Island Life in the Canaries

We are really liking the Canary Islands - we have been to two of them and are headed for a third. Here is what our marina looks like right in front of Santa Cruz.

Here is 1/2 of our harbor on a sunny day

We call the building towards the left the Foshay Tower - just like Mpls!

Of course we share the marina with all kinds of folks. Some have small fishing boats and some have boats like ours and some of the folks here are not really like us at all. Here is a boat from Germany that appeared one morning next to us.

This gray boat looks very serious - it has a crew of 18 !

All these boats have what we call their "Toy Box"

These big boats look fun - but I wouldn't want to pay their gas bill, or their marina fees, or their payroll, or well, whatever.

We wanted to get to Grand Canary Island, and since it is not on the way to the US, we took the fast ferry. This thing goes 38 knots - here is what it is like inside.

Main cabin in the fast ferry

Each set of seats comes with two barf bags - ours went un-used...

Pat getting us coffee at the snack counter

I guess these have fallen over before...

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Gee, they don't tie down these trucks!

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I guess the ferry wasn't as exciting as we thought

After we got situated on Grand Canary, we visited the local rum factory. Hey Rob! - they had FREE, SELF SERVE SAMPLES!

Just like Coca Cola - only rum!

We spent all our money on rum at the factory shop and had to share a hotel room. It was only 36 Euros - a great deal, really. This will be one of the last nights we are asleep at the same time, hopefully.

Did you say something?

Back on Tenerife, we spent some time with Antonio and Delia (I hope I spelled your name right, Delia / Dehlia / Dahlia ). They are both from the Canary Islands (Lanzarote and Gran Canaria). Pat and Antonio have a mutual friend who suggested we get together and they were the greatest hosts! They took a whole day and showed us all over the island. We started with breakfast at a local place.

Everyone likes churros!

Next up was a drive up into the mountains to see the sights.

The views were gorgeous!



The hightest point in all of Spain - where we ended up!

We are 12,000+ feet up in the air at this point - you can see the caldera in the background

Thank goodness we didn't have to hike all the way up there.

I haven't been to the moon, but I bet it looks like this - minus the cable car tower

"Look over here." "No, YOU look over here!"
Do you think we are ready to cross an ocean?



No beach here so they build these neat tidal pools.

After all this excitement, we had to eat again.


Delia is a great listener - lucky for Antonio!



First corn on the cob since July 2009

 OK, that's it for now - tomorrow we are off to the island of Hierro - our last stop before our projected 30 day ocean trip. We are going to meet up with Ted and Kay from Moorglade for an evening of fun with friends, ocean stories, wine, travel tips, wine, more stories - you get the idea.