A month in Tenerife

31 January 2016

December and early January were slightly busy times and I was remiss in keeping this blog current.  Too much socializing and a bit of sight-seeing kept us occupied, plus a very enjoyable visit by a longtime friend…left us living life rather than writing about it.  Time to catch up.  I am writing this posting; however, we have no internet connection so publishing this posting must wait until we find a bar or restaurant with wifi.  The wifi in our current location is barely sufficient to access basic email.  I cannot remember where I left off at the last blog posting, so bear with me if things are repeated.

Herbert and Bill in Santa Cruz

We arrived in Santa Cruz on the island of Tenerife on 6 December, escorted for a short time by a short-finned pilot whale.  An Austrian friend, Herbert, was on his beautiful Santorin docked just down from BeBe.  Herbert joined us for a celebratory dinner the following evening for my 67^th birthday.  The next day he set off for Cape Verde.  His plans are to visit Brazil and we are headed to Martinique, so who knows when or where we again will meet up..

                     

Glenn and Judy on Christmas morning.  Lox on toasted
slices baguette with capers and champagne.

We walked around Santa Cruz most days to acquaint ourselves with the city but we saved sight-seeing for later in the month when our friend, Glenn Martin, planned to visit during the Christmas holidays.  We last saw Glenn when he visited us in Cyprus around November 2011 and we were looking forward to catching up once again.  A few more of the rally boats arrived at the marina.  And people on other rally boats flew back to their respective countries to celebrate Christmas.  I do not think any of us mentally could get into ‘crossing’ mode until after 1 January.

Our only Christmas decoration,
courtesy of Glenn.

On Christmas night the Puertos de Tenerife presented a free symphony concierto with opera and holiday music.  The stage was erected near our berth so we enjoyed the music from the comfort of our cockpit rather than deal with the 25,000 people seated in the stands..  It was very nice.  Fireworks at midnight completed the festivities.

Glenn and Bill on one of the pedestrian streets of
La Laguna

The following day Bill, Glenn and I found the ‘tram’ (light rail) and visited La Laguna.  La Laguna is the original capital of Tenerife; today the capital is Santa Cruz.  The light rail is extremely inexpensive and makes a trip up the mountain easy for tourists to visit the historic town.  It was quite blustery on the day of our visit and too cool for us to eat outdoors.  These Europeans are a heartier bunch than we of the more southern climes.  We found a nice restaurant and enjoyed a delicious indoor lunch.  Took us a few minutes to realize that we were eating in a Turkish restaurant!  Did not expect to find a Turkish restaurant in La Laguna.  It was great.

This Bethelem/nativity display covered an entire room.

While walking in Santa Cruz that day we visited the parliament building for the Canary Islands to see an exhibit presented on  the ground floor and open to the public.  This was a huge nativity scene.  It encompassed Bethlehem and included everything one might think of regarding the biblical story of Christ’s birth.  It was refreshing to see this common sense approach by a governmental entity regarding religion.  What a difference from the contentiousness in the USA regarding displays of religious significance in public spaces.  The Spanish approach is that the majority of the country is Christian so it is most appropriate to display Christian displays in public spaces.  Displays of other religions are also allowed; those are just not as common.  Presenting a display of acknowledgment of one religious belief does not diminish any other religion nor does it impose a connection between government and any religion.  We are so overly sensitive about this in the USA and it was refreshing to see this common sense approach here.

Bill and our temporary crew member for the Atlantic
crossing, Andrew Blum.

Our crew member for the upcoming Atlantic crossing arrived on 27 December.  Let me introduce Andrew Blum, a young fellow Texan from Huffman who wanted to add an Atlantic crossing to his sailing resume.  Andrew contacted us while he was still working at a yacht charter company in Thailand last summer.  At first Bill and I were not interested in taking a crew member; we have enjoyed our ocean crossings with just the two of us.  But upon further reflection we decided that two people nearing age 70 probably should have another person along.  If one of us became incapacitated for any reason, the other person would be left to single hand and neither of us is up to that task.  Therefore, we agreed that Andrew could join us for the crossing.  His arrival overlapped four days before Glenn’s departure and we decided to see the island together.

