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.

Finally, Some Bubbles

For some not so very good reasons I haven't been diving for over a year. It was time to you know what or get off the pot because I had an upcoming vacation planned for early April.

Luckily, I happened to meet a young man by the name of Nazem Youssef. Naz works at the PADI international headquarters and is a certified instructor. With my work schedule and my cycling activity it seemed that something kept on coming up that kept me from getting back in the water. So in mid March I made the commitment to take the PADI Refresher course. I met Naz at the pool and a couple of hours later I felt completely comfortable.

The proof is in the pudding right? Well the pudding set perfectly. On April 2nd I did my first "real" dive in a long time. I knew all was good when I dropped in and felt totally at home. I don't like being out of the water with all my dive and photography gear, I guess like a fish out of water. It makes sense, really.

I was aboard one of the catamarans from Tradewinds Cruise Club and this would be my fifth trip. Each one of their locations has a flavor all their own. Four couples, the captain and mate; that's it. A week of relaxing, swimming, diving, eating and a little touristy stuff. No phones, television or radio and no wake up alarms.

You're catered and pampered while still staying active. It's nice to wake up in the morning and jump off the back of the boat for an early morning swim before breakfast. I could go on, but this is about the bubbles, so here are a few pictures from the various dives. Excellent viz, friendly eels, three different kinds of rays including my first ever experience with a manta ray and tons of "stuff"!

These dives were in Tobago and for the entire week we were the only people in the water. Lots of coral growth, sea fans, brain coral, nudibranchs, you name it.



Here you can easily see how clean and clear the water is. The Tobagonians are not really keen of water, not even fishing it. There isn't a marina on the entire island of Tobago although there are surely enough bays that could easily hold some. We did happen to catch two nice size Dorado that we had for lunch.

The Spotted Moray was almost as curious as I was. I managed to get four pictures before I move on. It sat perfectly still even though I got within a couple of inches.

This Flamingo Tongue Cyphoma was kind enough to show its underside as it hung precariously to a piece sea fan that had broken away.

Here, a Flamingo Tongue and a Fingerprint Cyphoma gather their dinner on a piece of coral growth. There were pretty abundant throughout all the dives.

There are many types of gobies. These two had their own little hideaway in the coral head. You don't go looking for scenes like this but you have to be aware that you'll probably find some very unusual things and keep your eyes WIDE OPEN.

For me, this was the one. One diver spotted a barracuda about 20 ft away. I've seen them before so I didn't pay too much attention. Another diver pointed toward a lobster... I happened to turn around only because I remembered to look behind me as much as in front, below and above. There it was, a beautiful manta ray about 20ft away. I snapped one shot and "yelled" as loud as I could. The divemaster heard me and off we went after the ray. This second picture was at a distance of about 30ft. Then with one or two real flaps of his huge wings the manta disappeared into the blue.

After that sighting on the third dive nothing else mattered. There wasn't a care in the world, I didn't care if I never took another picture of if I ran out of air. The four of us came out of the water like a bunch of kids that just had the time of their lives, carrying on and trying to put the moment in perspective for our spouses and the other people on our catamaran.

So that's it, I'm back in the water. In a few weeks I plan on taking a day trip to Catalina Island although I'm not looking forward to wearing a wetsuit since the water will probably be 60F, not 80F like Tobago.