We have really enjoyed our first week Gran Canaria and we've had lots of fun.
We found out that the Canary Islands aren't anything to do with Canaries, they mean Islands of the Dogs in latin because there were lots of seals that look a bit like sea dogs and make noises like barking.
Since we got here several other ARC+ kids boats has arrived so it's been great having fun with more kids. Two of the boats, Revelation and Imi Ola, we met in Lanzarote and became friends with them. It's been fun going swimming with them at the yacht club and at the beach.
Some days we have been mostly at the marina, doing home school and at the nearby beach and yacht club. We now have a hire car so we've been able to explore a bit further away.
Last Sunday, we got a taxi to Las Palmas old town. We went to the top of the cathedral and we could see the harbour and the city.
We found a nice little cafe to have lunch and then we went to the Museum of Christopher Columbus. We learnt that he was born in Spain and did four voyages to the Americas, but all the places he visited were Caribbean islands. He stopped in the Canary Islands on each voyage. We saw maps, charts and navigation instruments from the 15th century, and some ancient masks and sculptures. There were also models of the ships that he sailed in.
On Wednesday afternoon we went to a beach to the North of the city. When we arrived the tide was high and there were some quite big waves. I (Fergus) played in the waves. As the tide went down the reef just offshore stopped the waves so the beach became much calmer. We went snorkelling and saw a shoal of fish and some other different kinds of fish.
On Friday afternoon, we took the hire car and drove up into the mountains. We stopped at a nice viewpoint of an ancient volcanic caldera. The caldera is caused when lava meets underground water, heats the water up and causes it to explode out of the ground making a big hole.
At the viewpoint there was a stall selling very nice food and we bought a couple of things. They let us try some jams, cakes and cheese.
We carried on into the mountains and went to one of the highest points on the island. There were amazing views across to Tenerife and some cool rock formations.
On the way back we stopped at the village of Teror, and we drove through a village called Lanzarote!
Yesterday, we went back to the big beach with our friends from Revelation and went jumping in the waves. We had lunch at a Korean restaurant.
Today we are collecting our friend Hilary from the airport, she is coming to visit for a few days, and tomorrow Mimi arrives and is staying with us for a week.
