All quiet on the.......

So here we sit, still, in the harbour of Porta Naos.

True we have been to La Graciosa and thoroughly enjoyed it; even managed a stroll around the local volcanic hill. But we came back here, as shelter is much better, as is access to goods. Boats come boats go but a hard core remain for various reasons and we used the time to sup wine and complete jobs whilst lolling around in shorts and  T-shirts. And deciding what to do. And when we had decided the winds, which had been steadily blowing from the NE for the last month or two, switched to the SW and held us captive for another 5 days. But the forecast is for a change tomorrow (Nov 21) and we will head off to the sunny shores of Senegal and Gambia before crossing in late December/early January for Tobago. A simple decision but once taken we realised we needed to sort out jabs. Now thereby hangs a tale as we wandered the streets in search of answers. We got them-in Spanish having delivered the question in English so neither side really knew what the other was on about but salvation was at hand as Lucia, from “Fair Grace”, spoke fluent Spanish and, press ganged into service, was able to guide us through the labyrinth. It involved much walking as prescriptions obtained in one office needed to be delivered to the Post Office for payment and proof of such taken to the pharmacy to collect the vaccine and from there to the clinic. Needless to say all these establishments are located at opposite ends of the town... Injections were done at specified times and as the vaccine needed to be refrigerated if not used we had to ensure we made the time slot................ We did, on both days and whilst the Yellow Fever was a mere pin prick, the Hep A&B was a bit more of an armful. Bee had gone first and reported back to a bug-eyed skipper. Suggestions to the nurse that the crew be given both doses thus sparing the tender arm of said skipper were met with raised eyebrows and a slightly manic thrust of the needle. And then came the saga of malaria tablets. A further dose of street tramping before we finally emerged with the tablets..... not only was the bill huge (120 euros + the other 100 euros+ we’d paid for the jabs) but it was more than matched by the accompanying leaflet which took several pages to explain the possible side effects!!!!!!!!!!  It seems a bit rough; making you pay heavily to be ill? Altogether an expensive foray into the world of jabs etc. The only good thing is they seem to last 10 years.

Much talk has occurred over the last month or so as we hum and hah about where to go and what to do. Chatting to Shirley, a single-hander from South Africa on a junk-rigged Vertue we were almost persuaded to head on down to Brazil (if only to see her learn to Tango on her next birthday - the big 60) but in the end we decided we’d like to head back up to Maine, see some of the bits we didn’t before, say hello to a few folks and then nip down to the Azores for winter then south to the Canaries and then on down to Brazil and Argentina. It gets a bit fuzzy after that but given that will take us to 2009 it doesn’t really matter.

On the day we departed Funchal, Madeira we headed out with all sail set. Within a few miles the winds suddenly increased dramatically causing us to rapidly reef and drop the genny. Meanwhile back in the anchorage all hell was breaking loose as big seas rolled in and yachts began to bounce around and crews struggled to get back and on board. One French yacht, bouncing heavily had its chain jump out of the windless and now unrestrained ran out its entire length. Some boats secure the bitter end of the chain, some don’t. Whatever the case with this one the chain and anchor are now laying at the bottom of the anchorage...  Luckily the boat drifted through the anchorage narrowly missing all the other boats around it and no harm came to anyone. Needless to say the anchorage cleared quickly. Subsequently meeting up with couples we’d known there had them congratulating us on our foresight and how we had known the squall was about to hit the anchorage!!

La Graciosa. Is a small island off the NW coast of Lanzarote. If you have been here and visited Mirador del Rio the island lies in view through the plate glass windows of the restaurant. It has a small marina, no roads but great walking, a well stocked ferrateria and warm, clear water. The anchorage is great when the winds are from the north and when we arrived was chock-a-block with boats. The marina more so as attempts to get alongside and thus give Toots a few nights ashore were met with a shrug and “Full”. We anchored and walked into the village to see the harbour-master about getting in. “Not possible for 3 days” That was fine and we spent time chatting to Pete and Lucia from Fair Grace and learnt that they too were Maine bound which augers well as we all get along extremely well and it’ll be a joy to catch up with them at various points along the way. The day of our coming alongside arrived and we motored in to find the same security guard telling us it was full. We persevered watching a Dutch boat hastily detach itself from a waiting pontoon and race across our boat to claim the vacant berth on the very end of the T-piece pontoon. The guard approached them and walked away with the woman. The woman returned with the guard and the guard waved us into the narrow dead end between two pontoons. We passed the Dutch boat with the woman studiously ignoring us and found we needed to execute a multi-pointed turn in order to get our stern into the gap. The other yotties were patient but I doubt many of them could grasp the difficulty of manoeuvring Hannah astern with a wind that kept blowing the bow off. However we were in and the adjacent boat informed us, with some venom, we were to keep Toots off their boat as they were allergic to cats.....................and then the Dutch boat left the berth they had refused to vacate to move into a newly vacated berth next to friends............ ah well such is life. But whilst the marina is cheap (two nights cost less than 11 euros) is had, for us, the ambience of something belonging to NCP and Toots found that feral cats are no respecter of territory and one in particular would sneak on board and claim it as its own!!

So that’s yer lot. If we can overcome the feelings of lethargy and the very real nervousness of hoisting the anchor and heading off again we’ll write again from West Africa