We have some jobs to do to prepare for the Atlantic crossing of course. Apart from the technical stuff, a big thing is planning the provisioning.  We have gone into tropical mode as advised in our books, washing all fruit and veg on deck in (very) dilute disinfectant to avoid carrying in any beasties, it seems to be de riguer to have fruit and veg in a hanging net, I’ll probably make another before we go, and discarding as much cardboard and packaging as possible to avoid carrying cockroach eggs aboard and of course to avoid excess rubbish to get rid of later.  Steve seemed to get a bit obsessed about cockroaches – baratas in Portuguese – and we had to hunt for “cockroach hotels” in the supermarket.

Stop press: fitting of the galley saltwater pump just completed.  So we can save fresh water by pre-rinsing the washing up, also washing out rubbish jars and tins etc.

Have been practising making bread aboard  but having difficulty finding the required Harina de Fuerza (strong flour), eventually got some at LIDL, seems as to be a common problem though as there are blogs about this on line.

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This part is 125 miles so it took overnight leaving Saturday 26 September and arriving on Sunday 27. It was a beautiful bright moonlit night and mostly we had a good breeze and the boat was sailing well.  We diverted to avoid one tanker and Steve called another on VHF to get it to go round us during a calm patch.  You have to remember when watching the CPA of these things on the AIS that they may be 330m long, so for Cosmics a lap of the deck is equivalent to a lap of Kings field.

We anchored at Playa Francesca on Isla Graciosa at the N end of Lanzerote mid-afternoon.  This must be the best anchorage in Lanzarote so there were lots of boats there, including some we’d met before.  Also met Tony with 21ft Mini-transat called Splinter who is heading for New Zealand.  He was looking to swap books with other British yachts, not so easy as it used to be as most are now reading electronic rather than paper books.  Spent a few days lazing about and swimming and snorkelling off the beautiful beach (there is nothing else there), lots of beautiful coloured fish to see

over the rocks.  Some work done. – we tried the water maker for the first time.  Got fresh water from the sample port but the connection to send it into the water tank is not correct, seems to be trying to go in the out pipe so don’t think will work.  We collected some and put in the solar deck shower (also used for first time) and Steve had a shower after swimming.

The Savage Islands, nothing to do with Salvage, are Portugese, but are closer to the Canaries (Spanish) than Madeira, the next Portugese territory.  We set off from Ilha Deserta Grande in the morning (Wednesday 23 Sept) without going ashore.  There was thunder and lightning about so the anchorage seemed even more uncertain even though it was calm at that moment so we decided to be on our way.  Shortly afterwards we were hit by a squall of 30 to 40 knots.  This might have been partly due to being in the acceleration zone from the steep island but the wind and the big swell didn’t go down all that much when we were clear.  At the height of the squall the Bimini cover broke loose and the bars folded down on top of Steve at the wheel, so we had to hasten to get that secured and to reef the sails.  Maybe a couple of design mods are needed for the Bimini – a few extra ties to back up the Velcro and a loop so that you can secure the cover from being blown away when you are taking it off.  We ended up sailing the rest of the day and most of the night reefed

right down close hauled and making only 3 knots or so, as it’s just not worth bashing headlong into big waves.  Things gradually improved, the sea flattened, we could set more sail and the sun came out the next day.  Saw more Dolphins ad we sailed round Selvagen Grande to the anchorage at Enseada das Cagarras, another small rocky bay.  The book says to buoy your anchor as it might get stuck on the rocky bottom.  This all leads to another level of complication and I messed up thoroughly on our first attempt, managing to let ALL our chain out by mistake while messing with the buoy, and when we got it up the bout rope was looped several times round the anchor.

The next attempt was better.  There was already one yacht in, so we were anchored a bit offshore again to be clear of her.  As night fell we were surrounded by very conversational little birds chattering and wheeling about, which turned out to be Corys Shearwaters.

The wildlife wardens did not respond to our call on the VHF, but we inflated the dinghy and went ashore in the morning where we were welcomed by Sandro and Carlos (though they did inspect our permit).  They gave us coffee, showed us lots of information about the island (history, flora and fauna) and fixed one of our oars which had come apart with gaffer tape.  Flycatcher came in while we were with them, and anchored inshore the other boat having just gone (they must think we always anchor out in the ocean).  It was amusing to note how the wardens enthusiastically watch the yachts that come in through binoculars giving a critique of their anchoring technique (of course they would have done the same when we came in).  In fact Flycatcher thought we had the best spot – they had been inspecting the anchored wearing mask and snorkel and reckoned ours was in sand and stones rather than rock.  I was able to swim and inspect ours too and was relieved to see that this was the case and that the buoy line was not tangled up.  The water was beautifully clear, you could see the bottom where the boat was in more than 10m and further inshore out of the swell see loads of interesting fish around the rocks.

Next morning we went ashore and the wardens gave us and Flycatchers crew a tour of the island.  The Corys Shearwaters need here – virtually every whole in the rocks, also in some stone walls, contains a large fluffy chick.  Apparently the eggs are fist sized.  We felt really privileged to be able to visit this remote and beautiful place.  According to our book the wardens sell you T shirts at the end of the tour, but maybe they had run out as there was none of that, nor is there any charge for the permit to visit.  We had to time the launching of the little rubber dinghies carefully to avoid a soaking in the occasional big swell that broke on the slipway.  After lunch both boats set off for Lanzarote.

