STILL IN GRAN CANARIA ....just ..!!

I've had such a lot of positive feedback about my humble blog. If it has made you chuckle (I daren't hope for an outright laugh ) or just raised a smile - that's great.  Thank you ALL.

As usual, the actual writing has been left to the last minute.  Too much sun and shopping.  We've enjoyed our time here, met great people ( as usual ) and it will be a bit of a wrench to move on from this particular comfort zone.  But we will meet them again for more of those 'small world' moments which never cease to amaze us, even if they don't surprise us.

AT ANCHOR

 On September 15th, the bay we tried so hard to anchor in on our arrival opens for boats.  Off we went accompanied by Vladimir and a couple of others, thinking that there would be a mass exodus.  After all, it is considerably cheaper ....

We dropped the hook on a wreck ( good start ) but community spirit won and a guy rowed over to see if he could help.  Half an hour and he had dived down and got it free.  It seems to me that anchoring is a black art.  Like conjuring.  Our trick will be finding our anchor when we leave!  And everybody can have problems - we seem to have had our fair share of boats snuggling up a bit close - including a 'small world moment' with a boat from the US with a UK owner who hailed from Tavistock.  And of course we've met up with another pair who we knew in Turkey.  And so it goes on ....  We have access to the marina facilities and can get water and even bring the boat in to top up on electricity.  We daren't do that in case we lose our prime spot!

We're a fixture and have been credited with being experts on Guyana and Suriname!  Whilst we have some knowledge passed onto us by a friend in the UK ( thanks Pete for getting us into this ... ) and I've looked at Noonsite, we are far from expert!

The majority of boats here, both in the anchorage and in the marina, we think are French, followed by Germans, Scandinavians.  The UK boats seem to be with the ARC, which we found interesting.  No Spanish ( until Mario, the Yanmar engineer decides to leave ) and one Portuguese.  Given their sailing history it's a shame.  Perhaps we're all in danger of becoming serfs with the spirit knocked out of us by successive governments.  That and being 'dumbed down' to by the media and education systems .....  OK - another soapbox moment over with!  Having said that, there are so many different varieties of boat arriving ... from this ....

to this ....

The chandlers are moving up several gears with huge boxes of stuff arriving each day.  They are excellent and their prices aren't too bad either.  It all adds to the atmosphere.

LAS PALMAS

We like it.  It's a Spanish city with interesting back streets as well as an old town with the usual tidy architecture.  

Less of the jokes about 'tidy architecture' please ....



There is a Sunday market - everything an euro!

They also have plenty of sculptures - some of a nautical flavour, and some that are not .......

They have just seen the weather forecast .... and are not very happy about it ...

Las Palmas main claim to fame is that Columbus slept here ...

......before crossing the Atlantic.  The ARC doesn't seem to have appropriated it  .... yet!

And of course there is the other sailors hide out ...

SAILORS BAR

Everyone ends up here (and in the launderette which is open 24/7 )   However, it's our first real contact with a 21st century bar in that sailors do meet and talk but there also a holy hush as they worship at the shrine of the great god Apple. Ipads, laptops, Iphones.  Talk of connections, signals, 4G, dongles (how rude! )  Each to his own.  I'm afraid my own inclinations, budget, ability and patience makes me a poor candidate for anything technical, and as for Brian, he has trouble working his phone!

But we've made friends there and had some laughs as well as lots of coffee and tea after the ubiquitous shopping trip!  You see - I'm not such a curmudgeon!

We decided that we would have crew to help with the crossing.  That might mean that Brian gets some sleep and I don't get keel hauled for some misdemeanour or other.  We put an advert on Crewseekers and immediately the replies started to come in.  Some lovely people ( well, they wrote good mails ) are now on our list for the future, plus others who have passed the acid test of sailing with Larry on Blue Star.

We are a truly international group who should be speaking fluent English, French, Spanish and German by the end of the trip!  You will hear more about them as we go, but I'll give you a taster ....

