Las Palmas

Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Fri 29 Oct 2010 11:46
On arrival we were allocated a berth. Most of the boats had berthed 'stern to' but as we had been placed next to a large catamaran which was late leaving we ended up 'bow to' which made getting on and off almost impossible by day and by night after a few beers potentially lethal! The means of getting off involved a fairly straightforward leap - providing the boat was fairly near the jetty, but getting back on was another matter altogether! We had to get our leg up to the anchor and haul ourselves on board - this was never going to be a long term option! In the evening when we went out we actually launched the dinghy to get from the back of the boat to the front - all a bit time consuming and a lot of faffing about!!
This morning we went back to the office and asked to move so we could be stern to - we are now in the berth next door which the catamaran had left. We have been to see about buying a decent gang plank rather than our tatty one but they are not expecting a delivery of these at the chandlers for about 10 days. Also as it is a Bank Holiday on Monday, nothing else we order will be sent out until at least Tuesday, so things could take a bit of time!!
Today's big job is to try and get the fridge working - it has now been off for about 4/5 days making shopping for food for more than 2 days very difficult as it also very hot now. Hopefully, fingers crossed it will be working again by the end of the day as we have no cold beer!! This afternoon we are off to do a reccy around the local supermarket to see what is available before placing the order for our food for the crossing. Big excitement though - next Tuesday there is a Marks and Spencer food hall opening - yeah!! I am very easily pleased!
Las Palmas is actually a very large city divided into 2 distinct areas, the old town and the new. We walked to the old town last night for wine and tapas and found a great place - no English spoken and the menu was very unusual - lets say we were surprised by the difference between what we thought we ordered, and what we actually got!
The boat is now looking very well, and is 'dressed overall' which is another rather vague nautical term meaning that we are flying lots of multi- coloured flags in a particular order!

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'Seaduced' - all dressed up and no-where to go!