Canaries and Crossing Countdown

It’s been another busy week and a half and things are steadily shaping up to our big Atlantic crossing!

We had a fantastic passage with the ultimate highlights being stunning sunsets and sunrises. The most remarkable event however was the second day where we were visited by two separate pods of dolphins. In the morning we had about 10 dolphins that came to surf in the waves and jump at the bow. In the afternoon however, we were joined by an enormous pod of maybe 150 dolphins! I have never seen so many dolphins at once. They were surfing in the waves behind the boat for as far as the eye could see as well as jumping and playing all around the boat. This lasted for almost an hour. Truly the pinnacle event of the whole trip.

Our passage to the Canaries was surprisingly fast.  In fact, we covered the over 600 nm distance in 3 days and 5 hrs.  The last 24 hrs we averaged 9-9.5 knots of speed over ground.  We even have a new boat speed record of 12.6 knots from surfing down a wave in 26 knots of breeze.  It was all very comfortable.  Jay and I found a very easy night watch pattern and were easily able to nap during the day to feel well rested.  The boys were amazing and greatly appreciated the less wavy conditions.  We made it!  We successfully navigated what is supposed to be the more difficult part of the Atlantic crossing so we are all feeling much more optimistic.

After a brief stop in Graciosa where we met another kid boat, we made our way down to the Southern tip of Lanzarote to meet up with our first set of crew and also touch base with our potential crossing buddy boat.  Lanzarote has an absolutely wild coast line and topography.  It is akin to what I imagine the moon would look like if it were covered in black soil with the occasional palm tree.  The volcanic origins of this island are certainly on display.

I was able to rent a small car (the only car available) to begin our food provisioning.  After numerous trips through the checkout at Lidl, I had packed the Fiat Panda tightly.  This is step one of our provisioning of dry goods.  It is simply mind boggling to me, the amount of food we are going to be carrying to accommodate 7 people for potentially 4 weeks.  After packing the dry goods into all of our holds, I took the boys to the North side of the island where we got to explore the longest lava tube in the world.  It is a total of 7 km long and includes 1.5 km under the Atlantic Ocean.  It is decoratively lit and there is an area that is used as a concert hall due to the ideal acoustics.  This was really cool!

Alas, it was time to say goodbye to Lanzarote and head for Las Palmas, Gran Canarias.  We used the 98 nm passage as a great introduction of Elation and our sail handling/equipment to our fantastic crew, Stephen and Lesley.  We also got to have a little bit of a night passage which allowed them to get accustomed to our night time settings.  The wind was very light so we were able to deploy the gennaker during the day and eventually had to start our iron jib (engine) for the last few hours.

Las Palmas is the launch point for the Atlantic Rally Crossing.  This is an annual rally of hundreds of boats that cross the Atlantic together.  We had seriously considered joining this but ultimately decided to go independently instead.  However, we have many friends that are participating and so we wanted to be here to see them before their ultimate send off on the 19^th.

The kids fell back into playing like there had been no time lost between them.  Huge smiles, excitement and fun was had and when we returned later to the boat, we had some very tired, well worn-out kids to tuck into bed!

The remainder of our days now are being spent completing boat projects and provisioning.  A huge, terrifying shop is pending on Monday.  I will provide details when I have recovered.   Our final crew member arrives on Sunday evening and we are all eager to see him.  He has promised some fresh baked bread on passage so I have 20 kg of flour awaiting him 😉  We are likely heading for Cape Verde on Nov 21^st.  The weather is on the light side and there is a large high-pressure system that is just hanging out in the mid Atlantic affecting wind and waves.  We will keep a close eye on this and hopefully it will pass by benignly and the trade winds will establish for a final push to the Caribbean.  Looks like we will be landing in Antigua!