This is Ishmael and Lisa who are good friends but not an item ( as we thought )  This pic was taken on Brian's birthday when they cooked beautiful crepes au chocolat.  Such good things comes from France!  They were one of the first to approach me in the bar about joining us and whilst we looked for more, didn't want us to forget about them - hence the offer of crepes!  Vladimir came complete with naval hat and T shirt.  It was a memorable time!  Ish was a professional chef and has been invaluable in helping me provision the boat. His father also works/ed for Beneteau.  Lisa actually knows about the film actor Jacques Tati so she shows discriminating taste.

Philip is German and has travelled widely.  He makes a surprising number of Euros juggling at traffic lights.  Frank Walmsley take note -  here is a chance to utilise your unicycle skills and earn your beer money!

Tony is from the UK and has owned boats and done a lot of sailing.  This is his first really long trip. but anyone who can negotiate the English Channel has a flying start!

There are many people looking to cross.  Lots with little or no experience.  The Atlantic has a somewhat romantic hold on some - sunsets and gently rocking yachts, as on the back cover adverts of Practical Boat Owner .. we won't hold our breath on the gently rocking boat bit  ...

So - when customs releases our EPIRB - we'll be off into the wild blue yonder.  I'm not putting the epirb story on the blog.  I don't want to go there again - it's a nightmare story.  When my blonde bits grow out I'll be white!  

It'll be a while, but don't give up on me - there are BOUND to be stories .....

FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE ...

We're often asked by non sailors,
"When you're out at sea, what do you do?  Do you ever get bored?

Well, we wouldn't want you to think that life at sea is one crisis followed by another - goodness me no!!  So I thought I'd take the opportunity to fill  the gaps in between ... 

Fellow cruisers may want to stop reading here and wait for the next crisis, not because you are of a ghoulish disposition , you understand, but because you probably do pretty much the same sort of stuff.  Of course ladies, you may want to reassure yourselves that it isn't just you who finds herself driving the dinghy round and round the boat trying to catch it when there's a bit of a swell ...

Gaps can take a few forms;
When you're out at sea on a passage
When you're snug in a sheltered anchor
When you're even snuggier in a good marina.

(The adjectives 'sheltered' and 'good' represent the best situation- those adjectives are subject to change and can drop several levels down according to wind, swell, anchor not holding.  The latter one can cause sleepless nights.)

You've checked the weather, fine.  You've parted company with the land and you're off.  Hey, the wind is in the right direction (rare for us)  It is usually on the nose (coming straight at you) behind and nothing to speak of, or non existent.  Cruisers tend not to go out when it's really windy.  That's for club racers who are only out for a few hours or the serious racers who have no choice.  We can deal with it when it happens but we prefer to start quietly.  Sails are up, course set and the third member of the crew (as Brian calls it) is working; ie the auto helm.  Show me a cruiser who does not bow down and worship their auto helm or self steering gear and I'll give up my Friday night alcohol.  (Personally, I offer frequent sacrifices to keep on its good side)  Having a piece of equipment that basically steers the boat does not mean that you can go off and fall asleep, but it does allow you to do other 'stuff'  You see, steering a boat by hand is both boring and hard work.  There are times when you can't do anything else as the auto helm can get a bit squeamish in heavy winds and seas, but hey, there's no need to flog yourself on a nice day.  I felt very sorry for a couple we met and who had had the 'no wind' situation so had to use the engine, and couldn't use there self steering - BIG POOH!

Along the way, we read if it's possible and I sleep (note that it's me - I can fall asleep anytime, any place and frequently do )  We also stare a lot at the sea, the clouds, the stars.  However we are not tweakers.  They are the ones who are bowling along nicely but feel an irresistible urge to try and get another half knot of speed.  Choice - tweak or work on the tan.  My excuse for the latter is that I'm gathering strength for the next crisis.  The man can put out a fishing line, just in case that 10lb tuna is in the area, but fishing has never been successful for us.  Our sum total over the years has been a string of mackerel just off Cornwall, a few measly flying fish and an octopus that I couldn't bring myself to bop on the head.

