Tenerife - The North is beautiful, avoid the South!

We spent four days in the North of Tenerife, staying with Sam's uncle in his beautiful little cottage up the side of mount Teide. Having been to Tenerife once when I was 16 for an all inclusive stay at Playa de las Americas for a couple of hundred quid, my expectations were pretty low. However, the North of Tenerife is greener, prettier, less developed and much more Spanish than the South and it changed my view of the island. We spent a day driving up to mount Teide (which is over 3,700m high), to get a cable car to the peak to see views across the whole island. The rest of the time was spent catching up with Sam's family and trying out my pigeon Spanish, which mostly involved nodding a lot, hand signals and saying 'muchas gracias por todo' about 20 times a day.

A few pictures from the top of mount Teide, the view from the finca, the family and a beautiful village called Masca. Next challenge - find a home...

Lanzarote - leaving Yemaya

After saying goodbye (with a big hangover) to yacht Yemaya and Kai we took the ferry from Graciosa to northern Lanzarote. Having not planned a thing due to our headaches and general tiredness, we ended up sitting in the harbour in full sun with all our bags for hours before we could work out how to get to the South. Lanzarote is a really arid place, with black soil and striped mountain ranges. Parts of it look like the moon on a sunny day. Most of the British tourists hang out in Puerto del Carmen and that place is to be avoided like the plague, unless you're looking for egg and chips. However, the South and centre of the island are much more peaceful and we managed to find a lovely guesthouse in a town called Yaiza.

So, the sailing is all over the time being - slightly sad to leave the water (especially getting up on a sunny day and having the ocean 10 steps away), but relieved to be on dry land again (no threat of seasickness). Next stop - Tenerife for four nights.

A few pictures of a great beach we found, that was so clear and blue, it was like a hot open air swimming pool and a small boat we hired for the day to test our sailing skills.

La Graciosa, Spain

A few pictures from this lovely island.

Six day sail from Lisbon to Graciosa

We spent six long days crossing the Atlantic from Lisbon to the small island of Graciosa, just off Lanzarote. No one managed to get more than 3 hours sleep per night, so we were all exhausted when we arrived. The original plan was to stop off in Madeira for two nights on route, but the Easterly winds weren´t helping and i think the skipper was secretly keen to get rid of us both. Although we were a little sad to have missed Madeira, Graciosa turned out to be a beautiful spot, with pristine beaches and turquoise seas. There´s very little tourism here, except for a few regular Spanish visitors and daytrippers from Lanzarote mainland. From here, we leave yacht Yemaya (after nearly 3 months of sailing and over 3,000 miles) and will make our way to Northern Lanzarote for a few days.

The sail from Lisbon was surprisingly smooth and we even managed to catch a tuna for dinner one evening. We got becalmed half way across the Atlantic and Sam got a chance to test the blow up fish again. Hanging onto a rope while sailing at 8 knots was also a favourite pastime in good weather, but the fun and games stopped when the skipper slipped off and we had to perform a man-over-board manoeuvre at top speed to get him back. We also lost the rudder from the wind pilot one evening, but amazingly managed to find it again in rough weather (no small feat, as its only half a metre in length and we sailed a mile away from it before realising). A few pictures from the sail..

Lisbon - the first cultural experience of the trip

Lisbon is a beautiful city, with its crowded back streets, old fashioned trams and quaint little squares. The city is crumbling apart in places, but it's kept its charm and doesn't seem to have folded to much mainstream tourism. My family came out to join us for the week, so we ended up doing some vaguely cultural things for a change. Also a good chance to be fed on real home cooking, which had been lacking a bit on the boat. Other than the churches, forts, monuments and palaces, there was still time for a day at the beach in Guicho, which is a popular surf destination on the West coast. Some pictures attached. We set sail to Madeira on Tuesday...

Algarve Nudist Beach

We hired a car from Lisbon and made the 3 hour journey to the Algarve down on the Southern coast. We asked the guesthouse to recommend a good beach nearby and they directed us towards a secluded bay. Shortly after arriving, we realised it was a nudist beach and we were surrounded by naked European geriatrics. It was a great way for Sam to spend his 31st birthday! Not to be deterred, Sam insisted on lounging in a 5ft fish shaped lilo (with beer cooler) in the sea for a few hours. And I thought the nude tourists were the embarrassing ones.

After staying the first night in a truly English resort (served English lager by a lady from Essex), we'd had enough of the Algarve experience and drove towards the West coast. We found a lovely town called Aljuzer and spent two days here surfing and enjoying good Portuguese seafood.

The sail to Lisbon from Galicia

From The islands of Cies, we spent a night in the town of Bionas, eating tapas and drinking Estrella Galicias. In the morning we parted for the 2 day sail to Lisbon. This was a slightly tougher journey than we'd both anticipated. I got a little seasick for the first few hours and Sam had cabin fever for the entire time. We arrived in Lisbon at midday on 18th Sep, after two and a half long days at sea. A couple of pictures of the boat and Sam keeping careful watch on his night shift.

Islas Cies - West Coast of Galicia

After Muros we took a short sail to the Islas Cies archipelago, which consists of three beautiful islands just off the Western coast of Galicia. Its a nature reserve and we climbed to the top of the larger island to get a stunning view of the surrounding islands. At sunset we tried again in vain to catch some fish from the boat, but no success. Collectively, we've only managed to catch two small mackerel since Oslo! Something's got to be wrong with our fishing techniques.

Boat jumping in Muros, Galicia

We sailed around the Western coast of Galicia and anchored in a bay off the small town of Muros. Sam threw himself straight into the water from the mast the moment we anchored. My try was a little more pathetic - but the water's still only 16 degrees along this coast! The sail from La Coruna was smooth. We're finally into the calmer weather and the chance to island hop in the sun, so the woolly hats and thermal underwear are now packed away in the cupboard. We took the dingy out for a spin a few times to reach the quiet beaches around us. Life is definitely getting slower and I can now make a whole day out of preparing lunch and writing a postcard. Not sure how I'll ever get back to the 9-5..

La Coruna, Galicia - clear blue skies & surf

After a night spent anchored in a bay on the North coast of Galicia, we were very glad to reach the marina at La Coruna. It's been clear blue skies here for the last three days. Day one we spent sightseeing around the city. Ate lots of good cured ham, local cheese and wine. I still can't stomach the smell of seafood after the Bay of Biscay sea sickness episode. Shame really, as that's what the area is famous for! I just hope memories of that clam chowder will start to fade. The second day we hired a car and drove to Pantin beach two hours from Coruna. It happened to be a World Pro Surf Competition, with the top 100 surfers competing for the week. Sam was extremely pleased as he managed to catch a wave without looking like a newbie when the beach was packed with onlookers from the days events. We spent the evening in a town called Ferrol, a few bays away. It was a pretty town with crumbling buildings and decrepit looking backstreets. We were told by the local tourism office that there were some amazing restaurants near the marina for local cuisine. But after 4 hours of searching and finding nothing but dingy cafes, we opted for more tapas at a pub in the city centre. I have overdosed on ham and cheese now too - we are both piling on the pounds since leaving! and i thought sailing would be the healthy option