A lot of “bang” in the night, in fact, the boat hits the water a lot with the rising night tide. I think of Andy and I want to tell her to come sleep with me since Louis is sleeping outside, but I tell myself that if she doesn't sleep she will come and join me. Waking up at 8:45, it was not our best night. Andy wanted to come and join me, but the two of us never got around to it.
So we relax this morning and we hang sheets in the cockpit to hide us from the heat of the sun because there is little wind. We were told that there was always wind in the summer in the Canary Islands and well, we look for it from time to time;)
We have an egg wrap lunch, we inflate the dinghy, it's 11am. Big sun in the blue sky, we take our places in the dinghy designed for 3 - 3 1/2 people and we leave, slowly. We don't really have a choice, with 4 in the dinghy, things go slower. We first go east (downwind: following the wind), but we tell ourselves that it will be more difficult for the engine on the way back and that it's not the best idea so we go upwind (against the wind). We are not moving fast. We want to go see a building, but it would surely take all the battery. So we decide to go to the beach to see the small caves on the edge of the water.
Mollusc carcass cemetery, in the first, it is not quite a closed cave but rather a hollow in the rock. We want to go see the next one, but a man seems to live there, or at least he's taken the space temporarily. If I'm not mistaken, I read that a few people lived in the caves until 2021 when the government intervened: probably due to COVID, but that's my own explanation, not theirs.
We see another cave but as we are not sure if it is inhabited or not, we do not approach it. There was a lot of music last night. There were cars and “campers” sleeping near the beach. Were they the ones putting on the music or was it coming from further up the coast? We'll never know.
We swim back to the boat, me and Andy to make dinner (salad, sandwich) while the guys come back in the dinghy. They clean and scrape the hull during our preparations.
We have dinner, then we go to the water to cool off for a few minutes. We then decide to continue to a port in the west of the island. Max out of the blue suggests that we should see if the water comes out at the back of the boat (water out to cool the engine). He listened well to Louis' lesson 2 days ago. Well he also sailed when he was younger. No, the water does not come out!
Louis, as a good captain, takes the boat further offshore and goes down into the water to see if anything is blocking the water inlet. I throw him a rope because there is a lot of current and waves. He tries to go under the boat, but it's difficult without fins. He holds on to the rope and goes to look under the boat. I can only see his calves and his feet under the shell, but that's the most important thing for me to do. I want to make sure everything is ok. Without knowing it, Max does the same and Andy does not watch but replays in her head all the resuscitation procedures (nurse and PhD in health services administration). Let's say all of our focus is on Louis.
He comes out of the water and gives me pliers. He stuck them in the 3 holes of the air intake but there seemed to be nothing blocking them. On the other hand, he tells us that the visibility is superb under water and the colors too. He comes back on the boat and we restart the engine, and still get no water. So we decide to travel by sail and to use the motor only for the entrance to the port. We also change direction to go with the current and shorten the journey. We are heading towards San Sebastián de la Gomera.
Not a lot of wind or waves, which suits us. Louis starts the engine from time to time to try to go faster. What is good about this trip on Soleau 1 is that Max and Andrea can enjoy this crossing. They can see that it's not always as hectic as it was yesterday.
We arrive at the marina after 1h30 of sailing/motor instead of the 1h it should have taken normally, which isn't so bad. An employee comes to see us in the bay in a zodiac to find out if we have a reservation: no, but I called before and they had room. He leaves and waits for us on the dock. He motioned for us to come and moor there on the starboard side. With our boat, it's easier on the port side, and the fenders are already put up. We make a sign to him that we will make a circle and we arrive on the port side in an impeccable fashion. Louis embarks in the zodiac of Ramon, the employee, and goes to see where our dock will be. They come back and then we go to our wharf, which is on the port side. Once again we fit in perfectly. Ramon is extraordinary. He helps us again and finds us a adaptor for electricity. wow! We are really happy to have finally arrived here. The problem of the water outlet may be a good thing for the journey after all.
We're going to take a shower at the harbor master's office, we wash up quickly. In fact, I don't know any woman who washes faster than me. I'm pretty quick, but Andy is the one who finished getting ready before me. We don't waste time in the showers, it's perfect because we're hungry.
We walk in the streets of the city and we find a small restaurant: La vieja casa around 9:30 p.m. Breads with 3 sauces, garlic shrimp, fried calamari and 2 fish for 4. Excellent! We took 3 desserts: one with lemon, one with milk (leche) and one with chocolate, all good, but our favorites were the first 2. We leave the restaurant at 11:10 p.m. Here they seem to close earlier than in Tenerife and Gran Canaria because we quickly realized that they close at 11 p.m., but the service was very good. Great day once again!
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