert. It is beautiful but not so easy to go on the island for a walk.
At the end of the day, we are happy to see YAO arriving.
The place is very quiet, we are only 3 boats and sometimes some fishing boat stop here. The black sand beaches are beautiful.
We stay 3 nights. We try some sea urchins caught by Maël and Loïc. The kids play, go on the beach and snorkel in order to watch fishes.
One night
Graciosa
Friday October 10th we go to Graciosa Island. Playa Francesa is a beautiful and quiet mooring. It feels so good to sleep without being afraid of sliding and no movement of the boat !!!
After school we decide to go to the small city with our friends of YAO and also Jen and Rob sailing on their catamaranSephina. We go on the beach with the dinghy and then we have a good walk to the city trough the dunes.
Graciosa is a small island with 2 small cities. There isn't any road, just some trails. People walk, ride bicycle or sometimes drive a 4x4 (even for the ambulance). Slowly we come back to the civilisation !
We enjoy an ice cream.
By night, we gather together for a barbecue on Sephina catamaran, La Luna's crew, Barb and Stew join. We have a great moment with guitars and songs !!!
Sunday we decide to climb the volcan in front of us for a picnic. The 360 degrees view is incredible ! Sea on each side ! We look at our boat, it is soooo small... (the 3rd on the left)
On the night we are invited for a drink on the catamaran Vaa Nui. The kids are so happy to have new friends ! Laurence met with Antoine at a medical training, the world is so small...
Lanzarote
Tuesday October 14th we go to Arrecife, the principal city of Lanzarote island.
The mooring is so different from the last one... we are next to the city close to an old wreck...
We have a last diner withYao then we will go in different directions. Bye Yao ! Let's go to the south of the island.
Then a navigation with goose winged sails till the south of the island.
We stop at Papagayo mooring which seems really beautiful. Everybody works a little bite and for the breakfast, we enjoy a homemade brioche. What else do we need?!!!
Then we decide to stop in Rubicon's marina in order to rent a car to visit the island. What a difference: a lot of shopping and restaurants around, even a pool for the kids, it looks like Disneyland!
With our small car we go visiting the volcanic island. A first stop in a bodega to try the local wines. It is not so easy to cultivate vineyards in this volcanic place. They have to dig a hole to reach the ground and protect the vineyard from the strong winds. Then the volcanic stones help to drain the scarce water through the roots. The dry white wine is very good !
Then a stop at the piracy museum, in an old castle, allows us to enjoy a beautiful 360 degres view.
Then we finish our day at Jameos del Agua, where César Manrique, a local artist (friend of Nelson Rockefeller, Andy Warhol...) who mixed nature and art in this cave with vegetation, volcanic stones, musique... in a very relaxing environnement. We also see a impressive pool and a huge concert room.
At night we meet Lady Pep for a drink. We met Jacqueline and Terry during our survival training last may. What a small world !
Saturday October 18th, we visit the volcanic park with the Jomier family from Vaa Nui.
On our way back we stop at El Golfo to admire a green laguna. The color comes from some vegetation and a high level of salt in the water.
Then we follow the wild coast til Janubio Salinas.
Isla Lobos
After scool, a last plonge in the swimming pool with the friends, a hot lunch, a repaired computer, a diesel tank full, we leave Rubicon's marina.
One and half hours of navigation with the motor with some swells then we arrive in Isla Lobos mooring. It's moving... Maël is unhappy ! He wants to go on shore to finish school. With Loïc, they go on the island with the kayak to work a little bit. Then the last tourist's boat leaves... We are alone... It's the night and 2 other sailboats arrive to spend the night close to the island.
The day after, when school is finished, we go for a walk on the island.
The tiny village El Puertito is really small so is the harbour. A few people leave here. There aren't any road or cars...
We walk until the lighthouse, at the other end of the island (around 3km), between the desertical vegetation and the small lagunas.
At night Vaa Nui arrives and we have diner with them ! The next afternoon we go with everybody for a Mariposa - Vaaa Nui - afternoon beach.
On our way back, Loïc, Maël, Lucie and their friend Martin go fishing with the harpoon. They come back with 3 fishes.
