Dear All.
We are still alive and have little to complain about. We are in port in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria. Mette has been on a diving course for the last three days and has coped well. She just needs a written test and she has the open water certificate in house. 👏👏
Jeppe has also been lot diving. There are many exciting experiences waiting now, where they can both dive. They have seen squid, barracudas, rays and a lot of other fish. Unfortunately, algae have started to grow on the beautiful sea anemones, so they are suffocating. We do not know the cause of this environmental disaster, but it is certainly man-made. I have taken up the fight with the cockroaches and we have introduced rules to minimize the nuisance. Shoes stay up on the aft platform so the soles of the feet have time to burn off before we get down into the cockpit. Jeppe has seen a single one on deck, but we haven’t seen any down in the cabin yet 🙃. All fruit and vegetables are washed before they come on board and cardboard is removed. It takes time, but we have enough time. I have stood on my head with a vacuum cleaner and ajax water, while the others have been diving. Otherwise, we do as little as possible, so it’s a pure holiday. Of sailings, there has been the trip from Madeira to Lanzarote.
We started sailing in calm weather and motored for ten hours before the wind came. And there was plenty of wind. Wind from behind and waves from the side, no wonder that Mette was not well, getting cold and having to lie down to keep the worst seasickness away. We were all somewhat worn out when we arrived after two days’ sailing. When we approached the Canary Islands, the coast guard warned (over VHF) against unidentified boats in the open sea with up to 30-40 people on board, also empty boats!! The world is knocking on our little bubble. We arrived at an anchor bay at Isla Graciosa in Lanzarote. The water was completely calm there, even though the wind was blowing 14 m/s from the NE. We slept and went on to Arrecife the next day. In port, Jeppe set about replacing membranes in the watermaker. It had its origin when Jeppe tried to make water in the Ijsselmeer in the Netherlands. There was sand and a lot of other good things in the water and the watermaker could then, despite cleaning in all possible ways, no longer desalinate the water. Jeppe managed to switch to the filters we had in reserve, and now it works again. However, we have not managed to get new membranes either here or in Lanzarote, so they have been ordered online and sent to Steffen’s home. We hope Lise and Mikkel can take them with them when they come. In Lanzarote, we rented bikes for two days, mountain bikes with seats as hard as steel for buttocks of steel. On day two we bicycled a very short trip. We met some wonderful cruisers from England and exchanged experiences and further plans. We mourned the death of Queen Elizabeth together. After a stay in the anchor bay at Marina Rubicón in the south of Lanzarote, we left at 4:00 in the morning to sail the 100sm to Las Palmas. We arrived after 12 hours of wonderful sailing and were assigned a berth in the harbour. For the time being, we have the place until 30/9, so there is plenty of time for small projects so that the boat can come in shape for the Atlantic crossing. Here in Las Palmas, we can get many spare parts and services. We would like to make a cover for the rubber dinghy and a wind scoop for the stern window.
Beat wishes
Kirsten