02.11.
.28:07.52N 15:25.52W
On our
last evening in Puerto Mogan we had a visit from Dave and Johnny of Professional
Yacht Deliveries (PYD), who have been bringing ‘Incognito’ a fellow ARC vessel
from Port Solent down to Las Palmas. They hired a car and came down for
dinner so Chris cooked a very tasty steak, and we all drank too much.
The
next day after a fortifying breakfast at, you guessed it; the Irish Bar, Dave
and Johnny headed back to Las
Palmas. We
decided to leave ourselves that evening and sail overnight. The wind tends to drop in the evening,
and we wouldn’t be quite so blown around in the acceleration zone. But first, we took a walk up to the
lookout point at the top of the town.
To get up
to the viewpoint, you pick your way up countless steps throught the real part of
town where some of the residents have gone to great lengths with their
gardens - there is no soil of course, so everything is in pots.
This one is particularly splendid and
colourful.
And finally, here is Chris demonstrating the view from the top
of town.
We cast off our lines at 9.30pm, and took the anticlockwise route round
Gran Canaria. How is it that even
when you are doing a semi-circular route, you can have wind on the nose the
whole way? Just for a change! We slipped into Las Palmas at 7.30 in the
morning, and arrived next to Incognito conveniently moored on the end of the
pontoon, and tied up along side.
Dave cooked us a fantastic breakfast, but I can honestly say that it’s
been a long time since I’ve had champagne with my fry-up! Those two were off home that day, and
this seemed as good an excuse for celebration as any.
Dave calls this picture 'where's Barbara'. I was
asleep as it was Champagne slushies at
8am, curtesey of their fridge being stuck
the middle of my off-shift. seems like I got away with
it
too! on
full blast. Made Chris's day aswell, and he doesn't even drink the
stuff!
It’s
strange being back in Las
Palmas. Our
regular readers may remember that it’s not, how should I put it, my
favourite port of call, and the fact that it is positively cold here at the
moment is not doing anything to improve the situation. But now that all the other ARC boats are
beginning to arrive it’s actually quite exciting. We have 2 weeks of workshops and
festivities just before the big off, which starts in a week. I think just about every local
business including the town hall, the local tourist office, and Admiral
Insurance are sponsoring a happy hour, so you may pick up on ‘networking’ as
being a key factor in the proceedings. But there is also very useful stuff on
Sea Safety, weather information, setting up a sextant, power management on
route, rigging advice, and 'management of emergencies' (shan't be having any of
them so that's fine, although you could substitute the word
'chocolate'). And then of course there is
possibly the most important event of the whole affair: the ARC costume theme
party "Jungle Safari" with a prize for best dressed crew which WE are
going to win!