And then there are the visitors that pop in for a visit.  No doubt the cruisers amongst you have had your own.  I've already written about the dolphins, but there are other hitchhikers.  And like the dolphins they turn up at the point when your eyes are tired of trying to see something on the horizon, or you've just had a disagreement, or you're just feeling a bit blue. Remember that we're at sea and not in the sight or sound of land, so it's a miracle these critters find us. We've had bumble bees, wasps, butterflies, homing pigeons (a speciality of ours!) and tiny, tiny birds that are cheeky enough to give the saloon the once over whilst sitting on the skippers knee, and then fly in for a closer inspection.  The latest addition have been dragonflies.  We entertained them during 'Herge's Adventures of Tan Tan'.  ( remember the voice over?)  A pair arrived for a bit of Howzyourfather whilst we were drifting along.  We jokingly called them 'drones' as they bore a distinct resemblance to the robotic variety and speculated that given our position situated as we were, between two territorial waters, they were sending vital information back to their command base.  Interestingly enough, shortly after we left Lanzarote, a plane circled overhead - was it the same pilot that came to our rescue - and a week or so later yet another 'drone' appeared and perched itself for some time.  Was it enjoying the ride, or was it taking pictures of Brian reading and me wearing not very much?.  Is there now a file circulating the islands?  ( We do have a file in Cadiz, but that's another story! )

This picture is one side of the coin.  It can all get spoiled by ....oooh too much wind, technical failures and the like, but somehow, like the British weather, get a day of sun and you forget two years of rain.  Bring on a cup of Earl Grey please  Which brings me to ...

COOKING AT SEA 
I couldn't resit this ....

Sailing is a bit like having a baby.  In fact it's a bit like lots of things in life; getting married, getting a divorce, keeping up the mortgage payments, potty training, playing rugby ...  It's quite simple - no one can tell you what it's really like.  I'm sure that those who have been in close physical contact with numerous 17 stone hunks of fast moving muscle and a couple of acres of freezing mud have stories to tell but somehow they don't prevent others from giving it a go.  It's the same with sailing.  What do the adverts show - photos of yachts under sail, pushing through crested waves, leaning into the wind, at one with the elements, blah, blah (cue the final movement of the 5th symphony of Sibelius)  The man is looking rugged and seaworthy in his Musto gear ....  What you don't see is the woman below deck ....  It's breakfast/lunch/tea time.  ( I could go for broke and say it's the middle of the night, but I'll spare you those particular details ...  )  She is standing vertical to the boat which is at an angle - did I say standing - she is clinging on for dear life!  However vertical is an illusion.  The boat is continually moving in all directions.  You don't quite feel it the same when you're on deck which means that that the skipper is less than sympathetic to your outbursts.  It goes up and down, side to side.  It occasionally goes straight up in the air, hovers and crashes down ( I call that 'whomping' )  You will see food and utensils at odd places on the work surfaces.  She has worked out with much precision as to where each item will stay in safe from sliding or jumping over the edge designed to prevent such things happening.  On the oven top at a similar angle (boat ovens are gimballed so they follow the horizontal ) are pans of 'stuff' that are seemingly about to fall off.  If she is a consummate planner, she will have pre prepared a cold meal or planned one with minimal ingredients so that she does not have to negotiate too many cupboard doors and waste time picking up, or falling over on the items that fall out.  As a small person, I have, on occasion ended up head first in our rather large fridge reaching for the tomatoes at the bottom.  You do, of course plan the right meal for the situation.  Soup in high winds or big seas is not a good choice, but this is day 8 and you've lost the will to chop off your three remaining fingers.  At least you've worked out which direction to pour the hot water in to the mugs ..  which reminds me ...   when checking the CV of a potential crew member, ignore the bits about RYA qualifications, sea miles, charter experience and so on.  Have they got circus skills in there somewhere?  I jest not.  It saves so much time and effort if you've got someone on board who can walk a tightrope juggling mugs of tea!

WHAT YOU DO WHEN AT ANCHOR
Again, you've seen the pictures ... big blue water cruiser sitting alone in an obviously Caribbean location, electric blue sky, white sand, palms in the foreground .... you think...wow, I'd like a bit of that, thank you very much.
Well - that's partly why we're doing this cruising thing - sorry, I'll rephrase that - It's WHY we're doing this cruising thing.  BUT - remember - the photographer is on land.  The boat is on the sea.  No power source, open to the elements and generally, in the pictures, NO WAY TO GET OFF!.

