Arrecife was a bit of a contrast to Graciosa, but with good connections a good place for crew to come and go and a good base to explore the island from. One day we took a bus to Yaiza, a delightful village, and walked and hitched to El Golfo, where there is a striking green lagoon and then along the coast past amazing lava flows. We ended the day with a swim on the beach at Playa Blanca, a place full of lobster coloured English – didn’t stay long.
It was then time for Merel to leave, she was flying back to Spain. Sad to see her go as she was great company and we had a good time together. She left me with a bottle of Rum as a leaving present, “Cuz real sailors (pirates) don’t sail without Rum! Arggh”

However I wasn’t alone for long as Wendy, my best friend from Sheffield, arrived on a plane a few days later. 15 minutes off the plane and we were swimming in the sea at Playa Honda, fabulous. The next week was spent exploring the island, swimming most days and taking in a few tourist sites. The house of the artist Cesar Manrique, who had such an influence on the island, the Mirador del Rio, a wonderful viewpoint, Cuevo de Verdes, the lava tube caves and Timanfaya, the fire mountain or Mount Doom as it became where you could feel the heat of the volcano and peer down a fumarole to its depths. Sardines, octopus, prawns were eaten along with various tapas too and the very good Lanzarote wine drunk. But in case you are thinking it was all just good times, work was done too, eye splicing to make up some new halyards for Sea Bear.

Its almost time to move on but a spell of bad weather has arrived, strong winds from the SW and yes it rained today. Will wait till things improve.