Ready for the off...almost
Adonde
Neil & Tracy Batcheler
Sun 17 Dec 2006 18:29
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28:07.70N 15:25.60W
Still in Las Palmas, making final preparations for
departure on Tuesday morning. Slight change of plan in that we're probably going
to skip the Cape Verdes and head straight for Barbados, unless something
important falls off and we have to make a pit stop.
We have to head south at first anyway, in order to
pick up the trade winds that will push us across the Atlantic, which means that
we'll pass fairly close to the Cape Verdes, but general opinion seems to be that
once you're settled in and got over the initial first few days at sea it's best
to keep going rather than stop and have get used to it all over again when you
restart. Sounds sensible so we'll give it a go, unless of course it's so bloody
awful we can't stand it any more and have to stop...latest forecasts show little
wind so we'll probably be motoring for the first day or so anyway.
There will be a few of us leaving more or less
together (including Malarkey and Chatti (yachtchatti) who also have web diaries
here), so we'll be able to keep in touch on the radios and no doubt wish each
other a merry Christmas since we'll now be spending it at sea. Good job we
bought that little Xmas pud then.
In the meantime we're still enjoying Las Palmas
(pic of the harbour below) which is a very pleasant place. The rest of Gran
Canaria is pretty good too - we hired a car the other day with the Malarkeys and
did the statutory round-the-island tour, and very nice it was too. Very
mountainous in the centre but not all volcanic like Lanzarote, more like
the Alps or similar. Quite surprising.
 Looking forward to the final shopping tomorrow,
where I'll finally get my hands on a leg of
ham! |