Being at anchor is great- in a secure anchorage, with good holding, no swell and not too far from civilisation.  Ok, ok, one can dream ...  back to reality ....what does one actually do in this paradise?  You love it to bits! You swim, snorkel, read, maybe visit another yacht for books to swap, and then you shop.  And that's where the reality steps in.  You need to get there.  We'll assume that you haven't a yacht with a sneaky compartment at the back end that lowers the dinghy into the water, and that yours is on deck (already pumped up, we hope )  Getting the dinghy off isn't so much a problem but the outboard is a different matter.  Ours is a whacking great 4 stroke and weighs a ton, so we invested in a cunning crane to make matters easier.  As you manhandle the shopping trolley and yourself, your going out' shorts and sandals inevitably get soaked.  Once onboard, the outboard may go into a sulk , and then it's oars or paddles, which you have either forgotten to put in, or you've twisted your ankle on whilst boarding.....  All I can say is hats off to people who do all this on a regular basis with small children! 

And then there's the return trip with shopping and /or stainless steel, bits of motor, rope ...

And then you realise you've forgotten ....

And then you remind the one who is huffing and puffing that you're not paying marina fees and so you pat yourself on the back, have a beer, and do it all again the next day .....

There are, of course, lots of other nice bits about anchoring; the world wide village that can offer help, book swaps and general companionship.  One evening, I played my flute and after I'd finished, a ripple of applause could be heard .. I  hadn't thought anyone would be listening!

AS FOR MARINA LIFE ...

 It's fascinating!  Here in Gran Canaria, we're on a pontoon with other boats getting ready to cross the Atlantic ... or not .. 

This is Vladimir's boat. It does bear a slight resemblance to a submarine

Don't you just love the fenders!

 

 

Shades of ET ..

I don't think this one is going anywhere!

And what else do we do with our sun soaked days .. ?  

Why, we shop!  The first thing you do on arrival into a marina is find out where the supermarket, laundry and chandlers are.  ( There are 4 chandlers within 100 metres of us with very reasonable prices ) You then hook up to all things civilised, like electricity and water which you often have to pay extra for - hence the anchoring.  In between shopping you might do an early morning run, go to the beach, clean things, sleep, wash yourselves and clothes, and did I mention shopping....?  You may hire a car and view the sights in between filling up the gas bottles and visiting the out of town supermarket. We reckon that when you start seeing people you know whilst shopping in a new town, you've been around too long. It's taken us just 2 weeks!

So ... in answer to the question .... no, we don't get bored, and if we did, there's always retail therapy...

The Next bit ..

STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS

DRAMATIC (!!)RESCUE  OFF MOROCCAN COAST .... READ ALL ABOUT IT ..... LATER
 You'll just have to wait a bit .......


You can race to the interesting bit if you want but I'm going to do this blog in order of places ... and so ...



The outboard mended, stores on board led to an uneventful trip to Lexios which is not the most salubrious anchorage 'twixt an oil refinery, container port and a half built cruise ship terminal.  The main entertainment was the local sailing school who appear to bundle a shed load of kids in an oversize dinghy and let them loose on unsuspecting visitors.  We were the centre of attraction and the kids aimed for us whilst shouting 'Hello, we love you'  Of course!

And onto..
CASCAIS

Cascais is a delightful stopover despite its look of a tourist town.  The architecture in the old part makes one forgive the McDonalds ,Zara and the like.  Freshly laundered clothes also raise one's spirit!
Feedback has suggested that more pics need to be included so Larry - these are for you!

Palm trees give an exotic feel.

The beautifully tiled streets are not the easiest to walk on!

Typical Portuguese architecture and colour.

This is the original castle.

The best live music so far ..

 31ST JULY 
SINES - PRONOUNCED SINGE (apparently) 
We visited Sines 10 years ago on our trip to the Mediterranean.  The marina operated out of 2 Portakabins - one where you did the paperwork and one that served as the showers.  Now it has a new multi purpose building but strangely the weather is still only in Portuguese.
The bay and beach are in full use.  There is  a newish museum which blends the history of the area with archaeology, myth and social history plus space dedicated to its most famous son, Vasco de Gama.  It also boasts a branch of Barclays bank.

