75 – Lady Trades My Ass!!!

 

Throughout recorded history (at least that’s what EVERYONE said), the dominant winds of the southern Atlantic Ocean consistently flow from west (Europe or Africa) to east (Caribbean) and have been utilized by everyone from the earliest explorers to every sailor we know who’s done the crossing.  These dominant winds are called the Trade Winds and have been nicknamed the “Lady Trades” in honor of their gentle and consistent manner.  It’s common knowledge that in order to sail back east from Europe (or Africa), one simply has put up one’s sails and have a downwind (wind behind the boat) sleigh ride for 15-18 days (maximum 3 weeks).  HA!!!

Our passage took 25 days, during which time we encountered many storms (thankfully, nothing brutal) and every conceivable wind scenario - mostly unfavorable to our current situation.  The winds were constantly changing from absolutely directly behind us to absolutely directly in front.  Now, we can sail into the wind or with the wind behind us but we need to be at a slight angle for either.  While, the actual mileage for a direct route was 2600 nautical miles, our passage took us 3200 nautical miles.  The reasons for this were that for most of our sail, we were forced off of our desired course (Rhumb Line) due to the extreme angle of the wind in either direction or because we altered course to go further south of our desired route to catch the promised better winds in the weather forecasts.  For a few days, the wind simply died all together forcing us to simply drop the sails and drift for several hours in order to avoid listening to the constant banging of the luffing sails.  To top that off, we ripped one sail which we were able to repair with a couple of days of hand sewing (enough to get us through anyway), ripped another sail beyond repair and had issues with our remaining two sails (thankfully Pedro was able to repair both underway).  To really put the icing on the cake, in the midst of one of the numerous storms, we completely lost our steering (luckily, we have autopilot and an emergency tiller but it was still nerve-wracking).  Needless to say, we hope this will go down as one of our most challenging passages. But we made it and as we dropped our anchor in the beautiful Caribbean waters after 25 days at sea, we both said “We’re alive, the boat’s still afloat and we’re still in love!”

Alright, that's enough complaining!  Now, to get caught back up, we left our magical Morocco behind and had a very nice 5-day sail to the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.  We landed in the capital city of Arrecife where we were able to get a berth in the city marina for a few days.  Deciding that we needed exercise and wanting to explore this side of the island, we rented bicycles for a couple of days and took advantage of the great bike trails on the island.  The first day we headed north to the town Costa Teguise where we found a great English pub and got a fabulous fish and chips lunch.  The second day, we headed south to the town of Porto del Carmen where we enjoyed the beachfront restaurants and Spanish tapas.  I guess it was a good thing that we were getting exercise!  An added bonus was that everything and everyone seemed to be decorated for Christmas so we enjoyed getting into the holiday spirit.

Next, we rented a car to explore further as well as visit the other side of the island.  As we were driving towards the other end of the island, we kept noticing acres and acres of land that looked to be very roughly plowed up and couldn’t understand why they would do this and just leave it.  Well, as we arrived at our first stop Los Hervideros, we immediately realized that the land was not plowed up but was rather poured on from the numerous volcanos that erupted from 1730-1736.  We were told that there are actually about 200 volcanos on the island.  This southwestern volcanic coastline of the island provides some amazing viewpoints and glimpses of the various caves.  We spent an hour or so “hiking” all around while enjoying the waves crashing in the sea caves and walking on centuries old lava.

We hoped back in the car and drove to the island's still active salt flat called Salinas de Janubio.  While we didn’t see any actual salt harvesting while we were there, it was still beautiful to see the area as well as the nearby Emerald Pond.

From the salt flats, we drove through the Timanfaya National Park.  Our friends who recently visited the park suggested that we forego the bus ride section which they said was interesting but very crowded. So, we decided against going further into the park (plus the line of cars trying to get in was a mile or more long).  Instead, we drove the perimeter and found a great hiking area to explore. 

After stopping at one of the island's many wineries and realizing that we were more hungry than thirsty, we drove to the town of Teguise. This town is famous for its weekly market (sadly, we were not there on the right day).  Nonetheless, the town was adorable so we picked up a few items at the local grocery store and enjoyed a picnic. 

Gary's Aunt Beth is our best source of intel when it comes to places to visit so when she mentioned the Cueva de los Verdes or Green caves we knew we had to go check them out.  These caves are actually volcano tubes. The caves themselves are very interesting to visit and we enjoyed the tour.  The caves are home to the first auditorium on the island and are still used for this purpose today as the acoustics make for excellent concerts.  We agreed that it would be fun to come back and hear one someday. 

Our last stop was Jameos de Aqua.  These too are volcanic tube caves and there is also supposedly an auditorium, restaurant and natural salt pond.  We were excited to visit this but unfortunately arrived after they were closed for the day.  But, we still able to enjoy the lava covered coastline just outside of the caves.

We spent a few more days exploring Arrecife getting a few boat projects completed and provisioning for our next crossing which was a short 24-hour sail over to the island of Gran Canaria and the town of Las Palmas.  We arrived in time to see the New Year's fireworks as well as The Three King's parade to celebrate the arrival of the three kings and spent some times exploring the city.  We also met up our friend Malcolm whom we’d met in Lagos Portugal and not seen since we left there a couple of years and we also got to meet his wife, Nicki.  We also met another couple Ronald and Lisbeth from Holland and enjoyed a few dinners and happy hours with new and old friends.  

At last, our weather window looked promising (teach us to watch the forecasts) and we managed to load up on enough fresh foods to carry us across the ocean plus as much fabulous Spanish wine as we could fit onto the boat and we took off.

Despite my complaining, our passage did have some really wonderful aspects.  When we had pretty weather, we had really pretty weather including amazing sunrises and sets, moonrises and sets and absolutely spectacular starry nights.  Several times during the passage we were accompanied by dolphins playing in our wake and performing acrobatics.  Pedro caught three (two of which we got to eat as one got away) mahi mahi so we enjoyed several meals of fresh fish dishes.  When we had good wind, the sailing was fabulous and when we didn't, I managed to get into the water for a minute or two (it was still too cold for my taste).   All in all, despite the fact that it took longer than we expected and took its toll on both the boat and us, we're so glad we completed the passage. 

In the end, we rerouted our path to head to the Island of Sint Maarten / Saint Martin which turned out to be a great choice.  On this island, we managed to get everything on our extensive list repaired including one of our sails and our steering.  An added bonus has been running into old friends who crossed with us in 2018 and who've been sailing in the Caribbean since and meeting a few new ones. As I type this, we're sitting at anchor enjoying the warm weather and relatively warm and beautiful water in St. Martin.  We'll be here a couple of more days and then we head to St. Thomas in the USVI where we'll meet Frenchie and Pery for a few days of sailing.  We couldn't be more excited but I'll fill you on that, next post!

Until next post!