Land Ho!

After a fairly grey and uneventful day yesterday (except, perhaps, for Sean dodging a big rainstorm in the middle of the night) we're in sight of Tenerife. The winds haven't cooperated much, mostly light and following, so we've primarily motored and motor-sailed so far. The engine and its new parts are working well, and it's been nice to be able to exercise everything a bit before heading out on the big leg of the trip.

With land in sight, we've started talking about the lists of chores and errands we'll need to get done before leaving on the Atlantic crossing - a good scrub-down for the boat (can you say "salt encrusted"?), many loads of laundry, more provisioning and spare parts hunting, and gathering crew for the next leg. (We're hoping to have 7 for the crossing, up two from our complement of 5 that we've had from Cartagena to here. It will fill the watches out better, and give Sofia proper time to deal with feeding the ravenous horde.)

We'll be in Tenerife through the weekend, we figure, so there should be time to see some of the sights, as well. Apparently Spain's tallest mountain is here - some 12,000 feet - which ought to be cool.

Once we're settled there will probably be regular internet access, so we'll try to get more pictures uploaded!

Interesting tidbits/things observed:

- 1 sea turtle spotted yesterday by Sean and Sofia - a flying fish zipping along for quite an amazing distance - scattered assorted seabirds continue to buzz by - two small whales cruised by the boat yesterday afternoon - the sea is a really interesting color here, a deep indigo blue, nothing like the blue-grey waters in New England

Around 30 n.m. to go to Tenerife!

11:36 UT 18 Nov 2009
28 45.269 N
15 45.445 W

- Anne, for WT