Category Archives: Food

What we are eating and where we mention food.

Exploring Basse Terre and the Coffee Museum

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This morning we once again said our goodbyes. Colin spent the day puttering around Kosmos and the marina, spending most of his time reading and enjoying the sun between bursts of rain until it was time to take a cab to the airport. Eric and Christi went for a drive to check out Basse Terre.

From Pointe a Pitre we took the highway across Salt River over to the Basse Terre side, then took the coastal road south. The top of the mountains were enshrouded in a thick cloud, and as the road took us higher and lower, we’d pass in and out of the cloud cover. Inside the cloud cover it was cool and damp. Outside the cover it was idyllic temperatures. It rained on and off. We would occasionally see glimpses of the ocean through the clouds.

The entire southeast coast of the island looks to be Continue reading →

Exploring Point a Pitre and Gosier

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Yesterday at lunch we had scanned through our e-mail messages quickly looking for anything urgent. This morning we actually read through all the messages, which took hours. We also did a little tidying around the boat. Colin packed and got ready for his flight. It didn’t seem like we had done much, but suddenly the morning was gone.

At lunch time, we went to another restaurant within the marina complex. The food was Continue reading →

Touring Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

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We polished fuel all night last night. We are pleased to report that it looks really clean. The men changed Racor fuel filter this morning. Then they tested the wing engine to make sure it is working properly. All looks good with it.

Colin’s son, Neil, was flying in this afternoon to spend some with his dad and see us off tomorrow. After the chores were done, we still had time to kill before Neil’s arrival. We walked a few blocks north to the commercial district and meandered around, killing time. Here is the yacht club, which we passed on the way to the center. This wins the most unique yacht club building façade award.

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We wandered into a department store called El Corte Ingles that has a grocery store, curious to see how it stacks up against our new favorite grocery store, Mark’s & Spencer’s. In most ways, El Corte Ingles is your typical nice grocery store, comparable to Carrefour that we have mentioned in previous postings. But it does have a lot of high end specialty products, including a gift basket section. Almost every single gift basket had an Iberian Ham in it. Wow, it must be popular. We made our way through the store and found an entire Iberian Ham department. Lucky us, they were on sale, down from $145 USD each to only $119 USD each, with the purchase of a particular brand of wine, olive oil or sausage. And, they even have the special holders in stock. If you look carefully at the photo, you can see the little hooves on each of the legs.

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Colin had a look around the Continue reading →

Fueling up, Bottom Cleanings, Chores and Food in Las Palmas

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We woke up pleased to see that the day was mostly sunny with scattered clouds. The wind wasn’t as strong and it was and noticeably warmer than yesterday. Good news! Here is sunrise in the marina.

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At 0800, we pulled out of our slip and headed to the fuel dock to top off. A big, custom passagemaker power boat and a small sailboat, both American flagged, had just beat us to the dock. The passagemaker was loading up with fuel for their crossing and would be there for a long time. Fortunately, they let us raft up next to them. The hose was long enough to reach our boat. We only took 1200 liters, but it took a long time because the pump wasn’t very fast. We put in every last drop we could fit in there. Fuel was 74 Euro cents a liter ($3.91 USD a gallon). We always put biocide into the fuel, and this time we also added Stanadyne fuel conditioner, as well. We brought the Stanadyne from San Diego and have been dragging it all around the world with us, only using it for the three big ocean crossings and after our Egypt fueling where the fuel was going to be sitting for a long time. Here is a shot of the marina from the fuel dock.

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After we were done fueling, we headed over to the anchorage so Christi could clean the bottom. Despite the fact that the water in the marina is crystal clear with lots of schools of small fish swimming around, she refuses to get in the water in the marina. Since the water here isn’t nearly as warm as in the tropics, she covered every inch of her body for warmth, and even put on two hoods.

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The waterline has a layer of green algae growth on the strip of bottom paint that sticks out above the waterline when we are not weighed down by fuel/water. In the front it came off reasonably easy, but in back it is thicker growth and stuck on like glue. She focused on the Continue reading →