Memories abound for us here, centered around one of those days 'out of time' - meaning - we were too drunk to remember.  It began one afternoon when we were innocently sitting in the cockpit and a young couple rowed past us from the bay and asked if they could join us.  As they had a bottle of wine, we welcomed them aboard and got out the crisps.  We exchanged stories and drank another bottle ( I have to say that in general we are well behaved, sober citizens)   It was decided that we would go out to eat.  I have no recollection of getting to the restaurant,, but we had a lovely meal and wobbled home.  The point to this story is that a year later, we met an Australian couple who had also met this young couple 'Oh, you mean Mariah II' and apparently our names popped up in conversation.  Yet another 'small world moment ....'
Sines also ranks as civilised because it has now got a Lidl.  At one time the watchword on civilisation was a shop selling the Daily Mail,  Would you believe that Kelibiah in Tunisia sells it!

From Sines we had to decide which way to go.  We were always going to go to Madeira but then Brian, the master of the options mentioned Morocco.  That idea held quite a lot of appeal - different culture, landscape, blah, blah.  Also the idea of sailing straight for the Canaries came up.  Arguments for and against were banded about ....

The calm .....

And so on Aug 4th we set out for the Canaries .....  although it would seem that someone or something had a more cunning plan ......

A journey of perhaps 5 days, supposedly straightforward sailing as the winds and sea should be going the same way ....

Everything was fine.  The weather was fine, the sailing was fine.  Then 3 days later the wind died and the engine was switched on.  Then the oil pressure light went on along with that irritating high pitched alarm.  Engine off, engine on  oooh nooooo!  Engine off, change oil filter, fiddle about, switch on ...oooh, definitely noooo.  Oh well, lets sail ....  there came lots of wind ....  But our solar panels and wind gen didn't appear to be doing the business ...oooh and thrice ooooh!
Gradually everything went down - autohelm, GPS, radio, and eventually lights. The wind also kept dying so we were effectively drifting on the current.  We thought we had reached the northern tip of the Canaries but when the lights went and we had been 2 nights on the wheel we decided a Pan Pan was the order of the day.

At 5-30am on Thursday 8th August I put together a call and fired up the handheld VHF.  'All ships, all ships, all ships  ....'  The rest of the day saw some erratic and rather bizarre radio contact with Arrecife Radio and Palma Radio.  No one seemed to be telling anyone the information I was constantly relaying back to them.  We were never given a position despite them asking us to put on our EPIRB and despite my constantly asking for an update.  Falmouth knew more than we did as they put in a call to Brian's son!

It was when Arrecife relayed a request from Rabat asking us if we could anchor where we were that we were seriously confused ...  Rabat? Anchor? In the middle of the sea?  

Apparently, radio contact can be sporadic in the space between Morocco and the Canaries.  We certainly found that to be true all day.  We drifted, we sailed west, we waited, I nagged on the radio,  Around 4pm I did my usual message and instantly the reply came that 2 Moroccan warships were on the look out for us and someone should be with us in 20 mins.  'Try to get in touch with them,' we were told.  'If they can't find you, we'll send a plane ....'  2 hours later, no sign of said ships.  More from Palma Radio, this time sounding very efficient.  'A plane will be with you in 35 mins.  Use flares if asked.  Pilot of said plane -  'I'll be with you in 20 mins'

Our UK friends will be familiar with the idea of waiting for a bus and then 3 turning up at once.  That theory seems to hold water in other situations as well.  About 8pm, as fog was beginning to descend and we knew we had about an hour of daylight, we heard a ships engine and fog horn.  Brian replied with our little squirty horn (it was surprisingly loud) and received an answering blast.  Lo and behold the ship appears and the plane flies out of the sun

Apologies for the poor quality ..

This was the carrying line.  It took quite a few goes to get this over

 Brian was magnificent, as the videos and pictures that the crew took would tell.  With Island Song bucking and heaving in the wash from the ship he single handedly hauled the lines on board and dragged them over the capstan.  I wish I could say I had a picture of that.  Goodness knows it would have been a real action shot, but it  didn't seem right.  There he was, tussling with heavy duty rope, hooked on by his feet (and I hope his safety line, but I can't be sure) on a heaving yacht.  I couldn't turn it into a spectator sport.

