21st November 8.00 a.m.

Dawn has just broken and the traffic on the dual carriageways that run alongside the marina are getting noisy as Las Palmas starts another busy day. The canary yellow boat opposite has a couple of caged bird on deck and they have chirped till we gave in and got up. John has a crew check at 8.30 so it is probably just as well. However we are all a little throaty after last nights farewell party! Yet another great evening of hospitality compliments of the tourist board. Free bar and great tapas and lots of fun company. We even managed a wee jig or two with some fellow Celts.

It is hard to believe that this is our last day on land for the next few weeks. Liz and Robert arrived after a tortuous route via Heathrow and Madrid. They were both shattered and minus their luggage. However, great troopers they are and so joined us for a ‘happy hour’ where they met a lot of the people we have been telling them about. We had a meal onboard and caught up with each others news before we had a laugh contacting the airport to try and find out where the luggage was. My Spanish was taxed (blimey Linda I do wish we had conversed more in Spanish) but managed to arrange a delivery for next a.m. Must have done something right because it did actually get here. (When we saw the size of the bags – we kinda wished it hadn’t) However it has all now been safely stowed so no worries.

We have been promising ourselves a few days of but they have just not been possible. Sounds ridiculous but every time we planned to do something fun, something went array. The newly fitted water pump decided to leak like a sieve. Course that meant all the storing we had done had to be undone and the pump removed. When John took it back to the shop (sounds just like what happens with Crissy pressies) they took it to their workshop. (I suspect hit it with a hammer) and gave it back saying it was fixed. So it had to be reinstalled and re stored. Just got all this done when the man from the water maker arrived. John and I had met him at one of the ‘happy hours’ and he said he would like to check the installation. John and Jim had begun the process way back in June when we were out for a trip to Portavadie. They then continued in Lanzarote. The guy was duly impressed and intrigued as to how on earth they had managed to get it into the space under the sink. Glad to report that it only required a minor modification and has passed its commissioning test. Really glad to have done the check though as doing the modification mid Atlantic in a swell would have been challenging to say the least.

Shortly after that a random fellow passed by and called to me. Being polite I began to tell him our boat was full and that we did not have any space. (there are so many random folk looking to cross with anyone who will have them) He then explained he was a reporter for PBO (Practical Boat Owner) and was doing a piece on preparing for an Atlantic crossing and could he interview me – if I had a moment! Well why not? – an hour later (not often someone wants to listen to me!) he went away quite happy. Course he may not use any of it but it gave me a chance to think about how much we have done since leaving home and how much we have enjoyed the experience if not the expense!

He had no sooner gone than Liz and Robert arrived back with their lost luggage. We had said they wouldn’t need much but as they had brought out things we couldn’t get here, a gorgeous smelling Christmas cake from Jo (thanks love) etc they certainly hadn’t travelled light. Panic stricken I thought we could never fit everything in but I shouldn’t have been concerned. Yet again the boat coped and everything was stowed away. We are however definitely at full capacity now and I wonder if we will ever find half the stuff again.

Lunch seemed like a good idea. It was organised and we had just sat down to eat it when the man from mailasail arrived. Talk about crazy. Anyway he had a bite with us and managed to fix the problem we had been having accessing the site. (They finally believed it wasn’t that we were total dummies with I.T.)

Liz and I paid a final call to the Carrefour while the guys filled up the jerry cans with fuel at 60 cents a litre (Gordon Brown really does have a lot to answer for).
That was the day almost gone.

We felt we deserved a small libation at the ‘happy hour’ bar before heading to the ‘farewell cocktail party’ hosted by the local council. We had a great fun evening. The hospitality yet again was outstanding. Free beer, wine and soft drinks all night and delicious tapas served throughout the evening. There had to be at least 500 people at the affair. We even managed a few jigs. John was getting in to practice with some deft footwork but nae rhythm. The man from the Caribbean assures us that the parties over there are even better. Just as well we will have 3 weeks to recover!

So here we are. Skipper’s briefing at 12.00 and then away at 1.00 tomorrow with hopefully a fair wind coming from the right direction and some sunshine. We hope that we will be in St Lucia in time to phone Gareth on his birthday. By then most of you will be organised and awaiting Christmas.

To everyone who has helped get us this far – a very big thankyou. Keep the e mails coming we love them.