Tuesday 22 September: Left Madeira having stocked up with food, water, diesel and gas. Found a pod of dolphins playing just outside the marina and then 2 sperm whales, I hadn’t even finished putting the fenders away.  We had managed to get a permit to visit 2 sets of islands in the National park, well the efficient lady in the marina office had got it for us.  First stop Ilhas Desertas just 18 miles away.  The anchorage is in a small bay on Deserta Grande, as we approached it seemed it would be perfect conditions with the wind off the land but as we got closer in it switched round completely and there were strong gusts.  Though this did have the benefit of flattening off the swell almost completely.  We anchored 2nd attempt a bit further out.  Spectacular cliffs and caves.  As instructed on the permit, we called the wildlife wardens by VHF, but they didn’t answer.  Another yacht Flycatcher (RCC) came and anchored further into the bay (they didn’t get answered either).  They probably wondered why we were so far out, but in fact both boats spent a slightly uneasy night feeling rather close to the rocks.

Got the bus, scenic route as the whole of Madeira is built on a slope, lots of bridges and tunnels (but slightly concerned when I saw the driver crossing himself as he drove into the first tunnel).  The airport runway is built out on stilts to get enough flat ground and there is a boatyard underneath with enough space to have much bigger yachts than ours complete with masts.  Arrival in Funchal was complicated as the Madeira triathlon was in progress and roads around the marina area were closed.  The adults were just finishing but it was amazing how many kids were racing.  Town is quite picturesque with pretty narrow streets.  Marina did look quite full so just as we didn’t try to go ther by boat.  Eventually managed to get the bus to the Botanaic gardens (delays due to the triathlon).  This was an experience in itself as there is obviously no concept of the bus being full until everyone is on somehow, so standing passengers hanging on desperately as bus ascended switchback road racing round bends.  Arrived back in Quinta da Lorde in time to see the Saint and the fishing boats again, this time she was being returned to the church.  Anita was able to run round the hill path round Punta Laurenco that we had seen the walkers on from the anchorage, except that at 8 am she had it mainly to  herself.

Just sitting in the cockpit of an evening drinking Madeira (sec) in Madeira.  We spent 2 nights in a beautiful but somewhat rolly anchorage Enseada de Abra, then came round the corner to this marina this morning.  Water warm and clear so I was able to swim round the bay where we are anchored watching pretty coloured fish close to the rocks.  We watched a procession of decorated fishing boats, lots of flags, lots of folk crammed aboard, and a priest and some sort of icon of a Saint on one of them.  We plan to get the bus into Funchal tomorrow, maybe look at the botanical gardens and so on.

Have spent a relaxing few days strolling round the town and swimming off the lovely beach.  Warm water at last!  We had a look around the Columbus museum for our culture for the day. Also boat jobs like getting diesel for the next trip onward to Madeira.  It is very hot at times but often a breeze.  We put up the Bimini before we left Portugal so we have some shade.  Due to configuration of our cockpit and main sheet it is not just a 2 min job to put it up and down so it can stay up now, may not do the boats windward performance that much good though?  Very friendly here but matters complicated due to marina having just changed ownership and management. Ze kindly took Steve took to garage in his van to fill our cans with diesel and Jose Batista generously gave us a Madeira flag when we asked where could buy one.You have to report to the Port Police as well, but they are unfailingly polite and helpful.  We were rather deficient in our packing in that we didn’t bring any paints in order to paint the boats name and logo on the harbour wall as seems to be the tradition. We went an open top bus tour to see round the island this afternoon.  Not sure if we will stay for the Columbus festival at the end of the week.

We arrived in Porto Santo this morning having left  Figueira da Foz on Monday evening, logged over 600 nm though  the direct route without wandering all over the ocean looking for wind would be about 550 mm.  We “saw” one yacht and some fishing boats on the AIS the first night but after that only saw a few tankers. Have to remember when looking at the CPA for these things that they are over 100m long!  Most of the time there was just us and the blue blue sea and the sky.

Of course having waited a week to get the echo sounder fixed, we immediately set off offshore soon getting into much deeper water than it can read.  One whole day was a complete calm, sunny and beautiful with a very slight swell.  We motored for 12 hours and started to worry whether we had enough fuel to motor all the way here, then spent some hours going 1 to 2 knots playing with the cruising chute before the wind filled in.  Luckily we had plenty of food and water! It was good when the island and its lighthouse appeared on cue on Saturday night.

We saw 2 sperm whales close to the boat, amazing, also a turtle.  Several lots of Dolphins came to play.  At night it took me a while to realise they were there in the dark.  Eventually realised the boat did not have its own set of splashy waves (or rather it did due to the Dolphins) and the odd snorts and snuffles were Dolphins and not Steve snoring.

We left Lexioes early this morning. Great to have a working echo sounder again,  thanks to Marta of Walk on Wind for sourcing the equipment and to Mr Nelson for fitting it. Pretty calm lots of motoring,   fish jumping right out of the water, but we did manage to sail with the halfwinder (Dutch cruising chute) for a while.  The coast of this part of Portugal seemspto be one long beach. Now in Figueira da Foz and hoping to set off for Porto Santo (MADEIRA)  tomorrow.