28:07.59N 15:25.56W

Our two nights on the beach at Morro Jable were pleasant, swimming in the bay and eating onboard.  Giles gave the waterline a scrub as it was just starting to develop a hint of slime.  Remarkable how little growth there is on boats that appear to have been left in the water in the Canaries for long periods of time.  Very different to the Solent, and quite a relief as we had hoped to avoid a scrub until we get to the Caribbean.  The yards are very busy here from now until after we depart in November.  The other pleasing observation is that the batteries can be fully charged with the solar panels during the day, despite running the fridge and freezer.  That may not be the case on more cloudy days but it’s better than we had thought.  On the down side, the water-maker only generates 15 litres per hour, despite replacing the low-pressure pump as suggested by the manufacturer.  Still, if we’re careful, six of us can be comfortable with what we can generate by running it for six hours a day, and we should be able to do that with the energy from the hydro generator and the solar panels.  Failing that, we can run the engine to recharge the batteries but we’d rather not if we don’t have to.

The final leg of our sail from Lagos in Portugal to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria started early for some reason nobody can recall.  It was likely to be a fast passage of just 52 miles.  Andrew and Muriel, both determined not to be accused by the other of holding things up by faffing, ended up leaving even earlier than planned!  We followed Galatea half an hour later, still before dawn, dodging fishing boats and the steep seas of the SW tip of Fuerteventura, before setting a direct course for Las Palmas.  A couple of flying fish showed off their skills early on and some shearwaters swirled around us during the day.  Once the wind had settled in the open water, we were beam-reaching with two reefs in the mainsail, making 8 to 9 knots.  All very pleasant but too fast to fish.  We crossed the shipping lanes between the two islands with ease and Las Palmas came into view.

Las Palmas is a relatively large city compared with any other port we’ve been to for a long time.  It has a very large commercial port as well as one of the biggest marinas we’ll ever visit. 

Still, the approach was easy and at 1400 we dropped the sails and motored into the marina.  Once there, we refueled and waited for the marina office to re-open for their afternoon session at 1600.  1400 to 1600 is siesta time!  We were directed to berth alongside a finger pontoon between Northern Light II (Michael and Sarah Loftus, friends from the IoW) and a Lagoon catamaran which was also joining ARC+.  After a quick tidy-up, the couple from the catamaran, Andrew and Muriel, and Sharon and John from Sofa So Good (another ARC Portugal boat) joined us for drinks onboard and a meal ashore. 

The next 3 days will be spent laying up Infinity for the 24 days we’ll be away and ordering more bits to bring out with us when we return.  All in all, a very pleasant journey so far, with very favourable conditions and not too much damage.  Almost ready for ARC+!