Nomad 2025

265 miles, 3 1/2 days. 2 days almost no wind a 1 day almost too much wind. I was aiming for Tenerife but went where the wind took me. My view, the cliffs of Lanzarote.  And in the other direction. La Graciosa is a volcanic desert island. Tuesday 30th September 2025. Setting off for Tenerife,  should be there on Thursday. 

Much better than the anchorage just outside which is subject a swell and worse to come tomorrow. €6 a night and I get to have a shower. They're at it again. I polished off this lot when it arrived with first pint and now another couple of saucers have arrived before I've started on number three. I won't be able to manage all of my Ayam Bakar Taliwang tonight, I'm sure it will keep until tomorrow.  Monday 22nd of September 2025. Mightily relieved to have received confirmation of a booking for a marina in Tenerife for the 6th of October.  From about now until January is the time of year that boats gather in the Canary Isles ready to cross the Atlantic after the hurricane season is over and all the marinas are supposedly fully booked. I hope I'm as lucky with my bookings for my flights from Gran Canaria in November and December. 

Capital turns out to be a major fishing port.

Madeira seems to be very popular with hikers, there's a constant stream of them walking along the ridge out to the headland, they are tiny dots in this photo that you cant see. I'll probably be joining them later. 

450 miles, 4 1/2 days. One tack nearly all the way,  80% of it fully reefed.  I'm  glad that's over. The island of Madeira and its little satellite Port Santo. Port Santo, a beautiful anchorage. The sea is bright blue and clear,  I'm in 5 metres of water and can see the ripples of sand on the bottom and my anchor dug in, it's like being in a swimming pool.  Sunday 14th. Went for a walk around the east end of the island.  Great geology. And I had a fleeting glimpse of this bird. The Hoopoe. I made the mistake of picking up a prickly pear, supposedly you can eat them. I thought the prickles were the things you can see but they're small like tiny shards of glass, really annoying and all over my fingers, you cant see them to remove them. Duct tape is the answer, lots of it. Thanks Google. I'll open it up and see what's inside later.

It should take 5-8 days to get there.

Polish ship Frederyk Chopin anchored off Lagos. This wins my competition for the biggest storks nest. It must be 5 ft across. He's back.  I'm not sure if he's  the elephant man or a WW1 victim but he's the best of company.