There followed 10 hours of towing with us having to take the wheel to keep her steady.  We still had no idea where we were and the place we were going didn't mean a thing.  Fog came down and it was only when it got light that we got into quieter waters and were transferred to a tug.  We had a last visit from some crew of the ship in their tiny dinghy.  They gave us food, water and a couple of fleet hats.  More pics were taken and they roared away.

As we neared the port we began to see where we'd pitched up.  Tan-Tan is a big fishing port with deep sea vessels that haven't seen a fish in a long time as well as local boats.  There was a reception committee waiting as we moored up against the tug.  All colours of uniform, hats and no hats, police, customs, immigration, plus the Harbour master descended on us.  Our passports were taken, the yacht searched and gradually some holes in the story were filled in from their perspective.  It became obvious that they were taking our presence very seriously.

In all the time we were there, we were treated with the utmost respect.  We think that the Captain of the ship arranged for a top Naval engineer to be there for us and he in turn brought in  top engineers and mechanics to come and sort out the repairs.  They spent the whole of one day fixing what turned out to be an electrical problem.

The fishermen were thoroughly entertained by us taking down and replacing our torn genoa ( didn't I mention that? )  We in turn were entertained by what can only be described as a dance whereby the boats moved in and out around us, coming for fuel and ice.


The following pictures show life going on within 50 metres and less of Island Song.

Close company in front!

Our tug manned by Hamid

 Boat repairs and associated activities in not so exotic places .....

This one rushed in for a haul out - she was sinking!

 

 However, it seemed to get forgotten that we might need food although it was recognised that we needed to let people know where we were.  We were let out of the port but only with a minder to make sure we were safe.  Tan - Tan is in wild west country.  It has the cheapest Internet cafe ever at about 50p for an hour although you spend half of that managing the Moroccan keyboard - all those wiggly bits ...  and the most basic of banking systems ...well.. no one has any money ....  No debit or credit card facilities in the bank which meant that paying for the jaunt was tricky.  There was limit on how much you could take out of the ATM in a week and we didn't want to be there for weeks ...

As well as it being a serious matter that we were there, it was also a serious matter to get us out and away.  If the Harbour Master could have blown away the fog himself, he would have.  It lifted on Tues evening and a rather port dirty boat and crew began the task of trying to locate the Canaries once more.   

LESSONS LEARNED
You need a back up GPS - I can't imagine how we missed that one!
Disable alarms and lights and carry on ........ Not serious ...

We sat and talked with the Harbour Master for a while and we all agreed that the people in every country are generally kind, helpful and will do all in their power to help.  We also agreed that the politicians in every country are a big problem ........

 WEDNESDAY 14TH AUGUST - AND SO ..... 
THE CANARIES

Wednesday afternoon and lo and behold, the promised land is on the horizon.  4-30pm sees us moored and 5-30pm sees us in the bar with an ice cold beer and tapas.  Puerto Calero is a 5 star marina  on Lanzarote, where a mortgage is obligatory.  I have lost count of the number of showers I've had.  Island Song and ourselves have been cleaned of Tan- Tan oil and detritus and we are beginning to relax.  Unfortunately for us, the tourists not going to Egypt are coming here and there are no hire cars to be had which means that we might not see the island much.

We have a plan but we're reluctant to even whisper it in case the someone or something decides otherwise ..... and switches on the washing machine of life ... oh dear ... I'm reading too much Douglas Adams ....


 

 WEDNESDAY 24TH JULY

The real beginning .....

It all happened in a rush. One minute there was drama and arguments, the next Brian was calmly and coolly turning her in her own length in the haven basin to the accompaniment of whistles and shouts of ‘see you soon’ (Were they being ironic...?)

Obviously there were mixed feelings. Plymouth has been our home port for 2 years, Devon our home county for many years. These people were and still are our friends. Brian has said that Plymouth was just another stopover location on our travels, and that thought has helped to hold us to our task, as well as being a saving grace given the stresses of our work. We’ve always had something to look forward to. Still, any mention of Plymouth will always evoke happy memories and we probably haven’t seen the last of it.

