Sunday, December 21st, 2008
Happy Yule, Winter Solstice to you all!
Went ashore on the first skiff run this morning.
The town we are anchored at is Valle Gran Rey. It is a nice town clustered at the base of the cliffs. A deep
valley runs up into the center of the island. There are a lot of Germans in town. Some of the other crew
mentioned they were mostly “hippies”. My kind of place :-)
Spent the day driving around this very rugged island. The island is basically the eroded remnant of a large
shield volcano. The valleys are steep and very deep. The vistas are spectacular and far off in the North we
could see the peak of Tenerife showing above the haze on the sea.
There is a National Park that covers most of the plataeu at the top of the island. This is a forest called a
“laurelsilva”. It is a forest that exists because of the fog that builds up over the top of the mountains. It is
an evergreen forest very cool and green. A marked contrast to the arid bluffs near the shore. The forest
collects wate from the fog and allows it to flow into the ground where it emerges as springs far down on
the valley walls.
The trade winds also bring storms that dump large amounts of rain in very short periods of time which the
islanders collect in lots of reservoirs and pools for use when it is dry. According to the locals the rain the
other day was the first they’ve had in a while. Heh.
We went to a small black sand beach in a town called Alojera. I sat on a wave worn chunk of lava
drinking wine and eating a chicken salad baguette. For desert I had a chocolate filled cruoissant and some
coconut cookies… In sunshine to boot.
Strange to think that this is the shortest day of the year and that the Sun has begun his ages old journey
north again.
May the rising Sun bring health and happiness to you all.
May the growing light guide you in the cold of winter.
May “that which is greater than the all” bring you safe through all of Winter’s trials.
Bright Blessings and…
Thanks for reading.
KJ
The pics are here.
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2014 Postscript
Later that evening after dinner I went and found a little Internet/Gaming Cafe and logged onto the Internet.
In my living room back in Calgary my family was having a Yule dinner.
With my eldest daughter's EEEpc setup so its camera could see the room, I was able to join the fun!
I could see and hear them, but they could only hear me as the cafe computer didn't have a webcam.
Was a lovely way to celebrate and made this poor, slightly homesick sailor very happy indeed.
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