SailBlog - Heading towards Lanzarote

Graham

14/10/2008, 82 Nm NW of Lanzarote, Canaries

Selvegem Grande lived up to its expectation. Having had a somewhat restless night on anchor, we set ashore in two groups and were met by the warden, Sandro and Pedro, Sonja and Salvegii (the dog). The hospitality was excellent and after a decent cup of coffee, a brief history of the island group, owned by the Madeira Government since 1971, we walked up to the lighthouse, seeing various unusual birds and lizards. The view over the island and out to sea was spectacular; blue skies, a flat calm sea, and a warm breeze. If you are in the area (!), we would really recommend a trip here, but make sure you get your permit from the Botanical Garden's Office in Funchal first, or you will not be able to stop there. Mark T finally had some real success with the fishing rod and caught a trigger fish big enough to be turned into a Thai fish curry for all four of us and which tasted fantastic. Watch this blog entry and I'll post a photo onto it when we get to an internet cafe. A great night's sleep was had by all, and with a good weather forecast for the next two days, we set off this morning at 11 am south east bound for Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. We are at present about 80 Nm North West of the island, having travelled about 50 Nm already today. The sun is about to set, our navigation lights have just been turned on, 'Steady Barker' is helming the boat using the wind, and everyone is feeling very relaxed and looking forward to a hot shower and cold beer in the marina which we should reach sometime tomorrow, hopefully by lunchtime. Bongo knows of a BBQ restaurant where your food is cooked over a smoking volcano's fumerole so I suspect we will hunt it down and test it out while we are here.