It was a very uncomfortable 16 hour crossing to Gracioza, with 25knots easterly winds (60 deg). Not quite on the nose and not quite a beam reach, but the confused swell and fast wind forced us to sail with a reefed main sail and staysail. We were still going at 9 knots, and Terry would have liked to go faster, but the faster the boat went , the more uncomfortable the ride.

The kids and I were fairly queasy, to the point where we thought of skipping Gracioza all together and head south to Las Palmas direct! We’re so glad we didn’t, as the anchorage is a dream!
We dropped anchor off Playa Francesa, south of the island, very protected from prevailing winds, with a long sandy beach, surrounded by extinct volcano, and tall craggy cliffs of neighbouring Lanzarote island. The nearest village of Caleta del Sebo is 45 minute walk away on a sandy track thru semi desertic landscape or 10 minute dinghy ride in the windy channel between Gracioza and Lanzarote. We tried both ways, and favour the dinghy ride even though we have to brave the chop. The village itself is quite different, straight out of a western movie, with white square houses spread along 3 “main” streets, wind howling thru and swirls of dust. The supermercados (no bigger than the corner shop in Wooloware Rd) are short on fresh food but there is plenty of soft drinks, beans and rice! It will take us 5 days to find the butcher and of course the choices are pork galore and one single chicken! He’s not called “Don Cochon” (Mr Pig) for nothing. We find there is plenty of restaurants though for the size of the place, and we feast on padron peppers, fried calamaris, grilled squids, prawn omelette and vegetable platters (loosely translated as “mess to the taste” and “attack of vegetable”). How can they cook so well, with so little available? I must have a word with the chef! In the meantime, on board we’ve ran out of fresh food, so I am digging into the freezer looking for vegetables, and start to bake bread ( which is a work in progress).

Time stands still here, it is the perfect spot to catch up with schoolwork, reading, writing (for me) and generally relaxing after the last hectic weeks in Europe. We’ve swapped gym memberships for daily swims and walks up the hill (exercize we all need).
The only distractions are the other 20 odd boats anchored around us. It sounds like a lot ( and it is, considering the size of the bay), but most crew keep to themselves. We do make friends with a few of them though, either with Marc and Anne running into other kids, or thru the typical yachties get together: the sundowner on the beach! We know we’ve reached cruising mode when we’re joined by other crew to share a sunset drink on the beach. This is our favourite moment, listening to everyone’s tales and there is plenty to tell: we have Phil and Janie on Tsolo completing a 16 years circumnavigation, Andrew and Claire on Eye Candy deciding that after 7 seasons in the Med it was time to see other places, French Petit family on Guma starting on a 1 year sabbatical and still getting their sea legs, American KP and Koi who crossed the Red Sea in January and fascinate us with tales of pirate alerts and narrow escape. But my personal favourite is Kira, a small yacht from Germany with her young 20-something crew who set out after saving enough money for a year or so and decide to “just go” until the money runs out and it’s time to go back to work. It goes to show, there are all kind of cruisers out there!

It is so easy to slowly turn into Robinson Crusoe, enjoying the beach, doing nothing knowing that next month will be a busy month preparing for the Atlantic crossing. However after a week, one look at the charts and realising we’re only at the very northern tip of the Canaries, shakes us out of our torpor and we decide to move south.