El Teide in background

We had been trying unsuccessfully to rent a car for a couple of weeks.  Finally we scored a car for two days only.  The first day we drove to the Teide volcano near the center of the island.  The landscape was unworldly!  Driving up through the national forest was so very different from the other Canary Islands we visited.  Views were spectacular!  Nearly an hour from the cable car we passed the observatory that friends had suggested we visit, but we continued onward.  Figured we would not see much at an observatory during bright sunlight hours.

Those little things are cars.  Looked small from this
elevation.  This 'valley' resembled a smaller version
of the Grand Canyon.

Turned out to be an excellent decision!  We arrived at the cable car parking areas and decided since it was so late in the day that we would drive past the outlying parking areas and try our luck right at the entrance.  Another car pulled out and we parked right at the entrance.  What luck!  We rushed to get in queue to purchase tickets.  The attendant closed the line right behind us!  Had we parked farther down the mountain and walked up then we would not have arrived in time to catch the last cable car of the day.

View from our cable car when headed up.

Teide is the second or third largest volcano in the world.  As previously mentioned, I do not have internet access at the moment and do not remember any specifics about Teide.  What I do remember is that it looked like we were driving on a narrow twisting road on the planet Mars.  Or maybe on the moon.  As I stated, it was unworldly.  I developed much respect for the guys who built that road through that terrain; it had to have been a most difficult job.  

Another volcano crater down lower.

The tippy-top of El Teide.

Bill at uppermost point that we visited.  Had patches
of ice and snow in crevices up there.  Very cold!

Each of us said that this was a place to which we would like to return for another visit someday.  Few places strike us like that, but this was so unique that it would deserve a second visit.

The top cable car platform sits at elevation of 11,388 feet.  Consider that for a moment.  That is almost 1,000 feet ABOVE two miles above sea level.  That famous Colorado ‘mile high city’ has nothing on Teide!  And was it ever cold!  It was shorts and tee shirt weather down at sea level and it was winter coat weather up here!  We had debated whether to bring jackets or not because it was so warm and still at the marina that morning.  Thankfully, common sense prevailed and we had jackets because it was very cold even wearing those jackets.  Temperature was 32F or 0C and wind was blowing about 20-knots.

Another lower section of El Teide which we visited
with the bus tour.

For those more physically fit (and probably younger), it is possible to obtain a special permit from the national park service of Spain to hike to the very top of Teide.  I had looked into these permits when we first arrived at Tenerife but they were booked through 15 January.  I was glad that we had been unable to obtain the hiking permits because there was no way I would have been able to hike up there.  I found it difficult to breathe when merely walking level, no way I could have managed that steep incline to the top.  We stayed at the upper level for about an hour soaking up the cold.  

The observatory

Glenn and Andrew walked out a path but Bill and I stayed at the beginning of that path.  I was leery of walking very far because did not think I would be able to walk back.  Breathing was difficult and reminded me of our visit to Cusco, Peru and those high altitudes.  People with any cardiovascular ailments are warned not to venture up this high, and I could understand why.  My faulty mitral valve was causing my heart to pound just standing; any physical exertion (even walking on flat level) caused slight chest pain.  Take care visiting heights like this.

My favorite photo of the day.  The setting sun caused the shadow
of El Teide to cover part of the 'valley' below.  Loved the lighting
of the area at that time of day.

Our cable car ride back down the mountain was right at sunset.  The lighting over the scenery below was gorgeous.  It looked very different than it had in full sunlight and we were glad to have had the opportunity to see the area in both conditions.

Los Gigantes

The following day we drove the main highway to the southern end of the island and then up the northwest coastline to see Los Gigantes. Los Gigantes are very high cliffs that go straight down to the sea.  The views are gorgeous.   

After lunch in the seaside town we visited a Lidl supermarket to stock up on junk foods for the upcoming Atlantic crossing.   And found a dark rum that was manufactured by the Ron family which is branded only for distribution to Lidl.  It was wonderful!  Love the convenience of a rental car every once and awhile. We wished later that we had bought several cases of this particular rum, but without a car that was impossible since it is sold only at Lidl and the nearest Lidl was half-way down the island from our marina.

