We were delighted to be in Las Palmas after the trip hereto from Tangier. Just being on land again on a steady boat felt great. After a well deserved dinner in a restaurant, which Martin had promised the kids during the hard trip, we just relaxed. The temperature on Las Palmas is a little higher than the mainland of Spain and Morocco and the next day we were ready for the beach. At Playa de Las Canteras there is a reef close to the beach with shallow water. With snorkel gear we got to see some different fish before the water got too cloudy. There is a long promenade along the beach with a lot of restaurants and cafés. We bought ice cream and celebrated a good day with holiday feelings.
Of course, all was not bliss. As in other harbours, Martin was busy hunting for craftsmen to fix various things on the boat.
The water leak from the water tanks was a high priority. It turned out to be a pipe leaking in the engine room. At the bottom of the engine room is an automatic bilge pump, which pumped the water out to sea. Fortunately Martin was able to buy spare parts nearby and replace part of the pipe himself.
What is worse was a diesel leak from one engine, which he had also discovered during the last trip. A mechanic came and looked at it, found the leak, which was in the injection syringe for the engine. He told us he would return with the proper spare part and replace it. After a few days, another mechanic came and thought it couldn’t be fixed in the time we had before we had to leave, and recommended getting it done in the Caribbean.
In addition, we were still missing an O-ring for the watermaker, which Martin has been trying to find since we left Cartagena. There is a leak from the salt water pump to the watermaker. He found the O-ring after a few days and had it replaced, but it turned out that the pump was still leaking. Another repair, which is to be continued.
The pump for the Black water tank had stopped working as we sailed along the south coast of Spain. It also needed a repair. We got in touch with some plumbers and the pump was changed, but there are still problems with the membrane in the pump. That too will have to wait until the Caribbean.
The rigging also had to be repaired before the long trip across the Atlantic. It turned out that because of our rigging for the Parasailor in the beginning, the screws on the rigging had become crooked and both of the shrouds had to be replaced.
In addition to the usual preparation of the boat for the next trip, we had safety checks from Arc and several months of preparation with all kinds of safety equipment was reviewed.
There is a great organization around Arc and we have been to social activities and seminars about sailing, navigation, emergency procedures etc.
On Sunday we welcomed our new crew member, Peter. We took a trip to the old town with the cathedral. Unfortunately all the shops were closed because we came on a Sunday afternoon, but we got to see the buildings from outside.
Peter has helped me a lot with provisioning, which is really a big task. Here you can see how much we bought, and that’s excluding meat, drinks and fruit & vegetables.
A few days later we took a bus to the Caldera, which is about 20 km south of Las Palmas. A former volcano with a magma chamber and a water reservoir underneath, which after some eruptions has collapsed, leaving a huge crater. We walked down the small trails, with a few more lizards than I cared for. At the bottom of the caldera there were still remains of an abandoned vineyard.
During the week, Anton decided to go home instead of crossing the Atlantic on the boat. He will join us again on the other side in Grenada.
As one of the activities in the Arc program, all boats hoist all signal flags and in this way decorate the harbour prior to departure. Victor sat up the flags on our boat.
Yesterday we had a farewell party with wine and tapas. It was also a goodbye to Anton, who left early this morning and is now with his aunt for the next month.
Today we’ve been busy with the very last preparations and buying the last things like vegetables and fruits. We’ve been going through safety procedures and getting the final briefings on the weather and wind for Mindelo. We still need a little tidying up, but based on the experience of the last sailing from Tangier, we feel more prepared. A little nervous of seasickness, but the weather forecast shows a perfect downwind sail to Cape Verde and we hope to manage better than the last time.
Arc’s website has a blog where we have the opportunity to write about the sailing along the way. If I don’t get seasick like before, I’ll try to post a bit every now and then.
Also on the World cruising, you can see a tracker of our boat here
