After spending yet another couple of days in San Miguel, Tenerife we decided we needed to make another attempt at getting ourselves over to Gran Canaria. We had a challenging and at times exhilarating sail. It was not nearly so scary as the Sunday attempts had been as although the swell was still running high the waves were not breaking. We managed to overtake a boat we had spotted as we left San Miguel after about 3 hours. As we were beginning to make out the contours of Gran Canaria the sea began to settle and the wind speed dropped and changed direction. We had to put the sails away and motor the rest of the way. We hit the other acceleration zone very briefly and as the wind direction meant we would get little benefit from the sails we opted not to raise them.

Getting in to Puerto Mogan was challenging as when we called them up they said they had no spaces. My pathetic attempt at Spanish was matched by the lady on the other end of the radio who had a little English. After 20 minutes of wrangling they said they’d give us a berth for the night. The marina was packed and there were quite a few boats at anchor just outside the breakwater. The berthing was sterm to yet again. We are getting quite adept at it and this time it was a flat calm. Tied up and greatly relieved to be on the right island by the time our visitors arrived.

The rest of the day and evening was spent getting organised and prepared for 4 friends who were taking advantage of Ryanairs new route to Gran Canaria. How could you not leave the hellish weather of the U.K. for a few days and enjoy the sun and heat in the high 20’s.

Puerto Mogan is very pretty around the waterfront. There are little bridges linking various bits to town and lovely white painted low level buildings which have trailing bouganville (purple variety). Behind that is what was the old town as we remembered it some 20 years ago.

We negotiated an extra night with the marina and planned a route for our visitors.
One night in Puerto Mogan, One in Puerto Rico, 2 on anchor as we headed towards Las Palmas and the last night in Las Palmas. Well what are plans for if not that they go pear shaped.

Ryanair did Paul, Rod,,,Joy and Cliff proud and landed on time. They had an interesting journey by bus and taxi to get to us,. It was just wonderful to see them.
Course we had to celebrate their arrival and whilst some of us were quite happy to pop a bottle of bubbly – others just felt a need to try the water temperature and hit the water! A trait which was to persist throughout the stay!

It was a bit of a tight squeeze on board but some preferred to be on deck all the time which eased congestion.

We left Puerto Mogan in beautiful sunshine and motored up the coast to Puerto Rico. It is a huge tourist driven town. Hard to find any of the old fishing harbour that was there 20 years ago. Beach bars, and less than discerning shopping zones. The first night we were not able to have a key to the showers and toilets. We were told just to call the mariniera on the radio and he would come and let us in. Six grown ups who have consumed a fair amount of liquid have pressures! It was hilarious we were keeping a look out to watch for someone with a key going in to the loos and running to catch them up. Joy and Cliff accosted a poor lady as she was returning to her table at the nearby restaurant to borrow her key. This being due to the fact that no –one answered the call to loo when we radioed them.
The weather was glorious and there was very little wind. However further up the coast , really strong winds and big swells were making for little movement of boats going north.

As it turned out we got no further that Puerto Rico – where we are still berthed!
The visitors were quite happy to just be and the time flew by. Sunday dawned and Rod was put in charge of entertaining Natasha, (the taxi driver) all the way to the airport which I suspect he thoroughly enjoyed.

As usual when friends and family go the boat seems so incredibly quiet and empty. You would think it would get easier to say goodby to folks after so many times, but it really doesn’t.

Monday 9th November – ARC office opens in Las Palmas

To cheer ourselves up and because we could not get to Las Palmas by boat we took a bus journey there instead. It was not the way we had planned to arrive in Las Palmas marina but we were glad we had taken the time to do it. The marina is absolutely huge and the prospect of meeting anyone seemed really remote. However as happens when we were in a chandlers a familiar voice greeted us. David and Susan from Voyageur were behind us. Great to catch up with their news and as ever they were up to speed with the goings on at the marina. Apparently there are still 100 boats to arrive. All caught up in big winds and storm bound. Many in Gibraltar and in the Canaries.

By the time we left to catch the bus home we felt that it had been a worthwhile journey to plan and prepare for when we do finally arrive in Jalan Jalan.

As we walked back to the bus a local man pointed out to sea. There was a cargo ship aground on the beach. It seemed like it had problems with its anchors but the swell was so strong it had carried it right in to shore. So caught up were we watching the tugs from the harbour pushing it off shore etc that we managed to miss the direct bus back by a couple of minutes. The journey home lasted almost 2 hours on the service bus but gave us time as it went down the coast to convince us that the bus had been the right choice. The swell was so big that the surfers were out having a blast. Further down the coast the trees were bent double and the wind vanes going like the clappers. Once we got round the corner to the southern end it was almost flat water.

The forecast shows things moderating a little so here’s hoping. It is the first time we have seen footage on the t.v. of concerns over the continuing high winds all around the Canaries and the heights of the swell. Here’s hoping it will blow out before the 22nd!

Today we hope to get an anode fitted by one of the local divers and that will be one less job for when we get to Las Palmas. Certainly don’t fancy either John or I having to go into the marina waters egh!