We have debated doing a Donald Crowhurst and inventing an Atlantic voyage for the blog for our entertainment and your reading pleasure – but the reality is that we’re still languishing in Gran Canaria awaiting a new generator.

We correctly surmised than nothing would happen over the weekend – the complications of generator man having hurt his back and had a spell in hospital, and the language and cultural barriers meant that we knew this wasn’t going to be a fast process. Things were looking up yesterday when generator man waddled down the pontoon with some new mounting blocks and news that the generator was on the island. During the day he authorised it’s release from customs and so hopes were raised that it would be on its way to the boat this morning. These were quickly dashed by an early morning email from generator man announcing that he has gone to Tenerife for the day – arghhhhhh. So a day of mounting fitting and crossing fingers that we may lay sight on it tomorrow.

The upside of this is that it is warm and sunny and we have had some time to explore the island a bit. Jocelyn and David hired a car for 2 days and went off and explored the west coast and the interior of the island with a nights stay in a hotel. Then on Monday Dan and Alex hired a car whilst the grandparents looked after the kids. The interior of the island is very mountainous (higher than the highest point in England) – impressive scenery and climate/ weather changes all in a very short distance. We also went along the coast on the bus for an afternoon to an area of sand dunes where we had fun with the kids running, sliding and jumping up and down the dunes.

On to Plan B… after our brief foray into the Atlantic last week and too much time on land to think, we have made the heart wrenching decision that the children will not do the crossing. This has been an emotional roller coaster for all the adults but feels like the right plan. The combination of Merryn’s sickness, which we have not found a way to control, and sam’s young age means that we feel we cannot reduce the risks enough to keep them safe on a long passage. We all feel extremely sad at not achieving the crossing as a group which was our aim but the way forward now is to get the boat across (once we have a generator) and then fly the kids to the Caribbean to continue the family adventure there.

If any readers are keen and able to get to Gran Canaria this week then there is a berth available for the crossing.