The western coast of Tenerife just south of Los Gigantes.
A somewhat rough 'beach'

The Ron family rum (the name of which I have forgotten) led us to research sugar cane and the production of rum in the Canary Islands.  We got curious because we had seen no sugar cane growing on any of the islands we visited. Turns out that sugar cane is not native to the Caribbean or the Americas.  Sugar originated in India and remained locally until the Arabs brought it to Europe, where it spread rapidly thanks to the normal human desire for sweet tastes.  Sugar cane arrived in the Canary Islands from Madeira, also thanks to the Arabs.  Columbus brought sugar cane from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean (Cuba to be specific) on his second voyage to the new world.  That sugar cane came either from Gran Canaria or La Gomera rather than from Tenerife.  Anyway, all that sugar cane in the Caribbean and the Americas originated from the Canary Islands.  Odd that this was never mentioned in our history lessons.

Glenn departed on 1 January.  We enjoyed his visit very much and look forward to him visiting BeBe again somewhere in the Caribbean.

Very different weather conditions on the day of the bus
tour than on the day we visited El Teide in the rent car.
Marina level was cloudy and drizzling rain.  Up above the
clouds, beautiful sunshine weather.

Cornell Sailing opened their offices at the marina for the rally festivities on 4 January.  The Port of Tenerife hosted participants for a cocktail lunch (fabulous!) and the Real Club Nautico hosted participants for cocktails again that evening.  They served the most delicious octopus we have ever tasted; many other delicacies too, but the grilled octopus was fantastic.  The local wine also was pretty darn good.  So good that we went out and bought a few bottles of that label.

The island of La Palma in distance.  Above cloud level.

Another day a bus tour was organized by Cornell Sailing for a trip to Teide for participants of the Atlantic Odyssey II.  Great!  We would get our second opportunity to see this unique landscape.  The tour guide stated that there are over 200 volcanoes on Tenerife.  I suspect that something got lost in the translation.  It is more likely that there are over 200 vents that can erupt from the single enormous volcano.  But we are not geologists and have no special education on volcanoes, so maybe the guide was correct.

Top of El Teide.  That tiny structure on the right is
the upper cable car station.  No way I could hike up
to that top!

Bill with El Teide and clouds
in background.

This area of Teide national park was called the Wedding
Cake.  This shows a small sample of the varying soils
and rocks in this area.

The Atlantic Odyssey II departed Santa Cruz, Tenerife on 9 January in very light winds due to a tropical LOW situated southwest of the Canary Islands.  Another blog posting will cover the crossing.

Busy, busy.

We really have not dropped off the planet!

We have been enjoying Tenerife for over a month, keeping busy and becoming negligent in making blog postings.  Tomorrow we depart with the Atlantic Odyssey II rally for the crossing to Martinique.

Winds are unseasonably light so we likely will sail (motor) down to Cape Verde, buy more diesel  and wait a few days for better weather before continuing onward to Martinique. There are several systems in the North Atlantic which are causing light winds down here, combined with higher waves and swell.  It is going to be a rolling passage!

Gran Canaria

 After only 1 night in the Gran Tarajal Marina on the island of Fuerteventura we slipped the dock lines at 04:00 the following morning for the 81 NM passage to Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria.  Winds (abnormally) were from the SE and veering to the ESE and swell was from SSE at 2 meters.  Wind was strong enough to sail but only at 5 knots SOG and the large swell was not comfortable.  We were determined to arrive at Las Palmas during daylight, so ended up motor-sailing in order to make about 7 knots SOG to arrive before the marina office closed.

The Muelle Deportivo de Las Palmas is one of the government operated marinas.  Getting a reservation here is darn near impossible.  It is a complicated process whereby one emails or faxes a reservation request, but never receive a response so do not know if you have a reservation or not.  Telephoning is a joke; they do not answer the phones.  We had been a little concerned about this because there is only a small anchorage nearby and that usually is full.  What do you do if you arrive and there is no space in either the marina or the anchorage?  Press on overnight, I suppose.  At any rate, we really lucked out!  

