Friday 2nd November at San Sebastian, La Gomera
Spellbinder
Fri 2 Nov 2007 15:33
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Saturday was a big sort out day at San Miguel.
Completely emptied the cockpit locker, and all the sail bins in the
forecabin. Unpacked the parachute anchor on the jettyand measured out all the
ropes. After some discussion, decided to pack the para anchor in one of the sail
bins, and move the sea anchor kit to the cockpit locker. After moving various
other things around, ended up with one sail bin empty, for use as food stowage,
and one empty crate in the cockpit locker, for potato and onion stowage. Began
to see our way to stowing the vast provision list that Bunny was evolving
through various advanced mathematical techniques. In the afternoon we had been
promised a boat cleaning service, due at 2 pm. All ready and waiting, finally a
large industrial vacuum cleaner was delivered at 6pm, so we rolled up our
sleeves( difficult since no long sleeves for the last two months) and got on
with it. Very pleased with end result, admired over a large gin.
Sunday morning we hired a car, and after some
further discussions on victuals, Henry and Martin set off for some sightseeing
in the car, and Bunny remained on board to enjoy some peace and quiet. H & M
stopped at a little fishinng village, apparently tourist free, for a lunch in a
local restaurant, before going on to Guimar to visit the Thor Heyedarl museum -
recommended by Fred and Nicky Scourse. Main theme is about "pyramids" found in
the area, but also replicas of his reed boats, see photo above. H then off to
the airport to pick up Ros and Mike. All settled down to a fine chicken
casserole prepared by Bunny.
Monday morning Mike contacted his sister in law
Frankie, who lives in the north of the island, and who came down for lunch with
us. Since this was designated food
shopping day, Bunny explained his plans, and then led a first charge
to the local supermarkets using the car. Mike and Martin remained onboard
to continue sorting out the stowages. We were soon unloading vast quantities of
all sorts from the car. In the meantime Frankie had arrived, so off we all
went to a nearby fishing village, Los Abrigos, where we enjoyed a very fishy
lunch. Back to shopping in the afternoon, decided that fresh produce looked
better on La Gomera, so concentrated on tins, packets and frozen foods. Finally
called a day of it sometime after 7, may need to make a number of atlantic
crossings to get through it all. Light supper onboard, and collapsed into
bed.
Tuesday was designated boat familiarisation and
planning day. However Martin noticed floating bits in the water while making the
(not very) early morning tea. Quickly established that the bits came from our
water tanks, so we were suddenly facing a major crisis. First thought was a call
to Frankie, whose husband Teddy is Vice President of the port of Santa Cruz.
Teddy kindly did some phoning around, and while there was not an available
contractor to assist us, he gave us good advice on how we could sort the
problem ourselves. So we set to work. Moved the table, and up floor boards
to expose the tank tops. Off inspection plates on the tank tops, to reveal an
interesting brew of small bits in the water, and a film of something on the the
filler and breather pipes. Pumped out the tanks, filled them up with
water and dosed with bleach as recommended. Left for 3 hours, time for
lunch and pipe cleaning, and then emptied it all out again.Then refilled, and
re-dosed with chlorine. By this stage it was after 6, so decided to let this
brew work over night, and went back to Los Abrigos for dinner. Back onboard, and
so to bed without anyone managing to fall into the tanks.
Back to work Wednesday morning, emptied out, and
started to refill, when we saw that the water from the marina was also full of
bits - they had had some problem with their supply on Tuesday. So once more dose
with chlorine and empty the system out. Henry meanwhile set off to buy a filter
through which we could pass the shore supplied water. After various adventures
he found a suitable filter, and so once that was connected up we were finally
able to top up the tanks. Much relief all round. Some valuable lessons learnt
about the boats water system, and a resolution made to use the watermaker as
much as possible.
At last we were ready on Thursday morning to give
Mike and Ros their promised shake down sail across to La Gomera. An
excellent illustration of the extraordinary wind effects around these islands,
we went from NNW force 5-6 at the start down to southerly force 1, and back
up to easterly force 4 as we approached San Sebastian. At least it gave an
excellent opportunity to hoist and reef sails and generally demonstrate
everything to the newcomers. Ashore in the evening for a meal, very quiet in the
town, a holiday for All Saints Day.
On Friday, today, it was more shopping in the
morning,so we are now almost ready for setting off. A few last items tomorrow
morning and then we set off for Sal in the Cape Verde islands. Henry has been
doing his met homework on the internet, and we are expecting light winds and
probably a 7 day passage.
Message from Mike and Ros
We are being looked after extremely well and feel
that we have settled in nicely. It was great to get on the water yesterday
and we are looking forward to the real adventure - light winds are forecast - to
the relief of Ros! The boat is well stocked are we shall be feeding like
kings!
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