Thursday October 23rd, 2014 the wind is with us to go to Tenerife. We say good bye to Vaa Nui who follows his way to Marrocco and Senegal.
Ténérife
A good wind allows us to have a straight heading. This time the navigation is great, we don't have too much swells.
Louise and Maël try their first night shift from 8pm to 11pm while Loïc is sleeping in the saloon. Then it is Loïc's turn untill 3:30am and then it is Lolo's turn.
We see 2 halos, these are the lights of Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
The wind blows so we arrive at Antequera mooring at 7:30am and everybody goes back to sleep. Lucie didn't have time to do her watch... It is for next time.
It feels good to stop in a quiet place where there is just another sailboat. School, plonges, crepes and a bambou's hut on the beach are the activities of our 2 days there.
Then, on Sunday, it is time to go to Santa Cruz's marina to welcome our visitors.
Calling the marina, we hear "Mariposa, Mariposa, Mariposa from Yao, Yao, Yao" "If you would not like to pay the 100 Euros tax, don't stop here !" But anyway, we knew the bad news and we had to stop here because Loïc's brother was arriving...
We are happy to meet Yao again. They tell us their setbacks and Jean-Loup is repairing a lot of things.
What a surprise when the marina guy gives us a package ! The kids are happy... and we too. David and Gaby sent us a lot of things not to be bored (mini legos, brasilien bracelet, rubicks cube, books, marmelade...). It is great, thanks a lot dear friends!
In the middle of the afternoon, Yann, Flo-flo and Aïnhoa arrive to spend a week with us. They arrive loaded with a sail and a lot of things we ordered.
At night Marianne organise a pizza-party with a canadian couple and an english one. Yann and Flo-flo are already in the sailing atmosphere with all the sailors's stories.
As Jean-Loup came with his guitare, we finish the night singing !
What a good night, first time we are so many on our boat !
On Monday, we rent a Cheynet-mobile in order to visit the island the 8 of us.
The first day we visit La Laguna, an historic town not so far from Santa Cruz.
The day after we go in the direction of Punta Hidalgo and we start a walk in a small valley. The landscape is beautiful. As we didn't plan to walk for a long time we come back for lunch.
We find a small family restaurant in the village. The waitress tells us that they will prepare something fresh for us if we are ok to wait a little. Then she comes with a big plate with calmars and fresh fish ! It is really good.
Then we finish the day in the naturals pools where the waves offer a great show !
We visit the other villages on the west side of the island. We admire a milennium dragon tree, we see the banana plantations, the typical village and end our day on the "playa negra". On our way back we take a small sinuous road to come closer to the Teide.
The Teide is the higher summit of Spain with 3718m.
We feel it because it is colder as we go up, we need a sweater... The sunset on the summit paints the Teide with beautiful colors.
We enjoy the market of Nuestra Señora de Africa at Santa Cruz. The market fish seems so fresh. The small sushi bar and the oysters with a glass of white wine looks so attractive.
We buy some fresh tuna and use it for a tartare!
We also buy herbs, cheese (fresco y curado), fruits and vegetables.
At Santa Cruz, not so far from the auditorium with the strange shape (remembering, in smaller, Sydney's opera) we go swimming in the sea water pools also imagined by Cesar Manrique, the famous artist from Lanzarote.
After our visitors leave us, we still stay 2 days at Santa Cruz in order to clean, to tide up the boat, to go shopping before... the big navigation. Thank you Carrefour to deliver all our stuff in front of the boat! (because bottles of water, fruit juices, flour, sugar... are really heavy!!!)
Then we sail to the south of the island (around 7h of navigation) with a good wind running and some waves. At the end, we finish just with the genoa (as we go with goose winged sails, the big surfs at 10-12 knots are a bit scary even if the feeling is great) and we sail at 6-8 knots!
We arrive at the small harbor of Las Galletas and finally we meet Méléos... it as been a long time since we tried to meet each others ! Lucie was counting the day to meet Elea, her new friend on the twin boat (a Feeling like ours).
Looking for internet to upload the website :
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We are going to Cabo Verde... A week of navigation : a new chalenge for us!
You can follow us with our tracking in Itinerary / Our route.
To follow !
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