Dolphin

As commodores in the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association), the resources of the SSCA are available to us.  One of those resources are station hosts at various destinations worldwide.  We had contacted the SSCA station host for Gran Canaria, Augustin Martin; and he had gone way above the call of duty and obtained a marina reservation for us.  Like us, he had been unable to contact this marina by telephone; calls never answered.  He actually drove from the southern tip of this island all the way to Las Palmas and personally visited the marina in order to get us a reservation.  Like everyone who visits that marina office, he had to take a number and wait his turn to speak with the management.  He waited 2 hours!!!  And he was successful in obtaining a reservation for BeBe!  It was a great relief for us to know that there would be a space for us to dock on day of scheduled arrival.  We would stay there 3 nights before moving onward to the island of Tenerife.  

A few of the ~200 dolphin that came to play

Thanks very, very much to Augustin!  We certainly did not expect him to go to so much trouble assisting us.

About 3 NM out from arrival at Las Palmas the dolphin found us.  Bill whistled loudly and dolphin came jumping out of the water towards us from every direction!  They kept coming and coming!  There had to have been at least 200 dolphin!  The largest pod we have seen since the Indian Ocean.  It was fun watching them play with our bow wave and jump and flip all around us.  I tried to get some photos but with the large swell still running the sea was too active to get good photos.   I did get 3 videos of a few of the dolphin and if I can find a way to shrink those videos they will be added to the bottom of this blog posting.

Moonshadow's wall painting

Upon arrival at the marina entrance we were advised by VHF radio to circle outside the entrance for at least half-hour and call back again as the reception dock was full.  Bill inquired if it was possible for us to go to the fuel dock and take on fuel instead; so that is what we did.  After filling the tank, Bill walked over to the reception office and cleared us in. As we backed into our berthing spot along the east wall the first thing I saw was the name of a boat we have followed for many years.  I continue to follow this boat today with new owners.  This boat is Moonshadow, one of only 10 boats built of that model.  Moonshadow is Deerfoot 2; a 62-ft cutter designed by "cruising guru" Steve Dashew.  She was built in Finland by Scandi Yachts and Launched in 1986.  We followed George and Merima on Moonshadow as they circumnavigated.  And now I follow John and Deb, the current owners of Moonshadow, as they are beginning their circumnavigation, heading out soon from Mexico.  Small world.

Just part of the wall with all the boat names painted on

Each year boat owners and crew paint the names of their boats and sometimes crew names on the walls of certain places before they depart to cross the Atlantic.  It is a tradition in Madeira and also here in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, where the ARC departs each November.  The wall in this marina is covered in boat names.  Moonshadow participated in the ARC in her first year, 1986, and then again in 2010.  I would not be surprised if she won her class in both rallies as these are fast boats, but that is not something I follow.  What a surprise it was to look up from tossing our stern line to the marinero and see the sign for Moonshadow right behind us!  We did not know any of the other boat names painted on that wall except for Moonshadow, and the marina berthed us right in front of her name.  (For what it is worth, this painted wall tradition also continues at the Santa Cruz marina on Tenerife island; not sure if we will paint BeBe's name on the wall there or not. Neither of us is artistic.)

The first Moonshadow blog of George and Merima:  http://sailmoonshadow.com/about/

The current Moonshadow blog of John and Deb: http://saillegacy.blogspot.com.es/2015/11/forces-invade-moonshadow.html

Augustin Martin, Judy & Bill in Las Palmas

The day after our arrival Augustin and his friend, Sonia, again drove up to Las Palmas and visited us aboard BeBe.  It was a pleasure meeting them.  They provided many insider tips about Gran Canaria.  We wanted to treat them to lunch but they had other plans.  We mentioned that we planned to rent a car to see the island and they suggested we drive down the the southern tip of the island and we could have lunch down there.  Fabulous!

