Sorry for the long lapse in blogs. I sent a blog via our Single Sideband radio a few days ago regarding the delivery down from Gibraltar to Gran Canaria, but apparently it did not get posted. (We are working on these technical difficulties and appreciate your patience!!)

We were so happy to finally make landfall and see Isla Graciosa, the most northerly of the Canary Islands. Even being just a week out without seeing any land is enough to get one anxious about landfall. Graciosa and it's neighbor, Isla Lanzarote, are both new, volcanic islands erupting out of the deep, blue depths of the Atlantic. I thought my log meter was broken as we approached the islands, but it was just that it was so deep that the meter could not read!! Both islands are stripped bare of vegetation for the most part and stand in stark, brown contrast to the azure blue water which surrounds them. The cliffs are steep and jagged but what is most profound is the sheer number of craters. Lanzarote alone must have two dozen small (and large!) craters as the earth bubbled to the surface.

Unfortunately, our stay at Isla Graciosa only allowed us time for lunch and a short swim. After a couple of hours we weighed anchor to make for a marina where we could fill up with water. But once underway, we realized there wasn't enough daylight to make our selected port, so we decided to do one more overnighter and head straight for Las Palmas. We arrived in Las Palmas at around 1100 on Sunday, Nov. 7th. We were all both tired and relieved to finally make it to Las Palmas.

A quick top off of the diesel fuel tank and check-in with the marina and we were stern tied to our new, temporary home at the end of 'L' pontoon. And what a great location! The ARC office is at the base of our pontoon and the yacht club is next to that. And being at the end of the pontoon we will not have loud (maybe drunk) partygoers passing by our boat at the wee hours of the night. If you want to get a lay of the land, you should be able to Google Earth our lat/long (or maybe this website has a link to do that for you -- I dunno.)

The energy in this marina is really quite positive and feels great. Everyone is so friendly, and the smiles are intoxicating. Not all of the crew of the boats have arrived yet, but the community of sailors presently living aboard the 200+ ARC boats already here has made for a very warm and comfortable feeling.

We are still digging out from all of the sundry tasks like laundry, reprovisioning, check-in to Spain/EU, and making the various social connections for the next two weeks. I have a long list of repair/maintenance items that I am looking forward to getting to, but it may still be a day or two before I can begin.

Elise made the delivery down to Las Palmas with us and I will give you a short profile of her maybe tomorrow. Andy arrives from Vancouver, BC on Thurs., and Tim arrives from Edmonton the following Tues. I plan to profile them for you as well, but I am going to wait to connect with them better first.