Chill/prep days at Gran Canaria

November 24-December 4, 2020

After we got everything we wanted done and bought at Lanzarote we had a window to continue to Gran Canaria. It was pretty unusual weather for this time. Two pretty big low pressures where coming in a couple of days after each other, with both of its centers around Madeira which made the winds coming from southwest/west instead of the usual north/northeast. We had an opportunity to head for Gran Canaria before the winds from the first low pressure reached the Canary Islands. It was a window with no wind unfortunaly so we went by engine all the way.

We stopped at Anfi del Mar at the south coast. Usually you won’t get a spot there as it is a private marina, but a boat was out sailing so we could use its spot for a couple of days. We spent the day resting after the night crossing, falling asleep at the beach, swimming and eating dinner.

One day we also took a bus up to the mountains and went on a walk.

After four nights in Anfi del Mar the boat which place we borrowed was going to come back so we moved to Puerto de Mogan. A beautiful place, normally full of tourists but this year pretty empty.

Then it was time to get back to work. This time the work consisted of finding out where we could take a covid-19 PCR test (so that we would be able to enter Cape Verde). We found a place in Arguineguin nearby. The other part of planning was deciding when we could start our sail to Cape Verde. We had to wait for the last low pressure system to die out as we didn’t want to sail against the wind.

We booked a time to take the test (have to leave 72 hours after the test is taken) when we knew when we would depart. The process of taking tests as well really adds an extra level to planning. We needed the test to enter Cape Verde, you could either choose to take a test in the Canary Islands before departure or to take a test when you arrive to Mindelo, but then you would need to quarantine until you got the test results.

We had some calm days here before the weather turned to our favour. We bought the last food we needed for the crossing, took our covid-19 tests and got the result (negative), prepared some food for the first days at sea, cleared out from Canary island, secured the boat for sea, checked the weather a lot of times and left the marina.

Before we started our sail we spent one night on anchor outside Puerto de Mogan and after breakfast the morning after we started our sail to Cape Verde.