Shamballa Cruising Yacht Club: Otherworldly Lanzarote

After a good night’s sleep following our five and a half day passage, I was still feeling a bit groggy. I felt like I had jet lag but I suppose the more accurate term would be ‘watch lag’. Perhaps I could get the condition in the next edition of the International Classification of Disease (ICD) as a new syndrome. Hang on, there is a diagnosis. It is called ‘Circadian rhythm sleep disorder’, mainly relating to shift workers. But I reckon sailors deserve their own classification! But I digress (Could I be missing my epidemiology work after being retired for 5 years? – Let me think… No!!).

When the bleariness cleared from the eyes we were greeted by the pretty anchorage of Playa Blanca.

Playa Blanca on the south coast of Lanzarote

After a late breakfast, we weighed anchor and headed into Marina Rubicon for a few days. This is a large, very nice marina surrounded by restaurants and shops; a bit touristy but pleasant. First order of business was taking a much needed shower and getting into clean clothes. Then we headed ashore in search of a nice Linner. There was no shortage of restaurants to choose from but most were a bit upmarket. We found one that suited our budgets and during the meal we were introduced to the local liquor – Honey Rum. I really took a shine to it. It is a bit sweet but a very pleasant drink after dinner. We had no idea that the Canary Islands had a thriving liquor industry. Needless to say after our early dinner, our three shots each of honey rum and Circadian rhythm sleep disorder, sailor subtype, we adopted the Spanish siesta time!

Reg and Bob partaking in the local brew

The next day was taken up doing laundry, washing the boat, food inventory and getting everything back in order after the passage from Tangiers. Walking around the marina we saw the ‘famous’ boat Delos. I have been following their adventures on their blog for years. For anyone who wants to see how some Millennials are living the dream, check out their website: https://svdelos.com/ .

SV Delos

Chores done, we decided to rent a car and tour the island. The Canaries were populated by Europeans in Christopher Columbus's time. Columbus stopped off at one of the islands, La Gomera, for blessings from a church on in 1492. Lanzarote was hit by massive volcanic eruptions in the 1730's and is still covered by lava flows and barren rock. The island is an amazing place! It is simply otherworldly. Some areas reminded me of the gibber desert in Central Australia, other areas were like nothing I had every seen.

Tourists ready to take a camel ride up to the volcanos

Since there is so little rainfall in Lanzarote (125mm or 5 inches a year) very little has grown on the rock. The island is a moonscape yet there is a thriving wine industry. They grow vines in holes in the volcanic rock surrounded by rock walls to protect the vines from the prevailing winds. These vineyards are not the image that comes to mind when thinking about wine production! We stopped at one winery, had a tasting and bought a couple of bottles of very nice wine.

Each semi circle contain two vines in a recess to catch any water

The vineyard stretching up the barren volcanic hills

We continued on to the northern part of the island. The whole island is only 60 km long and 25 km wide. There were some fantastic views from the sheer rock cliffs.

On the northern end of Lanzarote over looking La Graciosa

On the way back south we stopped at a cactus garden. The gardens were very well done. There were thousands of different species of cacti. We spent hours there and took hundreds of photos. I had no idea cacti could come in such a variety of bizarre shapes and sizes.