Las Palmas (Part 2)

With Alex and Lucy safely back home, Blue Velvet seemed rather empty. We did, however, have all sorts of plans to fill up the space with appropriate supplies for our Atlantic crossing. The question was how much and of what? The ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) and ARC+ leave from Las Palmas for their crossings which is why the marina and anchorage are filled to bursting point at this time of year but that does mean that the city is very well set up to victual yachts. We would just need to spend a little time planning menus and quantities of stores. However, before that, one of the first things that we did was request a 450-hour service on our generator. It was working fine now but the Canary Islands’ Fischer Panda agent is based here and we also needed to get the cylinder head bolts torques checked which had to be completed by an approved engineer to maintain our warranty. With our name on their list we expected to get that all done in the next few days and then move on to explore the western Canary Islands.

Nicky had already scoped some of the shops and markets and so we both went ashore to get some menu ideas. We particularly wanted to visit the markets to see what they sell because often their produce has not been refrigerated. With limited space on board we’ll need to store some of our vegetables outside of the fridge and it last longer that way if it hasn’t already been refrigerated.

The market was perfect for getting fruit and vegetables. It even had the largest marrows we’d ever seen along with some bright pink and yellow fruits we hadn’t seen before.

The butchers were even better. Selling meat to 250+ ARC yachts annually over several years they have worked out exactly what is needed. They offer to butcher the meat into smaller crew-meal sized quantities, vacuum pack and freeze them, before delivering direct to the yacht. If you really want to throw money at the problem we were also told that the restaurants would cook up anything on their menus and freeze it for you as posh ready-meals for your whole crossing. You would need a large freezer for that super lazy option; we don’t have a freezer on board and so were looking at a more conventional approach to victualling.

Our new Serrano ham after several sundowner sessions   

Like most good-sized markets there were also tempting deli counters and excellent fishmongers; a chef’s dream location!

As alternative sources of supplies, we had been recommended some of the large supermarkets nearby. Not wishing to miss out we also visited them and found them to be similarly yacht friendly. Anything bought could be delivered to a yacht and they would also vacuum pack and freeze meat. We concluded that Las Palmas would be a very easy location to set off from. They only potential difficulty was that if we explore the western Canary Islands it will most likely be a bit of a beat into the prevailing wind to get BV back here.

Exactly what we would need to get, and where from, would take a bit of thought. To help with that cognitive process we decided that we should get a new Serrano ham, to replace the one we had just finished, and commence planning back aboard BV over a glass or two of wine and tapas at sundowners time.

The specialist ship to transport oil rigs   

And so started several days with us leaving BV at anchor in the bay and exploring ashore whilst also doing lots of planning for our Atlantic crossing. There was a good café in the marina with fast internet access and an almost daily visit there also became part of our routine. As well as catching up on the home admin and posting the odd blog or two, we were also researching such things as which frequencies we could receive synoptic charts weatherfaxes on, at what times they are transmitted and how we would get other weather forecasts when we are offshore. We were also having difficulties finding ink cartridges for our computer printer which seemed a bit bizarre for a printer from a big name international company.

Walking into the city was a good way to stretch our legs and the waterfront route gave excellent views of the ship anchorages and the harbour. As well as the multitude of oil rigs moored by the breakwater, out in the anchorage we also saw a really unusual ship specially designed to transport oil rigs.

TransAt yachts getting ready to race across the Atlantic   

The main part of the marina was getting very colourful with yachts dressed overall and flying ARC and ARC+ banners. But it wasn’t just the ARC and ARC+ that were getting ready to leave. A smaller corner of the marina was crammed full of tiny TransAt yachts. Just a little larger than a dinghy these high tech mini-yachts are sailed single-handed in an incredibly competitive racing circuit.

Cruising Association supper on board Wild Iris   

It was also quite a social time. There were several Cruising Association members moored in the marina and, in between briefings and events getting ready for leaving on the ARC+, Mark and Lisa invited all CA members in the area for drinks and a pot-luck supper on board their yacht Wild Iris. It was 31 October and so some of the kids sailing on the ARC dressed up in Halloween gear and traipsed down the pontoons ‘trick or treating’; it just seemed far too warm for Halloween!

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands