The Canaries for Christmas

The high Canaries, spectacular...

After a long four weeks on my own, getting a few jobs done, friends and family arrive near Christmas. I have finished the windvane and ham radio installations and most jobs, the air horns and compass light need fixed but I need two people to fix that (or one person with arms 12 feet apart...)

We walk to the old town and  get a bus to the south of the island, the old town is ok - the cathedral is a useful landmark.

To be honest we find the south a bit touristy... understatement, my god there are thousands of them, but, apartments, beaches, cheap and cheerful cafes, beer, coffees, icecream - if you want to crash and sunbath, swim, read books and eat and drink it is as good place as any to be. Normally Shirley and I  wouldn't relax that much.

We do manage to go to the North of the island and do the beach and swim thing mind you.

However Alan and Gwen hire a car and take us inland, suddenly we get Gran Canaria  - the scenery is incredible - we go to the Rocque Nobel - nearly the highest point and a lovely piece of rock.

 We get to the bottom of that rock, we do see climbers get to the top, but we stop and have lunch instead...

The mountains have it.

We also go Agaete - a valley in the North facing Tenerife.

We also have cocktails

and get silly on the boat

The good old silly times in the evenings, it's good to have friends.

On Sunday (Christmas Eve) we go to the town Teror - an hour bus ride up in the mountains on the recommendation of the bar owner in the marina - (Marea Baja- thank you). We go with Rick and Julie who are berthed two boats up in the marina, they are members of the Seven seas Cruising Association (Rick is a board member) which I had recently joined. Alan and Gwen drive there and we visit the church to see Mass.

We had also been on Rick and Julie's boat "Believe"  a few days earlier and been entertained beautifully. In the course of the evening I promise to write a few paragraphs for the SSCA newsletter, I'll post it here when it happens - the SSCA looks like a fun organisation to belong to and I make sure I fly their flag in a superior position on my port shroud.

There is a market and the air is beautifully cool (14 degrees) and sunny - the view (and drive) is stupendous.

We head back to the airport to pick up Matt and then on to the apartment with Alan and Gwen. Their apartment is in the mountains and so so scenic. We head for a wee cafe for tapas and have a fantastic time - the owner is liberal with her wine and beer and the tapas are super - an avocado with garlic and tomato was to die for.

The veranda in the apartment, lovely clean air, good to be in the mountains.

The walks up and down are steep - here is Mat and Claire

Shirley looking for flowers

 Alan, Gwen and Claire

Next day we go on a walk before our turkey lunch - complete with black puddings - lovely.

On boxing day we chill out on the boat,and on the 27th say au revoir to Rick and Julie, and son Brett as they depart for Antigua, I hope our paths cross soon. Fair winds and God speed to them.

Then preparations continue - a parcel from Compass arrives via UPS, I hope the "U" does not stand for Urgent as it has taken 27 days to reach me. And Compass sent the wrong part! the catalogue number shows a boarding step with a width of 27 cms and no wooden insert, I get a wooden insert version with a width of 24.5 cm that doesn't suit the boarding ladder. However I resolve to fit it anyway and make a rope ladder for the swimmers. <sigh>

Meanwhile Alan has worked out how to use his satellite locator to update a website with positions - he will upload a new position at noon UTC every day - (01:00 BST). At least I hope it is a new position! We need to careful as there are two versions of the web URL, one allows sending a message to Alan but that will cost him money. Our four partners will have this URL, Shirley, Ann, Ruth and Gwen. The other version has no messaging facility. I will post details here soon. 

Theoretically the ham radio equipment will pass location data to a site in finland  http://APRS.FI and I believe marinetraffic harvests this data and displays it mid ocean, however the ham radio traffic is linked to my US amateur radio callsign AI6QL and you may need to search for that - however I cannot test or experiment with this until outside the marina. Also normal amateur radio voice contacts will be with  my UK callsign MI5AFL since QSL cards are setup for the UK callsign only.

To see where we are try the website https://eur-share.inreach.garmin.com/AlanDoyle if https://www.marinetraffic.com has old data on it - Alan will update his inreach each day at 12:00 UTC (GMT) each day.

We plan to leave Gran Canaria on the morning of Friday 29th December and head South to the Cape Verde Islands, to meet Doros and Peter by January 5th. Crew on board son Matt, me and Alan Doyle 

Alone in the Cararies

Having arrived in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria and paid for two nights in the marina (13.50 Euro a night) I ask for discount for 5 weeks and paying in advance - this is after waiting for two hours in the marina office. I do not understand at all the pricing structure - it looks like half the fee is for electric and water but I end up being charged 282 euro for 35 days (8 euro a night). Much better than being at anchor or on a buoy, and I think you are not allowed long term rents on the buoys anyway.

