I think that I put a jinx on things when I said our next report would be from the Caribbean. Our new water pump was ordered from Sole Diesel in Barcelona and we thought that it would be a hassle-free delivery. All within Spain- what could be a problem? It was sent from Barcelona and arrived in Las Palmas on a Friday.

We were surprised to hear that customs had grabbed it, as it was all within the same country. There were holidays here for Carnaval and so the Sole agent collected it from customs on the following Wednesday. It was the wrong pump! A new one was ordered immediately and it arrived the following Friday. It came in a container that held “items of interest” to customs. They have yet to catalogue the contents of the container, so it is anyone’s guess when it will be released.

We cannot wait around any longer. Bob has re-assembled the old one with a new elbow. The bearings and seals that they sent to rebuild the old one were also wrong, so we have bought an electric pump as back-up. We have heard many stories of problems with the delivery of items to boats in Las Palmas. Customs in Madrid are notorious for holding things for 10 days or so and often asking high charges for their release. This occurs for items coming from within the EU. It seems as though the bigger the government debt, the bigger the rip-off.  The local chandlery quotes 10 days to get stock in from the mainland. Customs here are also notorious for holding items for no apparent reason.