Sonia, Judy & Bill in Las Palmas

After they left, Bill and I walked around in search of lunch.  After a nice lunch of ropa vieja (old clothes; Google it if you are not familiar with ropa vieja; delicious), we decided to find a car rental company to reserve a car for the following day.  And we walked. And walked.  And walked.  Another cruiser had told us where he thought 2 tourist information offices were located; we found neither.  Bill used the iPhone to search out car rental companies but that proved useless for the first 2 listed; never found those places. When I had reached the point of not caring if we managed to see this island or not, we finally found a car rental agency -- in the basement level of a parking garage beneath a high-rise office building.  Talk about difficult to find!  We made arrangements to pick up the car the following morning and walked back to the boat.  Now with blistered feet.  We had walked well over 5 miles.

The next morning we walked back and picked up the car.  Easy once you know where to find that place; only 1 1/2 mile walk.  Augustin had told us that it should take only 45 minutes to drive from Las Palmas on the NE side of the island down to Pasito Blanco on the southern tip of the island; but we wanted to allow plenty of time since we had no idea of the road conditions or knew anything of the areas to be visited.  Well...he was correct.  There is an excellent freeway down the eastern side of Gran Canaria.  This freeway continues westward along the southern coastline until the town of Mogan, where it ends.  A much smaller typical mountain road continues past Mogan up towards the mountainous center of the island.  The western side of Gran Canaria is very rugged and there are no north/south roads trans-versing that side of the island.  The good roads and most habitation is on the eastern side of the island.

Alguineguin port

We arrived at Pasito Blanco much too early to meet Augustin and Sonia for lunch, so we continued driving westward on a narrow coastal road to the old fishing village of Arguineguin.  We stopped and strolled through this quaint little village.  Walked the docks where the fishing boats sell their catch.  Stopped for coffee at a small outside cafe. Enjoyed this little picturesque village.  

Section of the beach at Meloneras

Then we drove back eastward past Pasito Blanco and visited a resort area known as Meloneras.  Lots of shopping there and a pretty beach.  

Meloneras

View of Pasito Blanco marina entrance

From the upper level of the shopping area there was a nice view of the entrance to the marina at Pasito Blanco.  Suddenly we realized that it was later than we thought and had to hurry back to Pasito Blanco or we would be late for our appointed time to meet up with Augustin.

Entrance into Pasito Blanco marina

Airstream, patiently awaiting
Atlantic crossing

Augustin was waiting at the guard entrance to get us into Pasito Blanco.  This is a private gated community and is very nice.  The marina is well protected and there even is a small boat yard.  In fact, our friends, Bill and Janet Wickham, had left their boat Airstream on the hard here!  Bill will be returning early next month for the Atlantic crossing; we might be crossing at about the same time.

One GREAT beach seafood restaurant!

Augustin took us to his home and Sonia joined the group and we headed off for lunch at their favorite beachside restaurant at nearby El Pajar.  This restaurant is called El Boya and is family owned and operated. I think all the employees are members of the same extended family.  It is a casual place and exactly the kind of seafood restaurant that Bill and I prefer.  Plastic chairs and great food!  At great prices, too!

Don't we all look like we are having a wonderful time!
Augustin Martin and his friend, Sonia, with Judy

El Boya started when the family had a single small fishing boat called Jocefa.  Business has grown a lot since then!  Bill and I each ordered a small plate of chunks of some kind of fried fish; it was delicious.  Sonia ordered grilled octopus and we shared; again, delicious.  There also were a couple of plates of the Papas Arrugadas (wrinkled potatoes), the delicacy of the Canary Islands which is served with a green and a red mojo sauce.  Augustin ordered fried sardines or small whole fish.  He and Sonia enjoyed those; Bill and I abstained as we had more than we could eat of the fried fish pieces.  

Sample of the seafood available that day.

Augustin also introduced Bill to an alcohol-free beer, which Bill thought was wonderful.  The law here is DUI at blood alcohol level of .025 rather than the far more lenient level at home of .08.  They take drunk driving very seriously here (as they should).  Since we planned to drive a lot that afternoon Bill did not want to drink any alcohol.  He enjoyed the non-alcohol beer very much.  I forgot the brand name.

