Rubicon Marina.  Mike had set out from here for his first transatlantic crossing on Emily Morgan seven years ago so we knew we would be basing ourselves in a good place for the final preparations.  One task was to test rigging the parachute anchor. 

Another piece of equipment we hope never to use but are glad we have it is designed to slow the boat in a severe storm so that as much energy as possible is taken out of the boat allowing it to sit fairly quietly while all around is thrashing about.

Hopefully it will mainly be remembered as a place for grandchildren to hide.

Not satisfied with the phenomenal engineering installation of Barratt the Hydrovane, Meryon set to work on some fibreglass and gelcoat repairs, teaching Carol the dark art of epoxy mixing in the process.  The repairs he has done are fantastic, near impossible to see, so it will be quite a challenge to do anything quite so good but Carol is looking forward to having a go. So much easier to be shown what to do.

Not all chores though so we hired a car.  First stop a vineyard; no surprises there.  The vines are grown on the lava rock protected from the wind by little walls.  Quite a feat to grow anything on this hostile terrain.

We drove to the northern point where they had barricaded off the main viewpoint so that they could charge you £4 to look.  Outrageous we thought to charge for a view so we walked round the side and were pretty happy with what we could see from there.  This is the island of Graciosa where we had anchored a few days ago.  Our anchorage is the second bay in from the left and you can just see the village and harbour on the right.