Thursday Sept 25: came to anchor at 0810 this morning in 6m off Pasito Blanco marina; in 1992 I sailed from here on my first transatlantic in 'Pacifico'. The marina now so much more crowded; appear to be masses of small boats, sport fishing boats are very popular here of course; might have a look inside by dinghy when the rain stops.

Enjoyed a comfortable 102nm overnight passage from Fuerteventura; winds from ENE-NE 10-18kts with a few hours around midnight of calm; good for a battery charge. Interesting was the constant fair current setting west at 1-1.5kts; very nice for this leg, but not so good for the return trip. The last three hours were sailed under a scrap of foresail, slowing down to arrive after dawn. Which was grey with distant lightning; first few spots of rain as the anchor went down, since when it has rained non stop.

Friday Sept 26: unable to post the above last night due poor radio propagation - practically non existent (sunspots + shorebased radio interference). Well, that was a night that was; at dusk the wind went into the North and blew hard - 25kts with prolonged gusts of 35kts and heavy rain - VIENTE rolling and veering around; let out 50m of chain and rigged a lee cloth to prevent falling out of the bunk! A reminder in case I needed one, that GRIB wind & weather files are good for ocean sailing but pretty hopeless at forecasting local island winds - to be fair to Mr GRIB, their files do carry just such a warning.

This morning found the decks covered in red mud; Thank God for a deck wash pump (seawater), which did a great job sluicing the mud into the sea. Now have a squeaky clean boat again; until the next mud from heaven!

This afternoon we put in to Puerto Mogan Marina to check out as possible base for family sailing; squeezed into an impossible looking berth, but the Yard hand knew what he was offering; now very snug between boats, bows to the wall. The marina is very small, with a bewildering lot of restaurants and tacky shops; overall not a patch on Marina Rubicon. I was looking forward to WIFI but the girl who has the password is off this afternoon - Sailblog manana - perhaps!