Las Palmas (Part 4)

The anchorage at Las Palmas   

Life in the Las Palmas anchorage was really quite civilised. Whilst it was busy, and we did have to keep an eye on how close we got to other yachts when the wind changed direction, it was no major hassle. We could take the dinghy ashore and leave it on the beach if we went shopping to the northern part of the city. Alternatively we could leave the dinghy in the southern part of the marina which was convenient for the chandleries and cafés immediately around the marina. Additionally, we could fill jerry cans with water at the reception pontoon and so a water run became a regular part of our trips ashore.

SAR winching demonstration for the ARC+ crews   

It was getting close to the time for the ARC+ to depart and their crews were in the thick of briefings and safety checks. They even got a search and rescue winching demonstration flown just off the breakwater by the Spanish Coastguard. Simulated casualties were winched up and down from one of the ARC+ yachts anchored in the bay whilst the ARC staff gave a running commentary to all of the crews who were watching from the breakwater. Hopefully none of the crews will need to use the service for real.

Whilst we waited for the generator engineer to contact us we were invited to another party. The Ocean Cruising Club’s Port Officer for the Canary Islands, Agustín Buenefuente, had clocked all of the OCC members who had arrived in the area and invited us all to lunch on the 11 November. It was a lovely idea but we expected to have sailed over to the western Canary Islands by then. Amazingly, he arranged a second, earlier lunch party that we could go to instead. He’s such a kind chap that he even offered to pick us up from Las Palmas and drive us to his house at Puerto de Pasito Blanco; a 2-hour round trip! Instead, we investigated buses and found that there was a good service to get us close to Puerto de Pasito Blanco. So, on a rather cloudy 4 November we went on a road-trip south.

The bus service south was very fast! Our rally driving coach driver saved time at every opportunity with a cunning series of cutting up manoeuvres and last-minute changes of direction. Speeding south on the wide dual carriageway, the built-up metropolis of Las Palmas changed into out of town shopping centres and lots of accommodation blocks. Between them were cultivated areas and what looked to be animal pens. Further south, the views of the high peaks in the centre of the island were much clearer but often partially obscured by wind generators which fill the windy acceleration zone at the south east of the island. For a while there was little other than deep brown ravines full of cacti to look at, and then we were suddenly surrounded by holiday resort buildings. Tall hotels sitting above the Playas de Inglese changed to hundreds and hundreds of holiday bungalows. Turning off the dual carriage way the bus driver took us to the coach station in Maspolamas arriving 15 minutes ahead of schedule!

Puerto de Pasito Blanco   

A 5-minute taxi ride took us to Puerto de Pasito Blanco where Agustín was waiting at the gate to let us in. It would be lunch for 8 of us at Agustín’s house and after dropping our gear there we walked down to the harbour to meet the other crews. Chardonnay of Solent and Sea Wind were anchored in what seemed to be quite an exposed bay just to the east of the marina. The marina was pretty much full but Agustín had arranged for a space for Chardonnay of Solent to stay in for a few days and so we went onto the pontoons to help with their lines in the rather blustery conditions, a big difference from the very calm conditions in Las Palmas when we had left.

Lunch with Agustín (L to R: Martin, Susanne, me, Lars, Hilary (almost hidden behind Agustín), Agustín and Sonja)   

It was lovely to finally be able to chat properly with Martin and Hillary from Chardonnay of Solent and also to meet Lars and Susanne, a Swedish couple on Sea Wind. The latter 2 had already had a fabulous year, sailing from Sweden up the coast of Norway to the Lofoten Islands, across to Iceland, where they spent a month, before turning south to explore the west coast of Ireland and then on to Spain, Portugal and then the Canaries. They’ve done 5,500nm already this year and they’ve still got an Atlantic crossing to come! We had a hugely enjoyable and delicious lunch with so many like-minded people but all too soon we had to say goodbye so that we could catch the last bus back to Las Palmas. And, inevitably, the wind that had been blowing so strongly all afternoon [Ed: so strongly that Reg and Lars had to keep stopping the sun-umbrella from being blown over] disappeared as we drove north out of the acceleration zone and we arrived back to a flat calm in the anchorage at Las Palmas.

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands