9 November 2013 – Marina Lanzarote

4pm and it’s blowing old boots – 25-30 knots from the NE.  The boat’s head to wind, but it’s still rocking with the force of the wind. 

We’ve been here now a week and despite the lack of marina’s charm, Arrecife meets all our needs.  Yesterday we walked up to IKEA, which is next to Lidl, and were treated to a most peculiar rendition of “Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer” in Swedish over the public address system, followed by (inter alia) “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”  It doesn’t feel at all Christmas-sy with temperatures in the mid-20sC. 

Today it’s Saturday, so there is a morning market in the square by the church, and all the shops are closed by 1pm.  Roger was keen to investigate the sourcing of spares for the big manual bilge pump, which broke yesterday as it was being checked.  The best chandlery in town (SH Duarte – we are known there almost by name!) didn’t have a replacement, but it looks from the web as though ASAP in Beccles have a spare part if Bryan has enough room in his luggage.  So I went on my own to the market and was able to find some good produce that hasn’t been chilled, including some good unripe tomatoes.  Next Saturday I need to be up early to get the pick of the crop.

We’ve both made good progress this week on preparing the boat for the next leg of the journey.  Roger has checked all the lines for chafe, and replaced the ones that are worn; he’s also looked at the stowage and managed to find some additional unused spaces.  In consequence the whole boat was upside down for a couple of days.

Whilst all this was going on I explored the town and the range of stores and storage solutions available.  I’ve visited no fewer than 3 Chinese bazaars to spy out their range, and have invested in more boxes of all shapes and sizes.  I’ve also aimed to rationalise where stores go to minimise the regular use of lockers under where people will be sleeping on passage.  The results have been good.  Roger is optimistic that the cornflake storage challenge is solved.  We are still in active discussion about portion sizes, but are agreed that the use of the foodsaver and vacuum packing precooked food will be helpful. 

All the water on Lanzarote is desalinated – and then chlorinated.  We’re protecting for as long as possible one water tank with fresh, Spanish mainland, water for drinking only.  I’ve been to the pharmacy and bought some mineral and multi-vitamin tablets, declining to buy the ones for the over-50s  (selling point – they give you more energy!  Not a problem for us!) 

The marina is filling up with Atlantic Odyssey boats, who will leave on 17^th November.  The marina holds about 450 boats, about 10% of the estimated 4,500 that are said to cross the Atlantic each year.  Signe and Henrik on Capibara arrive back this afternoon, and with them we should be able to access some of the events that accompany the rally, including a tour of the island.  We’ve arranged to hire a car for 3 days when Bryan and Lucy arrive. 

More anon!