Maderia to Canary islands

Our first destination at the Canary islands was ment to be the Island of Graciosa. The island is located to the north of Lazarote and has a very nice anchorage on the south side. Again Richardo "came to our rescue" telling us we need to have a permisson to anchor there and that you needed minimum 10 days of handling time. So Graciosa was "out" for our part this time. We might try to go back up there later.

 

We then tried to book berths in alternative marinas, but they were all full. We phoned Marina Rubicon located in south Lanzarote. Initiately they were full. We said that was too bad, as we had been there before and would love to come back. Well, a few hours later we had an email saying we were welcome to come and stay for a week. 

We left QuitaDoLorde just before noon 22nd October for 280nm sail to Lanzarote. We had a good berth from ENE mostly 15-20 knots. Waveheight from 1.5 to 3 meters into our port side. We motorsailed with reefed sails and the electronic autopilot during the night in order toa get some sleep and using more sails and the Hydrovane during daytime. 

Being one day early we anchored at Playa Mujeres in the afternoon the 24th, just east of Marina Rubicon. It was a very nice anchorage that we want to return to after a week at the marina. 

We had a great welcome in Rubicon and were directed to a good berth at the L-Pontoon. We might have to switch to another one in a few days as this one is mainly used for catamarans. 

Marina Rubicon, Lanzarote

Another picture from Marina Rubicon

 

Happy boaters  😉

Leaving Porto Santo for Madeira - complications

After a month in Porto Santo we got ready to leave. Visited the marina office and paid 122 Euro, which is a very cheap rate. We wanted to spend the last day at anchor at the beach outside the port. 

When trying to lift the anchor we discovered it had got tangled up in a nearby mooring and we had no luck trying to untangle it. 

We had two neighbouring yachts, with Gio on catamaran Buzio One and Richardo on Catxito a Benetau 58. Both rushed to assistance. Richardo an experienced free diver and he managed to uncouple the mooring from the bottom slab. We then lifted the whole mooring and our anchor chain into our dinghy and got it all untangled. After we lowered the mooring again and Richardo went down 7m and connected the mooring back onbthe concrete slab. 

 We thanked them both our fullest, but they both said they saw it as a fun challenge and a welcome break for a quiet de at anchor. So we finally could lift our anchor and go outside to anchor at the beach. We both had a good swim and a good dinner before going to bed. 

The next morning we set sail for Madeira. We had an email from QuintaDoLorde marina welcoming us the stay there a few days. We thanked them and later the same day we had an email from Funchal marina, saying they had a space for us, but we would have to raft up on the outside of other boats. We thanked them - no, first of all as rafting up is a hassle with ropes, fenders, risk of moves and difficult going ashore. In addition we have plans to visit there in april. Besides going to QuitaDoLorde was very nice as we had purchased a new propellor and a maintenance kit for our dinghy outboard. The Suzuki dealer wasn't far from there.

Quinta Do Lorde marina

 

We arrived the marina in the afternoon. Its just 6 hours sail from Porto Santo. The marina and the area around is a tourist complex looking very nice, but they had gone bankrupt and there wasn't much activity there. But Captains bar had cold beer and we had a decent burger meal there.

Your's truely at the Captains bar

 

Tomas from Suzuki came down to see us bringing the new propellor and the maintanance kit. Our old propellor was no use at the safety rubber had broken and it would only give us slow speed. 

We had also discovered the battery for our shortwave radio had broke down. One of the cells was'nt working. We visited the local chandler - and what do you know - he had just got in 4 used AGM batteries. 3 of them were in perfectly good order. The 4th had a broken cell. The owner had decided to buy Lithiums. They were axactly the same physical size as the old one but 120Ah (even better then the old 100Ah one) I tested them both, and they both charged up to 13.8 VDC. 

On our final day there we met Richardo and his family. They had come to the marina the day before.

Time to leave Porto Santo

we have been at anchor for nearly a month and it's time to leave. There are many yachts this year going south from the Iberian peninsular and most of them sail via Madeira. probably because of fear of being attacked by Orcas. So ports are very busy and finding a free space on a pontoon in marinas is difficult. We are on a waiting list in Funchal, but we have a berth reserved for us at Quinta do Lorde marina, just east of the port of Canical, both located on the eastern tip of Madeira. will be nice to do our laundry, clean the boat inside and outside. Top up batteries.