Begining of the adventure
My Dad and I got the 7:40 flight from Cardiff to Arrecife, in Lanzarote. The flight took about 4 hours, but it wasn’t so bad since they had a movie playing.
Once we landed we collected our luggage then walked out into the warm air. There was a big row of taxis lined up along the airport. Calling one over we loaded up and left for Puerto Naos marina. As we drove along side of the marina we kept a sharp eye out for the boat, then I spotted her. As I got out of the taxi I suddenly realized that the boat was motoring away, so I started running after her. When I got to the end of the jetty I yelled “RON”, and the boat turned into another corner of the marina. We got the taxi to drive down to a beach where they launched a dinghy to come and pick us up.
There were eight people on the boat when we arrived; the people I knew were Tim, Blyth, Phoebe, Ron and Portia. The people I did not know were Stephen, Diane and her 4 year old daughter Leah. It was Stephen who picked us up in the dinghy. Unfortunately I did not get to see Diane and Leah very much because as we arrived they were leaving for the airport.
After unpacking we hoisted the anchor and set off for Puerto Calero which has another nice marina. It is about 2 hours sail from Puerto Naos. Ron motored out of the harbor until we got out far enough to put the sails up. There was a nice wind and the boat sliced through the waves perfectly. I loved every second of it. Blyth was given the wheel for most of it. Then sitting at the stern (back) I thought I saw some shapes in the water. Suddenly there was a splash as a dolphin jumped in the air and landed. They were everywhere. We went up to the bow (front) of the boat to watch them come right in front as if the boat would cut them in half then jump sky high into the air. It was amazing. It was the biggest pod of dolphins I have ever seen, there must have been about 100.
We have been in Puerto Calero for around 11 days. My dad stayed with us for 2 nights. Then when he left he stupidly/accidently took all my money back with him. It’s starting to get a bit boring now but we are doing lots of repairs to the boat. Part of the engine broke and we have just got the replacement today.`
So far I have only done 2 dives, out of the 7 that everyone else has done, because I have a cold that could interfere with my breathing and/or my equalizing. But the dives I have done have been really cool. I have seen lots of fish like sting rays. Some of the fish I’ve seen are bright and stripy; others are more silver and shiny.
Earlier this week we rented a hire car and went for a look around the island. It was great. One of the things we did was snorkeling. I saw a puffer fish, and I tried to make it puff up by chasing it but it didn’t work. Then we also did a beach transect which is a test for plastic. We found nothing; it was a very clean beach. Then one of the last things we did was climb up a volcano, and saw some great views. The whole island is made of volcanic rock; there are volcanoes everywhere. I am having a great time. We are soon to sail to Cape Verde, which will take about a 4 – 5 days of sailing.
