The Canaries - Part One

When TradeWinds announced its Canary Islands schedule I immediately tried to sign up. After a bit of hurry up and wait, Gaille and I got booked for the 2nd ever sailing for the Canaries. The trip would start on July 7 and end on the July 14. Of course it's 1/3 of the way around the world, so our adventure started on July 6 with a 7AM flight from LAX.

Sometimes you get an inkling of what the vacation is going to be like by what happens right off the bat. Luckily, our check-in was easy and the flight left on time. Just over five hours later we were at JFK, so we had a nice dinner at Bobby Van's in the airport. We had already lost three hours of traveling against the clock and were about to lose six more as we crossed the pond.

The flight to Madrid was interesting because it never really got dark. As the route from JFK to MAD goes northerly, we always had some light and to top it off were flying at almost 550mph into an oncoming sunrise. This was truly a time warp. We hardly slept, both from excitement, anticipation and the fact that we were still on California time. Landing in Madrid at 8:30AM gave us three hours before our next flight to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Of course 8:30 in Madrid is really just past midnight in California so although we were tired we were still OK.

Madrid airport is interesting. First of all everything is oversized so when the airport grows, they'll be ready. It was interesting to compare the difference in size of the baggage carousels in Madrid to the tiny carousels of LAX or JFK. We were trying to figure out our gate for the last leg and couldn't get gate info. Well, in Madrid they don't post gate information until about 30 minutes before the flight. The advantage is that you don't run there and sit and wait. You walk around and shop! There were excellent stores and restauratns with very reasonable prices. Then every once in a while you would glance up to see if your gate had been posted. Awesome idea.

The three hours to Tenerife was uneventful except that Gaille and I were getting fidgety and antsy. Enough flying, I want to be there. Finally! All luggage arrived on time and in perfect condition. It's going to be a great trip. We hailed a taxi to take us to the marina. The typical taxi on the Canaries is a 2001 Mercedes Touring E300 diesel with manual transmission and about 300,000 km on the clock, perfect.

Wanderlust - A new 59er

Gaille and I finally arrived at Marina San Miguel where we were met by the Tradewinds base manager. We immediately felt at home and that's a really good feeling. Over the next few hours we met the other guests, the crew and a couple of "locals" that would be joining us for the second sailing of the Tradewinds Canary Islands cruise.

Boarding at 5pm, first cocktails at 5:01pm, some safety briefings and off for our first foray. By 9pm we had settled in at another marina just a few miles away.

The office at Marina del Sur where we spent our first night.

It's not often I sleep through the night, but this was one of those special occasions. Gaille and I had been up for almost thirty hours with only a couple hours of dozing here and there. I awoke at 7AM, re-freshed, ready to go and not at all concerned about any jet lag.

After breakfast, we left the marina and went only about two miles to the first dive site. There were two divers aboard, Alan and myself. In addition we had a local divemaster along for the trip to help scout out the best sites. Scott Lewis was young, energetic and well versed on the local dive sites. His input was invaluable throughout the week. We were also fortunate to have his right hand, Moises along for the trip. Moises is truly a local and was the one that could explain all the nuances of this magical Spanish archipelago that sits 60 miles off the western coast of Africa.

Of course, there's a tie-in to cycling. I had to record nearly the entire Tour De France since I was either working feverishly the last few days before leaving for vacation, on vacation (holiday, as they say in Europe) or working feverishly to get back in the groove when I returned.

I'm not sure how many postings will be needed for the entire story, regardless, stay tuned for Part Two, the sailing to La Gomera, some interesting dives, my best dinner EVER and some very interesting geography.