Inky black water slowly changes color to dark cobalt then lighter blue as we finish loading the fishing boat with our supplies. Motoring gently out of the harbor in San Sebastián de La Gomera, in Spain’s Canary Islands, we pass the 35 row boats silently waiting for their crews.
Once out of the harbor, salt spray and thick sweet coffee bring us fully awake and out of that pre-dawn zombie state, an existence somewhere between full sleep and wide awake. Leaning our backs against the hull and bracing against the swell, we soak up the solar heat.
La Gomera, the Canary Islands. Photo: Lisa Paarvio.