28:01.166N 16:36.798W                                                           3^rd  November 2014

Tenerife San Miguel Marina………still 2137 miles from Ramsgate by Log.

We have been here for four days now and although Peter keeps mentioning that this isn’t a holiday it is an adventure I must admit we haven’t been very adventurous. Tommy and Sue moved ashore for the second night and we have taken full advantage of the facilities at their apartment. We went out for a meal with Nikky, Sue’s friend from yesteryear, along with her husband Jose and son Alex at a local restaurant of their choosing. What a great night, the food was superb, the wine better, and the company better still, It certainly pays to know a local!                                                        

From the left Nikki. Sue, Jose, Tommy, Me, Norma, Peter picture taken by Alex

We have hired a car between the three of us and took a trip up to Mount Tede, Tenerife’s resident volcano and also spent a day at the beach.

Mount Tede on the way up                    And on the way down

It has not been all play though I spent a morning at the top of the mast running new halyards down and trying to find ways of reducing chafe so that we don’t have anymore failures on the next leg. Whilst dangling in the bosons chair searching for the mouse line with a bit of hooked wire I was just beginning to lose all feeling in my legs as the chair was cutting into parts that you don’t talk about in polite company when Norma with her usual confidence said it must be at the back of the mast to port. search there. Of course first attempt out came the mouse line and on went Norma’s smuggest _expression_, 20 minutes I had been hanging there fishing for that damn line.

Does my bum look big in this                                                                         It looks a lot smaller from deck level

The face of concentration

This morning we moved Spectra over as our berth was a nightmare in the swell and the pasarel was getting caught up all the time. We have now swapped neighbours from a very uncommunicative eastern European group to a family from the Cook islands. They have three young children all under 5 who are blond haired, as brown as berries, and run around like little minkeys all day having an absolute whale of a time helping Mum and Dad to travel the world in a 30ft boat. The wind has picked up over the last two days and is now a steady 15-20 Knots from the North, which is refreshing as it has been pretty humid here, so all fairs well for the next leg if that keeps up. The surge in the harbour has caused us a few problems and the pasarel has managed to break one of its upright posts and scrape a chunk of paint and gel coat from two patches on the stern, so that’s another job to add to the list. The hunt for antifoul goes on with limited success but we have until the lift out on Friday to find some so no panic yet.

Tommy and Sue flew off this morning and we had a meal out with crew shirts last night to celebrate another successful trip. I am sure the locals thought we were a new tour operator as we did seem to generate a lot of interest. Again a really good meal but it was sad to say goodbye to Tommy and Sue as we drove away.

Spectra’s gallant crew have another farewell meal:

Note the team T shirts ‘One mast good, Two masts better’

 Anyway, we will meet up again in Barbados for Christmas and we have already done the secret Santa draw so I have to find a suitable gift for under £10 somewhere mid Atlantic. Who knows I might catch a really big Tuna, that must be worth a tenner if I can only keep it fresh…………..