We were becalmed and drifted in the heat over lunch, then the wind completely changed direction and we were heading straight into it, which wasn't very comfortable.
We ended up motoring, as the genoa halyard had parted... rather annoying as this was replaced along with the rigging by Mylor before we left! We think they used unsuitably thick line rather than trouble themselves to get the right size. To add insult to injury we also discovered that the planks had opened up in the heat, during the previous weeks in Las Galletas. We were taking on quite a lot of water through the top sides as we rolled along. Tristan did his best to reassure our friends that they shouldn't worry.....not too sure how well he did!
New Years Eve was spent mopping up! Not the usual trip and rather annoying that the boat had turned into a saltwater shower. Fortunately the towels were in the way of the leaks and most of the other stuff had been packed in good old plastic boxes.
Tristan made several trips up the mast to try and draw the halyard through the mast to no avail.
New Year was lively. We danced the night away to Meringue band which went on until 4 am, but then a nightclub took over, playing EuroPop music loudly across the marina until 10.30am , New Years Day. Not much sleep was had, but it was certainly a memorable start to 2013.
The repairs to the boat have taken longer than we had hoped and we had to order a replacement halyard from Tenerife.
I have applied several coats of varnish to the brightwork. It made a real change to have it dry in less than 24 hours!
We are enjoying being in San Sebastian...the marina is close to the town and there is a good market for fresh fruit and vegetables,
Photo says it all.....food, sanding, beers and vinyl gloves!
My tin store reads like a marine food web: 19 tuna, 6 salmon, 4 squid stuffed with themselves (don't ask), 8 sardines, 3 cod, 5 scallops, 1 cockles, 15 squid in ink, 2 mackerel, 4 razor shells, 1 crab meat, 1 baby squid, 8 octopus, 2 anchovies, 1 kippers and Tristan insisted on a tin of pigs trotters (for when he's on watch).
We are hoping to catch fish but haven't so far so I'm hedging my bets!
On 16th January, after several weeks working, we applied a coat of top coat to the repairs on the hull and headed off for the hills to Vallehermoso. This was a beautiful bus ride with spectacular views over the edge of a precipitous road into the barranco's.
One speciality desert is very sweet sickly palm syrup with smoked goats cheese which explains the extensive number of palm trees grown on the island. We shared one but the sugar hit was too much.
La Gomera has spectacular volcanic plugs but there have been no eruptions for 2.8 million years.....really want to go to El Hierro!
This was Vallehermoso, but viewed from the bus the volcanic plug was in the centre of a huge volcanic crater that has weathered over the years.
The Romeria for San Sebastian is today, Saturday 19th January. Actually it started on Friday and the celebrations were still going on at 5 am....so tonight will be even later. We are going out for a dance later.
Families were all out together..... and not a grey hair was in sight.
