Hone the rituals
Christmas at sea is not your average Christmas, but I still managed to bring a small piece of Norway to the Canary Islands to mark the celebration.
Day 22: We’re spending Christmas Eve in the port of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, after two days of sailing from Lanzarote, which, with its black volcanic landscapes and low, white villages, is probably one of the most aesthetically pleasing islands in the world. We made a short overnight stop on the south of Fuerteventura due to (what we at the time thought were) strong winds (we would later find it was not).
It was difficult to anchor in Fuertaventura, and the bay we found, where we thought we would be sheltered, turned out to be a bubble bath-like experience. Wind howling and waves rocking made it impossible to sleep, and eventually I gave up. We took up anchor and navigated to the marina next to our anchorage, where we anchored behind the storm break after consulting with the port authority.
Today I made risengrynsgrøt (rice pudding—a Norwegian Christmas staple) for lunch, to create an aura of holiday celebration, but I think the significance of Christmas to a Norwegian like me was lost on Jorge and Lucho, who are from Argentina and Uruguay. In any case, we have a day of rest here tomorrow, as everything is closed, and then we have a few days to make the final preparations before the last and longest two legs of the Atlantic crossing: a week of sailing to Cabo Verde, and then two to three weeks to the Caribbean.
