Since leaving the U.S. to sail the world in 2004, we haven't had any guests on board. Our nomadic lifestyle means that we can't give people much notice where we'll be when, and much of our voyage has taken us too far away for affordable travel. But knowing well in advance that we planned to spend November in the Canaries, we invited our good friends and former neighbors from Germany, Ingrid and Peter, for a visit. We helped them celebrate Peter's recent retirement from his career with Lufthansa.

Our guests came laden with welcome additions to our larder: Lebkuchen, Stollen and our favorite Niederegger marzipan, just in time for Advent season; specialty sausages and hearty sourdough rye bread. I quickly whisked away the sweets so they might at least have a chance to last till Christmas.

Ingrid and Peter were good sports and adjusted quickly to board life, and using the marina restroom showers ashore. Entertaining guest while in a marina is a lot easier than at anchor, and the two dozen inviting cafes and seafood restaurants in Puerto de Mogan, just a few steps from our dock, meant we didn't have to prepare all meals aboard.

The local beach is small and crowded, so we all went swimming and sunbathing together at the Marina Pool Bar, a cafe that allows patrons to use their lovely pool. It was a kind of mini-vacation for Burger and me, since we seldom spend our time lounging at pools. The water was refreshing--my code word for chilly--but invigorating and the exercise did us all good.

On our first evening together we had dinner at a seafood restaurant overlooking the fishing boats in the harbor, then took a walk through town and had a glass of wine at a cafe with live mariachi music.