We have settled into a pleasant rhythm of life her in Puerto Calero. The café’s and restaurants are excellent and the party atmosphere continues.

  Zipadedoda in her “small” berth.

We have a berth in the super yacht area of the marina, which is very spacious and most of the time very peaceful. That is except when the Ralliers are having a bash on one of the boats. Two nights ago, a drinks reception metamorphosised itself into a guitar jamming session on one of the catamarans. We had five excellent guitarists, and the “do” went on until 0230…………………mind you the Spanish boat next door to us got their own back last night. Their party went on until 0600 this morning. Oh, to be young…………….

We have been for a couple of walks along the coast to take in the extra-ordinary scenery. It is all lava rock and jet black. Even the sand is black. The topography is similar to the Western Isles. But without the Midges or the rain!! The climate is very temperate, with mid day temperatures in  the low 20 degrees Celsius and low humidity. Oh, and sunny of course.

  Puerto Calero at Sundown

The water here is crystal clear, even in the marina.  Which is just as well because I fell in on the first day, whilst attempting to catch a power cable that was slipping over the side of the boat. As the water was warm, and I was in there already, I decided to take a leisurely swim, before returning to the bathing platform on the stern of the boat. Contest yachts have a wonderful safety feature for just such occasions, in the form of a boarding ladder that can be deployed from the water. Or more correctly, by someone in the water.

They run dive trips  and also big game fishing from here too. Yesterday, whilst we were having a late lunch in a water side restaurant, one of the boats came in blarring his air horns to draw attention to the huge Marlin they had caught and which was stretched across the dive platform on the transom.

Apparently it weighed some 485 lbs. Just a tad larger than my Dorado……….. We were respectful of the fisherman who caught this magnificent beast, but saddened that  it had to die. Shame they can’t catch them then return them to the ocean. 

Murphy’s Law, I have managed to catch a cold, or as Jennie refers to it “man flu”. So we have had a very quiet day on the boat, pottering around doing odd jobs like polishing all the stainless steel and chrome. These salty conditions in the sun really make the bright work go rusty very quickly. I also had to completely clean and re-grease the winches on the mast as they were full of salt and on one case the salt had actually jammed up the mechanism. Given the fact that they were only serviced in April, I was most surprised that they had got into the state they had, especially as I religiously wash them down with fresh water at the end of each trip. Then again we have now covered 3095nm since leaving Dartmouth in June.

The other amazing thing to report is that there is a late entrant in to the BWR, that has joined here. The couple who own the boat, are from Kingswear, and Amanda rows for Al Frescos at the Dartmouth Royal regatta. Small world indeed.

The boat is coming out of the water on Tuesday for her bottom to be cleaned off and to check that all is in order below the water line. The fitting that attached the Vang to the boom cracked on the passage down here, so a  new one will have to be fabricated. Also the batten boxes on the new Hood Main sail are disintegrating. Most concerning. So I have to find a sail maker on Monday to repair the main and Hood are sending down replacement batten boxes by courier on Monday. Then I have to service the Engine, the Generator, the Water Maker and the Gear Box. After that, we will rent a car and go for a tour of the island and source the provisions for the Atlantic crossing.

The last boat (Tapestry) to arrive from Gibraltar only arrived this evening. They had technical problems with their steering/autohelm and engine, so had a miserable passage down here. But the welcome they received from all the other Ralliers was wonderful. Absolute cacophony of noise from ships hooters and horns. And a bottle of Champaign from BWR. Fantastic team spirit on this rally.

Now we have another drinks and nibbles reception to attend. Hey ho.