I guess my Blogs are developing a “London Bus Syndrome”.  You wait for ages for one then you get lots at once!

On with the tourism and entertainment………..

The North end of the Island is quite different to the south, in so far as there is cultivation and lots of Palm trees, which presumably are used for harvesting dates. It is also quite mountainous. The highest peak being some 670 metres above sea level.

The picture above is a Vineyard. Lanzarote style. Each vine has its own little wall which acts as a wind break to protect the fruit. We saw loads of these as we toured around, and also masses of Cactus farms where they harvest Aloe Vera.

The other amazing thing we saw were stunning flowering plants at the road side. These are very expensive in the UK, but seem to be everywhere on the road side in the Northern part of the Island. Mercifully we had no scissors with us, otherwise “Crew”  would have filled the car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The other evening we had a formal Rally Diner dance. This was staged in an incredible setting. It was a massive restaurant in a cave, which was surrounded by pools. It was quite impossible to get good pictures of this setting with our regular camera. Once again I forgot to take the Nikon.

After the dinner, we were entertained by our very own Blue Water Rally Band. They go under the name of “Accidental Gybe”. There were classical guitar duets, singing duets and even some of the “boat children” performed.

There is some real musical  talent amongst the performers on BWR and we had a ball. This made up for the dreadful meal……………………………

The tourist office then provided us with entertainment in the form of Lanzarote Country Dancing.

All very serious stuff, and diametrically opposite to Scottish Country Dancing.  But it is fascinating to see how different cultures find ways to meet up with the opposite sex………

Whilst we have been here two of the famous J Class yachts came in for a couple of days to Puerto Calero. One was Ranger and I did not manage to “clock” the other one. They are just stunning and HUGE!  Regrettably due to fannying about with the Boom we never did get a chance to take pictures of them.

Talking of which.  We still have no Boom!!!!! It was supposed to happen at 1000 this morning, then 1100 then 1500 . Meantime we just wasted masses of time and ended up racing around the Island, picking up our vacuum packed meat. Then trying to get to the chandlery for some urgent spares and some more Diesel tanks, then attempting to buy green veggies. Oh and find somewhere to get USD notes. Wasted 2 hours on that one, and finally our friends on Hakuna Matata, came to the rescue. Then get the hire car back……..Oh my, I feel the need for a calming balm. Hello Mr Gordon’s, and Sch…….with a little lemon. Time to chill……………………….

But the outcome of Jennie’s endeavours is that the main saloon of the boat now resembles a fruit and veg’ shop on market day.

The forecast for tomorrow is………….. fit the Boom at 0900, then get the mainsail on, then a test sail. If all goes well we shall then attend the rally farewell lunch. Then furiously pack up the boat. That is if we decide to leave on Saturday. There is no wind forecast until Tuesday next week, and I really do not want to start our Atlantic crossing by motoring for four days. Then worrying about diesel reserves.  On the other hand we do want to leave with the majority of the fleet. We shall have to see if all goes well with the Boom fitting and testing tomorrow, and what the weather forecast is on Saturday morning. More Anon……………………………