Augustin, Judy & Bill at El Boya lunch

After lunch we returned to Augustin's home for coffee.  We very much enjoyed this short visit and lunch with Augustin and Sonia.  Next, off for a long drive.  The roads we followed to the mountainous interior of the island were not like the divided multi-lane freeway which runs along the eastern coast.  There were typical mountain roads, twisting and turning and climbing ever upward.  

The highland interior of the island has more vegetation and trees.  Quite different from the almost barren coastal areas.  We did not stop so did not take any photos.  Sonia had warned us that there is no street lighting or highway lighting up on these mountain roads and that we should leave the area at least 1 hour 15 minutes before dark to allow sufficient time to get back down to the lighted roads in the more inhabited areas.  She was right. Thanks for that advice! 

We dropped the car off and walked back to the marina.  It felt perfectly safe walking the streets in the early evening.  I love the Spanish habit of families taking children to the plazas and squares and playgrounds between the hours of 8 pm and 11 pm.  Would never see that at home!  Yet here those places seem perfectly safe during dark hours as these are filled with playing children.  A different world.

The following morning we departed Las Palmas at first daybreak for the 56 NM passage westward to Santa Cruz on the island of Tenerife.

Lots of Amels in the Canary Islands!

Marina Lanzarote was so nice and luxurious that we stayed there a full month.  This was a nice island and a great place to relax.  Although had we known how inexpensive were the marinas in Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria maybe we would have left a little sooner.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that the rate at Gran Tarajal Marina on Fuerteventura was only 20 euro per night for 16-meter BeBe.  And 3 nights at the Muelle Deportivo de Las Palmas on Gran Canaria cost only 48 euro!!  No wonder that marina stays so full!

Before departing Marina Lanzarote I walked the docks one day and took photos of all the Amels.  There were more Amels berthed there at one time than we have seen anywhere in the world except at the Amel service center in the Caribbean.  

Kandiba, an Amel 55

Docked next to BeBe was a beautiful USA flagged Amel 55 named Kandiba, owned by Hassan and Zehrya from Turkey.  Their lovely niece Fatma has joined them as crew and will cross the Atlantic with them next month. Fatma holds a degree in fashion design and is taking a year off to learn sailing before pursuing a career.  This is a great opportunity for her to travel; I wish her all good things in the coming years.

Seraphine, Super Maramu

Across the dock from BeBe was Seraphine, a Super Maramu hailing from Weisbaden, owned by Hajo and Julia.  We last met up with them in Fethiye, Turkey.  They had thought to cross to the Caribbean this season but have changed their minds and will return to the Med.  They have years of relaxed sailing to enjoy in the Med. 

Libertad, a Maramu

Libertad, the oldest Amel lady present

Next to Seraphine was USA flagged Libertad, a 33-year-old Maramu owned by Dennis and Virginia from California.  Libertad was the oldest Amel there.  Libertad will be crossing the Atlantic in company with the Atlantic Odyssey II next month.

Rhumb Runner, a Super Maramu 2000

Near Libertad was docked another Super Maramu 2000 named Rhumb Runner hailing from Plymouth, Great Britain, owned by Chris.  Rhumb Runner is crossing the Atlantic right now but not participating in any of the crossing rallies.  

Rainbow, an Amel 55

Down the dock on the same side as BeBe were 2 more Amels: another Amel 55 named Rainbow, hailing from Hamburg.  This boat was in and out so quickly that we never had an opportunity to speak with the owners.  

Now or Ever (or Now or Never), an Amel 54

And near Rainbow was an Amel 54 named Now or Ever, another USA flagged vessel, owned by an Italian.  Gian will be returning to his boat next month and sailing her to Antigua where he has purchased a home.  Gian has stated that the name of his boat really is Now or Never but the company which made the vessel name apparently did not comprehend the word 'never' and produced the incorrect name.  First time I have heard of that happening. An Italian explaining to a Frenchman what he wanted in English.  Yeah, easy to make a mistake.

SM Kerpepere II, a Super Maramu

On another dock was another Super Maramu.  This vessel was named SM Kerpepere II, French flagged and hailing from Lo (wherever that is, never heard of it).  I did not speak with these owners as they always seemed busy with one thing or another on their boat.