Other feelings included were that we weren’t ready and the boat wasn’t tidy enough and ... damn, I’ve forgotten to....

A day later and there’s sunshine and no wind, the engine is on, and I’m doing a ‘Nelson’ and the boys are reading. However, we did get to sail across most of the Bay of Biscay in good weather with nice North Easterly. That’s a bit novel for us. Motoring the Atlantic isn’t something you think of doing ... We came to La Coruna early on the 4^th day. We eventually decided to stump up the 50 Euros for a night in Marina Coruna in order to see Richard off home, shop and do laundry. It was great to have Richard along. It made such a difference. His company and expertise were very welcome and we look forward to him and Liz coming out to see us again.

We finally anchored in a lovely bay, spoiled somewhat by the beach –to-sea 24hour disco music. Someone had switched it on and gone home! We got out my new (to me) dinghy, named in honour of my Mother. The small inheritance I got paid for Island Song and we felt that she should be involved in the plan. At the moment my rowing is terrible but I’ve been promised lots more opportunities to practise!

CAMARINAS

We decided to hop around Finisterre and here was our first stop. It is a pleasant little ria with a fishing harbour and small town and... guess what ... disco music at dawn!

BAYONNE

This town, marina and anchorage are in the Ria de Vigo, well past the bleak and forbidding Cabo de Finisterre. Even the sunshine did little to lift its spirits. What lifted ours in the opening hours of fog was a couple of hours of non-stop porpoise play. It was like having a continuous escort – a cohort would swim over, play and as leave as another lot joined in. They are such fun and every yachtsman in all parts of the world will have a story to tell of these wonderful creatures. Bayonne itself is a lovely town. Getting in was bit tricky as the outboard wouldn’t go into gear. We paddled in like American Indians! Everyone was friendly and helpful. In one shop where they didn’t have quite what we wanted, the owner and another customer wrote on our map the name of another shop. On our way there, we heard a car beeping and it was the customer who had followed us and who gave us a lift! In the day to day life of the water gipsy, these little incidents are the warp and weft in the pattern of our lives. As time goes on there emerges a rich tapestry of people and events, most of them unlooked for and always appreciated. I’m sure we will contribute to other people’s designs.

A note about Island Song. She is handling the changes well. She hadn’t been out of the Caribbean until we bought her. Her commodious accommodation is proving valuable as well as versatile with cabins turning into tool stations, wardrobes and ‘stuff stores’ and back again at the drop of a hat. No idea where anything is though .....

On the starting line ....

Departure day is fast approaching and disappearing as we suffer from cruisers 'last minute delays and repairs syndrome.'  Fellow cruisers will recognise the symptoms immediately.  You can spend months, sometimes years equipping your yacht, checking systems, replacing, repairing, installing.  Yet on the week - no - day before you want to leave port, you will be throwing screwdrivers in frustration, disappearing up the mast 2 or 3 times in the day or just waiting for a delivery that was supposed to be 'next day.'  This can continue right up until you start the motor, pull in the lines and wave goodbye.

True to form, we have had to wait for a new motor for the windlass (coming from Holland) and a replacement wind generator (let's not go into details on that one please!)

Everyone here has been wonderful and we've had so much help.  Perhaps they just want to get rid of us!  The laurel crown goes to Derek who has steered us through our electrical problems in return for bottles of Plymouth gin.  The next recipient will be Richard who has kindly agreed to sail with us across to N. Spain.  Thank you Liz for letting him out whilst you deal with buying a new washer/dryer.

Here she is - almost ready to go.  One day I'll get the whole of her mast in a picture!  Skip-diving has proved most productive over the last couple of years as can be seen in the cover on our inflatable dinghy.  It's a professionally made cover which was just thrown away in a sail bag.  Many, many useful items have been acquired that way.  It seems that some people 
have more money than sense!



                                                    
          


 
                                        

Overworked crew - checking the cricket scores

Dealing with the wiring - and still smiling!

As for me, washing and shopping are up to the mark.  Naturally, I can't cook anything at the moment 'cos the fridge is covered in tools.  Hoot if you know where I'm