We had a fast passage to Las Palmas, leaving Lanzarote at around 4:30am. The wind was strong so Guppy powered along. We arrived in Las Palmas around five in the afternoon. The harbor is filled with cruise and cargo ships, then the busy city along the shoreline. Two of us made vegetarian lasagna for dinner, which has come to be a favorite aboard the ship! We spent the next day cleaning the boat, swimming, reading, and enjoying each other’s company!

On the 29th, we all had an early start of around 7:30 to get going on schoolwork (we wish… in reality, we all woke up to Sander clanging two metal cooking pot lids together to wake us up 15 minutes after school was supposed to start).  Guppy is the best classroom, as surrounding us are tall mountains and unfamiliar landscapes. We left at 10am to the city of Las Palmas, which was bustling with people. We walked around the city for a while, enjoying the new scenery and stretching our legs. First, we stopped at a knitting store… a few of us have taken on knitting as a hobby while sailing. A festive Christmas store caught our eye, so we bought Christmas lights for our cabin. Then we all went to the supermarket and bought various snacks and cooking ingredients for Christmas while the stores still have (mostly) everything we want.

Once we got back on the ship around noon, we immediately set sail for the south side of the island. We had a spectacular sail; Guppy raced along into the sunset with no rocking or moving whatsoever (which some of us were quite grateful for, especially those cooking dinner). We arrived in the bay past dark, which made for quite a sight with all of the lights from the hotels on the hillside.

The next day we did school until noon; we had lunch and rowed (at least tried to row) to the beach, where we played some volleyball and swam in the water.  Little Tim also went swimming which was really fun!  As we get further south the water is getting warmer and warmer; a few of us have decided that we are going to swim in every country we visit! We watched a movie together and then went to bed.

We left early the next morning, the confused seas made for an interesting day of being splashed by sea spray in the cockpit. There were a few particular waves that completely soaked everybody (except for Sander, who decided that it would be a great time to go inside, and Victoria who beat everyone to the dry spot under the sprayhood and sat there knitting)- they even soaked Enya lying on her bed in her cabin! We got too used to the dry cock-pit and forgot to close the cockpit hatches- I suppose that is all a part of the learning experience. At least the weather was warm, so everybody laughed (even Enya who is still suffering from a wet and salty bed). As we got closer to La Gomera, the wind was falling down the steep cliffs (katabatic winds) and causing up to 43 knots of wind! Everybody in the cockpit got absolutely drenched, however, we all enjoyed the humor of it, and it was amazing watching nature’s power. 

On December 4th we set off at noon to a new anchorage further south- which was just a bit rolly and ended up with an egg on the floor and some flying legos. We approached the anchorage of Valle Gran Rey, ( the valley of the great king) which seems perfectly suitable as there are massive cliffs all around us and an amazing valley in front of our bow. Tomorrow we will set sail to Cape Verde, the longest stretch so far 🙂

Best wishes, the party cabin (Victoria, Meike, and Kiley)