The
last post covered the Summer Amy's sale process to Alan Kepple and Chip
Grounds, two Americans who are such nice guys they restored my faith in their
race. I found it difficult selling her to them and they appreciated that fact
by inviting me to join them in the quest to get her to the Caribbean.
It
was a serious invitation, but one I felt had little chance of getting up. Way
too much happening at home with Sal and I deciding on a sea change, selling the
house, moving the kids and basically upending our lives…. It seems that after
our sailing adventure, the place we feel least comfortable is in a comfort
zone. A place we stop learning and growing and start worrying and cocooning.
Sal
being Sal said that this is an adventure she would not stand in the way of no
matter what was happening at home and so, here I am in Las Palmas, Grand
Canaria waiting for the boys to arrive from Tangier, Morocco. This was my first glimps of the islands:
If
you click on this link
at any time from now on, you will see exactly where we
are and right now, they are 180 Nautical Miles from here which will have them
here in two days, all being well.
I
am staying in this AirBnB which is my first experience and will not be my last.
Run by Maria, it sits off the side of their amazing family home smack bang in
the centre of Las Palmas. I have a huge bedroom with bathroom en-suite and
separate entrance up those stairs on the left so I can come and go as I intend to….
Getting
to the island was straight forward thanks to my Travel Agent and Sister Carol-Anne. That is until I got to Gran Canaria airport…. No
Uber, no Taxis, no ATM and a sign at Information saying ‘back in five’.
It did
not specify minutes, hours, days or weeks but it didn’t matter, all enquiries
at any other booth were met with raised shoulders and pursed lips… Just what I needed
after 32 hours in economy!
Fortunately
I had one 5 euro note which was enough to get me on a bus to a central bus
station and an ATM and then a short taxi ride to this veritable haven that is ‘The
White House’.
As
is my habit, I hired a scooter day one and proceeded to get drenched. This
island, the largest of the Canary Islands has a split personality.
The south is
the tourist mecca and is desert like. Dry, warm to hot with amazing beaches and
large sand dunes.
The north is wetter, cooler and busier.
According to my Taxi
driver there are one million permanent inhabitants on the island and 800,000 of
them live in grid locked Las Palmas. Hence my drenching… the roads are narrow,
so no lane splitting for me, just sit there and soak.
I’ve
checked out the marina where the boys will dock which is very near my quarters.
Right now it is absolutely packed. The annual ARC Rally departs from here on
the 25th. There are 240 boats all undertaking their first trans-Atlantic
to St Lucia as a supervised ‘race’. A great idea for those sailors wanting to
take that step with the relative safety in numbers.
We
plan to depart on the 28th
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