(No.18) Lanzarote and arrival in Las Palmas.

Catou
Paul and Sylvie Tucker
Thu 7 Oct 2010 17:54
I am sorry for the delay in sending this - the last blog for this second leg of the trip.  I spent an age typing No.18 out a couple of days ago, and it's gone AWOL and I have no idea where it went, but it certainly didn't get transmitted!  I'm not too good with this modern-tech stuff I'm afraid.
 
After weighing anchor and leaving the lovely little sleepy island of Graciosa just off the NW coast of   Lanzarote, we motored around the top of the latter island and sailed down the east coast.  Lanzarote is a barren and fairly inhospitable looking land.  Very brown and volcanic with little vegetation and a few HUGE tourist towns and enormous hotel complexes.  Eventually, after a lovely day's sail with a brisk NE'ly wind, we arrived at a marina about 3/4 of the way down the east coast called Puerto Calero.  It was large and privately owned - and was amazingly good value for money!  One of the cheapest that we'd found anywhere.  We tied up next to a Canadian Geordie and his wife.  Very nice people who had lived aboard for 10 years and been all over the world on their boat.  The marina was very posh (it had brass bollards - see below!) and was very sterile with fashion shops and restaurants all over the place - mind you most of the marinas that you visit are the same!
 
After two nights there, we sailed south for only 12 miles to another marina (there were in fact very few well sheltered anchorages anywhere along either the east and west of Lanzarote, so marinas were really the only places to go - and very social places!).  This 'marina Rubicon', at the southern end of the island, was a huge complex with even more facilities - and was only 21 euros/night for 'Catou' . We only had one night there before having to make our last trip across to Las Palmas.  We didn't get a chance to hire a car to visit the island unfortunately.  On our last morning, a market appeared on the quay nearby.  It drew in a huge crowd of Brits from all over the place - and I'm afraid that we were all too embarased to admit to our nationality!  Sylvie's Swedish aunt in Canada had sent us some sailing caps with Swedish and Canadian flags on (because we had a Swedish built boat)- so I put mine on and pretended that I was from another country!
 
So, on Wednesday evening we set off on a night sail for the 95 miles to Las Palmas in the main island of Gran Canaria.  The forecast was for light winds backing around so we would have the breeze on the nose.  And so it was !  We had to motor almost all night - but as we approached the huge port of Las Palmas, we did manage a couple of hours sailing.  We entered the marina at 1100 hrs and tied up on the visitor's pontoon to register for the marina. 
 
So a successful 2nd leg without mishap.  The mainsail needs a little repair, so we have to remove it tomorrow morning.  A few jobs are needed and a good clean up.  Terry and Janet leave on Sat night and we go home to a cold Blighty on Sunday morning.
 
Sylvie and I fly out on 11th November for a 10 day preparation for the BIG leg.  Ben, our third crew member will come out on the 12th for a few days to help with painting the bottom etc.  We have booked 'Catou' out of the water on 15th November - just for 24 hours,  to jet-wash her bottom and get two coats of anti-fouling paint on before the ARC begins on the 21st November.  (We need that extra 1/2 knots (over 3 weeks it will make a difference of two days!) Ben will then fly back for his last few days with family before returning a couple of days before we sail.
 
Sometime before the 21th Nov we will open up the blog again.  Once we get to sea, there will be no photos, since it will make the satellite phone link too slow.  Can't imagine how I can keep 3 weeks of blogs to sound interesting, but we will try!  It will give us all something to think about each day.
 
Thanks to everyone for reading it.  Hope it's been a little interesting.
 
Best wishes to all.  Paul and Sylvie.
 
 
Northern end of Lanzarote
Posh Brass Bollards
Three ARC boats in a row with Catou in the middle
Shopping in Graciosa