Sailing Letter October 2015
One month’s stay in Arrecife, Lanzarote, is now over and we have set sail towards southwest. We enjoyed the stay enormously. The harbor was filled with ships from many different countries and the Mini Transat fleet gave color to it all.
We found ourselves in a waiting position since hurricanes can still form close to Cape Verde this time of year. However, we used the time well, with some boat projects, long walks and stocking up on food for the next coming month (-s). To get a sense of vacation, we rented a car for a week and crisscrossed the island. The most impressing sight was a smoking volcano in the south west. Included in the ticket was a bus ride in the volcanic landscape. Very strange and interesting! We also enjoyed a couple of festivities in the Arrecife city. Spanish people are famous for fiestas. This time it was a music festivity three weekends in a row and we managed to participate in two of them. Well organized, with everything from toddlers to elderly people enjoying the party. There was also an October fest, but unfortunately it coincided with an enormous rain that almost drowned the streets. It was not as bad on Lanzarote as it was on Gran Canaria but bad enough. We had heavy rain an hour or two per day for almost a week. Strange considering this is supposed to be a desert island.
The boat projects involving warranty (the log and the solar panels) was solved to 50%. After a major hustle with a lot of people, Peter managed to get the log/depth/temp transducer changed after paying for transport and customs handling. To get the solar panels to Lanzarote we were advised to use DHL or TNT since they had representation on the island. Unfortunately the company responsible for arranging the transport used UPS, so they ended up in customs in Las Palmas for three weeks and they were still there when we left. Happily enough we managed to pick them up in a small marina at the south end of Gran Canaria, where we have spent the last 2 days. In Lanzarote we could also refill our Swedish gas bottles. In Las Palmas the gas plant refused refilling since the bottle was 28 years old (max 10 years old bottles are allowed), At the gas plant in Arrecife the man doing the refill had dark sunglasses and didn’t bother reading the time stamp so now we are good for 6 months again 🙂
We are now planning for a night sail to El Hierro tomorrow, the Canaries island we haven’t visited yet, approx.. 110 nM to the southwest from south Gran Canaria. Knowing that the internet access could be bad, it might take a while before the next post.
Until next time,
BR, Eva &Peter
S/Y Tina Princess 