The Yanks ride to the rescue!
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| From Graciosa |
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Over the last few months I have lost count of the number of interesting looking people that I have waved to as we sail or row past. Without exception they have waved back , usually with a friendly greeting. And that has often been it . Whether it is British reserve , or just lack of a common language ( a feeble excuse as most sailors have some English) – we have failed to make contact with the majority.
Two days ago all that changed. The anchorage emptied in the morning as the ARC boats began to make their way South again ( there are rumours that Las Palmas marina is overflowing with 40 boats lying off at anchor – with a month to go to their departure!) , but during the day it slowly filled up again , this time with American and Canadian boats who had made their way here from Morocco. By late afternoon the bay was full and the message came round – party on the beach – bring a bottle -no shilly shallying – be there!
And we all went. A couple of Brits , a German boat , an Austrian ( I got the flag wrong and thought they were Russian!) a Belgian , French and of course all the Yanks and Canadians. It was great , they were all good company and we decided there and then that the whole experience would be much richer if in the future we took a leaf out of their books and got to know as many as possible of our fellow travellers.
So for two days we have been on a constant round of boats , eating their cakes ( the Austrian cakes are tops so far) ,sharing the Hobgoblin stories ( it seems that all boats have their share ) as well as the pleasures , and I havnt had so much fun in years. The Americans and Canadians are immensely experienced and are often on the last leg of a circumnavigation . One couple have been sailing for 14 years ! Even the newbies like ourselves have all come a few thousand miles to get here and have great stories to tell.
There is only one disappointment . We have now been in the Canaries for almost a week and have not seen a single little yellow bird!