After a nice walk into the village Playa Blanca and a successful score at the car rental place we make our way back to Guppy to celebrate Sinterklaas Eve onboard with a few presents and lots of sweets. Then it is off to bed for an early start the following day. We get up while it is still dark and have a quick breakfast before jumping into the cars we have rented to explore Lanzarote. Our first stop is Los Hervideros. An amazing coast full of steep beautiful lava rock cliffs. Lanzarote consists of many volcanoes of which many still active. Smoke can be seen on various places and after seeing the 5th volcano in 15 minutes we all got used to that sight, just as the pitch black rock that covers most of the island. Just as I was 10 years ago, the young crew was also surprised to find that every single house is white with either blue, brown or green windows and doors. I remembered that it is because someone had observed that when many houses have different colours a town or city from afar will appear black and because the rest of the island is also black he didn’t like that sight. So now all the houses have to be one colour, white! The houses close to the coast with blue doors and windows, and inland green or brown. After Los Hervideros we drive more inland towards the Timanfaya national park. This is where most of the volcanoes are and because nothing has been build there the island can be observed as it was originally. We made several stops here with some short walks before continuing to the North. By now everyone is getting hungry so we decide to make a stop in a small town where we find a cute looking restaurant. In the end we figured it would have been much easier, faster and better to just get some bread and spreads in a supermarket as the restaurant was really slow and half of the dishes were not very good. But we were hungry enough to eat it all and got a good ice cream and some snacks afterwards to wash it down 🙂 The north of Lanzarote is high and lined by steep cliffs. There is a beautiful lookout which overlooks Graciosa where we had hoped to anchor on the first day but couldn’t because of the high swell. 

Getting everyone to get back into the cars after each beautiful sight isn’t easy and so we only just manage to get to Cueva de Los Verdes before they close, we get the last tour of the day… Cueva de Los Verdes is a big Lava Tunnel and doesn’t really have anything to do with a cave nor green. But they call it a cave because that is what it appears to be as a start and it’s called Green because a family with the surname Los Verdes used to live and own the lands around this Lava Tunnel. We where underground for about 50 minutes while a tour guide explained how and when these lava tunnels came into existence. On our way back to Guppy we made another stop in Arrecife at the HyperDino ( a very big supermarket) to get some more supplies. Even though I had warned the teens that they wouldn’t be able to buy big amounts of Yoghurt, Speculoos, Hagelslag or some of the other typically things they craved for it still appeared to be a big surprise that you can’t buy the food you are used to. Even the juices are apparently different and ‘’not as good’’… Sander and I just smile because we know this is part of getting to know a different culture. Food is different everywhere in the world and everyone is just going to have to eat what that country has to offer. Whether they like it or not  

It was already dark when we came to Guppy, everyone is tired so after a quick simple dinner consisting of pasta with tomato sauce we all head to bed. 

On Tuesday there is some schoolwork to catch up for the teens that wasn’t done on Monday… And Sander and I did some check ups and small improvements on Guppy. In the afternoon we headed off to Playa de Papagayo while we still have the cars. Playa de Papagayo is a beautiful beach with good snorkelling laying hidden between some cliffs. I spend my 15th birthday there, while I was on mij solo circumnavigation 10 years ago. 

That night after we brought back the cars and just before dinner we headed out to sea again, next destination… Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a 95nm sail. We have a steady northerly wind and fly along at 8 – 9 knots making big time 🙂 

Laura

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