Waiting for the weather

Whether to go or whether to stay?

We had intended to leave El Hierro on 1st October but here we still are on 9th and with no plans to leave before 15th at the earliest. For the first week we had no wind i.e. 5 knots or less for a few hundred miles. Since, with fair winds it is likely to be a 7 day trip, we did not want to go out and wallow for days on end and we did not want to motor for that many miles either. So we waited for the wind and along came storm Leslie - with over 50mph winds at its centre. Although it passes north of here, it has swing the winds round onto the nose and created huge swells which will not abate until at least Monday. So, along with a Swiss boat heading in the same direction, we wait and we check forecasts,

There are worse places to be.

Lots of sunshine means lots of swimming, with Scruffbag now jumping off the back of the boat and swimming round to the steps in the harbour and both of us sampling the rock pools on the other side of the island.

We have walked along that coast and enjoyed the  rocky coves and natural bridges.

We have walked along the high ridge and through the pine forests, picking and eating wild figs along the way.

We have walked over the lava fields along this coast.

We have had a couple of very tasty and inexpensive fish suppers at local eateries and we have watched the annual open water swimming contest, with classes for 18km, 6km and 2.5 km, followed by an evening entertainment on the quay until 4am.

We plan more walking and more swimming over the next few days and then, we hope the weather gods smile on us as we say our goodbyes to Europe and head south.