Category Archives: Cruising Guide

Information for other cruising boats. Our experiences finding places to anchor, dealing with officials, provisions, etc.

Welcome to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain

Posted on by
2

This morning lights from Las Palmas first became visible at 0200. The lights gradually grew bigger and brighter, and by 0600, we could see the clearly see the glowing up ahead, illuminating the dark morning. We had another nice sunrise this morning, pictured below.

pb240046-small.jpg

We pulled into the bay around 0830 on our clock, 0730 on the new local time, just as the sun was starting to come up. Like Mallorca, the waves were big and rough until the second we were around the corner of the breakwater into the protected water. From what we could tell on our way in, Las Palmas looks like your typical modern city. Most buildings look to be Continue reading →

Day 3 of the Water Pump Saga

Posted on by
2

We are happy to report that today was sunny with calm winds. The marina is calmer, which is nice. We like calm days.

Eric went to the marina office as soon as it opened, where a Spanish speaker was on duty and happy to help. Yay. He called and found out that the distributor did carry the part, but absolutely would not sell to us direct. We had to go through a retail store, and they didn’t volunteer any information as to what store we might be able to find their product in. Our nice translator didn’t seem to want to call back to press them on the retail store locations.

Yesterday, the clerk at the Gibraltar chandlery suggested that we go to a nearby chandlery in Spain, just a 15 minute away, and ask them to order it for us. They would be able to get it sent from Barcelona via overnight express with no customs issues. Now that we knew the distributor had the part in stock, we were happy to make the trip. We got directions, which were go out to the road, turn left, walk over the airstrip and you are at the border. Catch a taxi to the chandlery on the other side. We were kind of dubious, but the directions were accurate. You really do walk across the airstrip. Or drive across, if you are in a car. When a plane needs to land or take off, they just close the road for a few minutes. Seeing the wide open strip explains why the other day, we heard several announcements over a loudspeaker demanding that the car parked on the runway be moved now.

pb130014-small.jpg

One more block from the runway is the border. Crossing the border was Continue reading →

Looking Around Gibraltar

Posted on by
Reply

Continued from yesterday”¦ As we were getting ready to go out, we could hear a bunch of planes taking off and landing. And they were loud. This tiny airport can’t possibly have this much traffic, and certainly not big planes. Eric poked his head out and saw a new super high powered state of the art jet fighter doing acrobatics. It would take off, do trick in the air, then land, then repeat. Eric watched for a while. Here is a shot of the waterfront as we were leaving Kosmos to get some lunch.

imgp9631-small.jpg

Eric was delighted to see a Mexican restaurant on the boardwalk. He thought Mexican food was the ideal way to celebrate our passage completion. We are sad to report that Continue reading →

Start of the Passage to Gibraltar

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday was a nice day in terms of weather. It was a little bit warmer than it has been, and there was no rain or wind. As soon as we got up we started our “get ready to go to sea” routine. We planned to leave shortly before sunset. Eric worked at getting things ready to go on board while he waited for the Simrad repair guy. Christi went to pick up fresh fruit and bread for the passage. Conveniently enough, there is a supermarket directly across the street, right next to the restaurant we like. And, from the fancy awning and red carpet, it looks like a nice one.

imgp9604-small.jpg

It wasn’t open. Odd, since it is normal business hours on a weekday. She went and peeked into the windows and realized it is a nightclub, named “Supermarket”. Oops. She set off Continue reading →

Welcome to Isle de Porquerrolles, Cote d’Azur, France

Posted on by
1

Yesterday, Eric went to check in as soon as the marina opened. The lady asked us if we intended to leave Le Lavandou at all. Yes, we told her, we wanted to go to Paris for a few days, possibly as long as a week. She told us we would have to go to the marina on the other side of town. Apparently, the waves can be violent and crash over the sea walls and cause damage to the boats near the wall. She had no “safe” parking spot for us, so we either had to stay with the boat in case we needed to move her or we needed to move marinas.

We had noticed yesterday that Continue reading →