Passion fruit fraud and Canaries

After 43 hours of favorable wind, we got from Funchal to Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canaries Islands.

The two island groups are very close, but quite different in ambiance. The Portuguese and Spanish like to stress the differences between them, and for once they are right. But of course we sailed from one island to the next, and islands and the people on them are often quite similar. A shared European culture with tourism added in does a lot to blur the distances.

So a new island culture to discover, and our first impression was from the concert in the local theater, where Compay Segundo was feted with an hommage to his music. Everybody was well dressed while we definitely had the tourist look. The explanations in between were long as well as in Spanish, which made the concert somewhat stop and go, but the music was enchanting.

Today saw a lot of odd jobs as well as laundry being done and some fun and games to boot. The local market was quite interesting, with sweets, fruits and drinks of the region. The food will prove interesting enough, without us having to resort to strange passion fruits like the ones Ines and Spencer bought in Funchal in the local passion fruit fraud. Yet another tale to tell...

Ciao Madeira

Well, the permanent crew for the next three months has assembled, and we're ready to go!

The wind has veered to the North East, so we're sailing to the Canaries this afternoon. After Spencer arrived yesterday, we motorsailed to Funchal so Ines and him could visit the town, while still allowing us a speedy departure. We arrived last night after dark, but I've come to know the marina quite well from all our landing here with the dinghy when we were here earlier.

So today we say farewell to Madeira, and have one last splendid Portuguese coffee with a sweet before we go.

Jump off point Faro

After making it down to the Algarve, it has been a leisurely cruise. The last couple of days we met up with the crew for the Madeira crossing and enjoyed some days of relative rest. After getting supplies yesterday for the 500 Mile crossing, this morning Ingrid has left Faro by plane and her brother Marc by car, while we'll be leaving soon in the opposite direction.

It'll be ten weeks before I meet Ingrid again in Cape Verde, so we're lucky there is something like Skype to see one another from time to time. Of course this time I won't be alone for as long as I was in Póvoa, so there'll be plenty of distraction, but still...

We've been in Olhão the last two days, and it is nice to have that typical Portuguese atmosphere down South. The last couple of cities we stayed in were much more touristic and while this one obviously has lots of tourists, it still feels authentic enough with its winding cobbled streets and tiled houses.

So after enjoying the South coast and the Faro lagoon, we're off to Funchal where we'll arrive around Friday and a long way further South and West.