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Voyages
Ports of Call
Anchorages
Our
Current Location
Miscellaneous:
CHHS
Orphan Relief
Economy
Your Own Diet
Team Tempo
Date of Last
Update:
January 21, 2009
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As featured on page 9 of the July/August
Issue of Ocean Navigator!
SHIBUMI arrives in
English Harbor, Antigua
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 After
twenty days of pitching seas, SHIBUMI anchored in Freeman Bay in English
Harbor, Antigua, at 0715, Monday, December 20th. Thanks to
Holt "Chip" Farley and
Mike Laughlin, we arrived with
few equipment breakages after 16 nights of squalls and sea swells which
dismasted another boat in our vicinity.
Any tendency to seasickness was tested
regularly as life aboard resembled the inside of a front-loading clothes washer ...
without the water. We have a saying on board that a good trip is one
where SHIBUMI travels safely from point A to point B (even if point
B is redefined), with no injury to anyone (on board or not), no property
damage (to ourselves or others), and no harsh word spoken.
Except for two main boom shackles and one mizzen halyard, all of
which snapped at night at sea,
the voyage was a success by this definition.
And the fishing was
great!
Our crew's special Christmas present to
us was their dedication to "finishing up" after we arrived.
This meant taking their last day to wash down the inside of the
vessel as Chris and Jackie reworked the boat to redefine her from a
crossing vessel to a cruising one. Many thanks for all Holt and
Mike's efforts. Two days before Christmas and we are basically whole
again except for catching up on rest and sleep! |
SHIBUMI tours The Canary Islands
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 Graciosa:
Our arrival in the most northwestern harbor in the Canary Islands confirmed
that we
have become island people. Isolated from the other Canary Islands and
stripped of all forestry, the island is a stark reminder of the extremes of
nature. But very beautiful.
The harbor master allowed us to berth
along side the town dock instead of joining the other cruisers across the
bay. The town hosted four restaurants, two supermarkets, one bakery,
and one internet cafe. Ferry service ran twice a day to Lanzarote.
The internet cafe provided the best services we found in the entire Canary
chain.
Unfortunately when the seas swell from the
southeast, the harbor is churned. It is a real eye opener to see
SHIBUMI, a fifty ton vessel, swinging wildly on her lines as the swell
tossed her around at her berth. We left in a hurry in the middle of the night
to anchor outside the harbor. |
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La nzarote:
With no natural water supply, Lanzarote is defined with landscapes of black
lava. Moisture from the morning dew is trapped inside circular corrals
to provide moisture for the grape vines pictured to the left. These
also act as a wind barrier.
An active English tourist destination, Lanzarote boasts
the most recently active volcano in the Canary Islands. The artist
Cesear Menrique used his influence throughout the Canary Islands to preserve
much of the natural beauty of the islands while the tourist explosion
swamped the locals. A wonderful excursion ashore consists of
renting a car and exploring his home, Jardin de Cactus, and Jameos del Agua, a lava
funnel boasting a concert hall. To study the development of a volcano,
tour the Montanas del Fuego, ride a camel under the lava dunes, and explore the vast
volcano museum. Reality is wilder than imagination.
Cruisers gather at either Puerto Calero on the southeast
coast or Puerto Blanca on the southern tip of Lanzarote.
Shops and restaurants, a free internet connection in the marina office, and
the availability of our English friends on Talula Ruby made Puerto Calero our choice. |
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Fuerteventura:
 If
Lanzarote is the English Canary Island, then Fuerteventura is the German
Canary Island. Spanish and German are spoken most everywhere:
restaurants, bars, internet cafes, etc. Our first adventure was the
anchorage at Las Playitas where we rode out 35 mph winds all night in
significant swells. As soon as day broke, we wandered south seeking
better shelter from easterlies.
We originally planned to anchor off this
island at tow sites before moving on to the south side of Gran Canaria, but when we
realized that we needed to sail to Las Palmas on the north side of Gran
Canaria for watermaker parts, we decided to berth for a couple of days in
Morro Jable, the ferry port for the island. No water, no electricity,
and a bit of a hike to town, but priced reasonably.
The highly tourist town of Morro Jable
contains a good internet cafe and a great pizza shop, Cafe Vesubio, but is
otherwise unremarkable. |
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 Gran Canaria:
We did not intend to visit Las Palmas on Grand Canaria because we knew that
the 2004 ARC was preparing to depart from the harbor within the week.
The rally consists of over 250 sailboats of all sizes, descriptions,
nationalities, and temperaments. All racing from Las Palmas to St.
Lucia. However we had a problem with our watermaker and the Spectra
Tech Support was visiting their ARC clients, so we agreed to meet them and
swap out several parts still under warranty. We anchored outside of
the marina for two nights. And then sailed onto Santa Cruz on the island of
Tenerife.
The wind blew steadily from the NE for the week prior to the ARC's
departure. Saturday before the gun sounded at 1300 on Sunday, the wind died.
We wonder how the folks who signed a pledge not to
start their engine fared.
Our friends, Steve Woodward and Joan Hivey
with Salty Dog on
Chant Pagan, welcomed us to Las Palmas and invited us to join in the nightly
celebrations. We had to decline in order to meet our crew in Tenerife
within the next two days. |
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Tenerife:
After all the tourist hype and disappointments of the islands in the Med,
Jackie was very happy to spend the last weeks of our stay in Europe in Santa
Cruz, Tenerife, a true Spanish city with low key tourism. The Marina
Atlantico lies in the heart of the city, separated from the busy ferry and
cruise ship traffic by a concrete quay. All services are nearby and
the marina staff is friendly and helpful. A great, no frills marina to launch a
trans-Atlantic crossing.
On one of our first
excursions ashore, we discovered a "mom and pop" restaurant with all our
favorite Spanish tapas and meals at very reasonable prices. We never
ate anywhere else than Restaurante La Taberna del Puerto during our entire
stay in Santa Cruz. And we will return one day to see if Bienmesabe ever returns to the menu.
The signature of Tenerife is the mountain
Teide, which
dominates the landscape and the seascape as well. Our crew took the
cable car ride up the mountain and then hiked to the peak to peer out into
the mysteries of the Atlantic where we were soon scheduled to explore.
During our Sunday car ride around the mountain, we lunched at Restaurante La
Pimentera on a hillside in Masca. Tenerife is a treasure to further explore in the future. |
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