So, escounced safe in my berth I start to work down "the list" repairing lights, fitting a car radio (again). The car radio is neat - it can play DVDs on the video monitor I fitted in Ireland, via a composite video to VGA adaptor that ebay provided. It also has a USB socket for pen drives and (micro?)SD slot to play music from. Sounds good in the cockpit speakers! I also fit new taps to both heads, get the cockpit shower working and fit a pump out deck fitting with associated sanitation hose and divertor valve - I can now get the holding tank pumped out instead of dumping ( 8-) ) at sea, no shit. Getting the big thick pipes to fit on big thick spigots and valves was hard, very hard.

<<Nerd mode on >>I also fit the ham radio gear but get poor reception - propagation of signals is determined by sunspots, solar flares and storms. The sunspots have an eleven year cycle and as luck would have it we are  in the trough. Still, I will try it with a horizontal antenna to see if the high noise level is local - marinas are notorious for generating radio smog and vertical antennas are prone to picking it up. << Nerd mode off>>

Some damp had got into the solar cells on the saloon roof - breaking green water in the gale I expect. The connector boxes have a good IP rating but breaking waves need extraordinary protection. I open up the boxes and seal them with vaseline and good old silkaflex. Time will tell... I also fit on-off switches to the most excellent solar cell controllers, I fitted two of these for redundancy - to be sure to be sure and they do a terrific job - they are modern MPPT types and 30% more efficient than old PWM types. Much more efficient in dim light actually as if the cells are only generating 10 volts or less at sunset the controller converts the voltage up and takes as much current as is sensible. They are smart!  The controllers also generate considerable radio interference to the very sensitive ham radio receiver and the sterling mains operated battery charger does not like to be in a tug and war with the them so I will switch them off if I ever need to use the battery charger; the solar cells actually keep the batteries charged in the marina even with the fridge and odd light working (the fridge does not have 240 volt inputs) To be fair I have 5 sets of mains lights, an electric kettle, a popup toaster and a neat single ring mains cooker - I aim not to use gas when in marinas.


The last major job is the windvane, I have thought out how to do this, I also need to get a swim ladder sorted out - a necessary safety item. I order a single handhold step from Compass in Germany who will deliver to the marina for 12 Euro. This will allow attachment of the existing bow ladder (on the transom) and can be hinged up when under way with a slippery hitch, reachable from the water.

The windvane needs minor adjustment of lead weights and then 4 pulleys fitted and an emergency tiller rigged. I work out how to do this - the manual had said a 60 cm tiller would suffice but an email from Mr Poot - the naval engineer who produced the plans says the Hallberg Rassy 41 needs a 1m tiller (with 110kgm force). Oops. This means I have to move the wooden box that contains the compressor (rotate it 90 degrees) possibly refit the rod kicker on the mizzen as well. Also the liferaft may have to go back on the transom. I need space for folding bikes too. All this is connected so I hope the compass order arrives soon - I am tracking it with UPS and it is in Madrid as we speak.

The minor jobs like the new mug stand for the cockpit and a few bits if woodwork and varnishing also need done and time is flying. Alan and Gwen Doyle and Shirley arrive in 8 and 9 days time <gulp> it will be lovely to have company but were did the time go?

As it has been hot (reasonably hot - 23-25 degrees at first but lately 19-20 odd) I have trying to do one job a day and relax the rest of the time. I go for a one to two hour walk every day and stop in one of the cafes at the marina  - Marea Baja has the best Wifi and I can download youtube videos and podcasts easily here. With Coffee at 1.50 Euro and Beer (free peannuts!) for 2.50 Euro I manage nicely.

As the first photograph above shows I rig the Christmas lights - seems a bit weird in the heat but on one excursion up the town I see the town is preparing for Christmas shopping - with kids singing  carols

Whilst I am still in shorts and shirtsleeves Rachel has got a new coat - its colder in Montreal!

It is even cold in Kilclief back in Northern Ireland and Shirley sends me a few photos

Shirley is crushing nuts - thank you Eileen - home grown in Alicante! Note the white paper Angel - if you want to have a go making your own use the photo below for guidance

Here are a few shots of the marina - note the weather is bit nicer here...

The beach here is where I have resolved to go swimming tomorrow, quicker exercise than walking for 2 hours!

Shirley had told me that Fyne Tyme was at anchor here - Rod and Julia Kannenbergs old boat, now owned by some Belgians. I take a few photographs for old tymes sake. Rod and Julia had a Mediterranean adventure and I remember Alan Doyle, John Henshaw and I accompanying them in Otago when we left Donaghadee together in Northern Ireland and we stayed in convoy all the way to Brest where I left the boat for the winter (in Crozen-Morgat £340 for 10 months in the marina!) Whilst they headed south. Good times.

Well, that's all for now, I eagerly await friends to arrive. There is not a lot of craic on the pontoon as everyone seems very self contained, I am the only Brit, the boat next to me has a taciturn Finn and we do exchange a few pleasantries every morning - to be fair I have not made a lot of effort myself as I want to get down my "list" maybe soon... (maybe I am a taciturn brit?)