Tzigane, sloop rigged Santorin

Tzigane, sloop rigged Santorin

And, finally, several docks away was a French flagged Santorin named Tzigane.  The owners were away and we never met them.  This is a rare boat.  Tzigane is a sloop-rigged Santorin.  The Santorin model was produced from 1989 until 1997.  A total of 145 were built during those years and most of those boats were ketch-rigged.  There was an option to have it sloop-rigged but only a few were built that way.  Tzigane appeared to be in excellent condition.  

Kali Mera, Santorin ketch
Photo taken in Tenerife

We missed meeting up in Marina Lanzarote with Austrian friends Herbert and Teneta on their Santorin Kali Mera.  They had departed Rabat before us and were well ahead of us by this point.  We did later meet up with Herbert at the Santa Cruz marina on the island of Tenerife and enjoyed dinner with him right before he departed to Cape Verdes.  

Kali Mera, Santorin ketch
Photo taken in Tenerife

Kali Mera is the typical Amel ketch-rig and is in excellent condition.  She looks like the baby sister of BeBe.  The Santorin is 46-ft and the Super Maramu 2000 is ~53-ft and the 2 boats look identical, including electrical furling.  Although I think we have 2 more electric winches than was standard on the Santorin model.  The main saloon of the Santorin is a more comfortable living space than the saloon in a Super Maramu, but without all the storage space in a SM. If we did not own a SM2 then I would want a Santorin model.  

Running the wire for the hailer speaker.
He looks so comfortable perched way
up there.

Messenger line.  There were 2 of these lines
installed by Amel just in case an owner might
want to add something to the mast later.
Note those rubber spacers.  These were
tied about every 3 ft and kept the 2 lines
from twisting and entangling.

During the final days before departure of the Atlantic Odyysey I rally we took advantage of the communications expert that Cornell Sailing had flown in from Italy to make a presentation at the informative seminars.  He checked our SSB and VHF and found a couple of ways to tweak the SSB to optimize performance.  We have had no problems with the SSB all these years, but he knew a few tricks to produce even better reception and transmission.  What an invaluable service!  And......free!!  

Watching the wire being pulled through the mast

Bill decided to hire this company to run the wire through the mizzen mast so that we could install a hailer speaker, primary reason is to use this speaker as a fog horn via a feature of our VHF radio.  The messenger lines were already inside the mast, courtesy of Amel; and Bill could have done this work himself.  But since they had worked on our radios for free we felt like we should hire them for this simple job.  They ought to get some business out of their participation in the seminars and doing all those free radio checks for all the rally boats.

Bill, Zeyhra, Farma and Hassan;
dinner aboard BeBe

Hassan, Zeyhra and Fatma came for dinner aboard BeBe a few nights before we left Marina Lanzarote.  Zeyhra brought 2 Turkish vegetarian meze as appetizers and a traditional Turkish desert made from pumpkin.  All 3 dishes were simply delicious!  I need to take cooking lessons from Zehrya!  And Hassan gifted us with a bottle of red wine from the Anatolia region of Turkey that was divine; the best wine we have enjoyed in a long time. Wish we had discovered this particular wine when we were still in Turkey and could have stocked up.  The following morning Kandiba departed Lanzarote.  We would catch up with them again later.

Finally it was time for us to depart Lanzarote on 2 December.  We enjoyed a great 56 NM sail to Gran Tarajal Marina on the island of Fuerteventura where we stayed only overnight. 

At 04:00 the following morning we departed for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.  This was 81 NM to Las Palmas and we wanted to arrive during daylight, so even though there was sufficient wind to sail we ended up motor-sailing in order to make high enough speed to arrive before the marina office closed.

NOTE:  Because of a cyber-stalker who is behaving very childishly, we have been forced to monitor comments left by our readers.  Disappointing to be forced into moderating comments after 10 years of blogging about our sailing and travel adventures.  Because a grown man insists on behaving like an 8-year-old child.  So, apologies to all of you who know how to act like adults.