Signs and wonders

"Where's the key card?" Gaby is already shouting from the companionway, "I'm in a hurry. A moment later she's back again. "The card doesn't work anymore". So I make my way to the Marina office. Today, May 1, is a holiday and there is a notice on the door that it is only open in the morning. A huge queue is in front of the office, I am told to wait in line. Somewhat surprised I ask the penultimate what is going on today. He says "the same thing that happens every month. The idiots have deactivated the key cards again and now everyone has to come back and activate the card". "Aha" I say "and it's like this every month". "Every month" says the second to last with a shrug. 

New berth, new luck

After half an hour it's my turn. "Ah Katinka" says the Marinero, "we have a berth for you". Oops, I think to myself, I didn't expect that anymore. I say to the marinero: "Great, when can we change"? "First you pay and then we help you to change". After three weeks we had resigned ourselves to get here no more place. The plan was to sail to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. On my own authority I change the plan and book until the middle of June. If one gets a regular berth here, the marina is unbeatable cheap, so we decide to have a closer look at Gran Canaria. We arrive at the T-pontoon directly in the entrance to the marina. The pontoon is, as they say in Swabia "ludeles" empty, which means as much as no one is there. A sign, the miracle is that we with our five meters width, there still fit in between. However, so signs and wonders arise. The place costs 11€ a day and on average we pay now from early April to mid-June 15€ a day, electricity and water included, so we are very satisfied.

Ponton T

The deck deserves water again and Gaby polishes the chrome in the cockpit. Yes, and it would not be a complete week if something would not break down again. This time it is the inverter. It just switches off again and again. So far I could revitalize it after several minutes up to half an hour, but this week it goes on strike. I get a Victron charger and inverter from one of the many chandlers here. After a week, the device arrived from Barcelona and I can start installing it. The finger itches and I switch on the old device again. Beep, the green LED lights up, all is well again. I can't believe it, three days in a row I tried to get the unit going again, checked the fuses, pressed reset, disconnected the unit completely and reconnected it - dead, and now, as if the inverter wants to tell me "Come let me on the spot everything is good again, I'll never do it again". But unfortunately the skipper is pissed off and rips out all the old stuff. The new combi unit is installed and works. The fact that I now have a buzzing noise on the shortwave is just a detail and as if someone thinks I should be kept busy or else I get bored, he or she (you see I'm adapting to the gender language, don't want to discriminate against anyone) always finds new tasks for me. Whoever you are, I accept the challenge.

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

A completely different challenge, with which we did not expect at all, has the week for us still ready. We assumed that we had the bus driving thing under control. Far from it. We go down the long escalator to the bus station and walk along a long, with chains, cordoned off corridor, directly into the arms of a huge bull of security. "Whither of the way" a deep bass sounds towards us. "To Tamaraceite," I say. "Where to?" "To Tamaraceite." "There's no such thing in Gran Canaria" said the giant. A passing bus driver asks me where we want to go. I said again "to Tamaraceite". "Ah, to Tamarrra-ciiete!" "Yes exactly" I replied by repeating the name of the place, rolling the "r" and drawing the ending long. Now even the giant understands me. "We are in the wrong place". A little bit surprised we looked at him because we had looked out the connection in the Internet before. I replied that line 44 leaves from here. "Yes, yes, but it is a yellow bus and you need a ticket before you get on the bus. You have to get on a turquoise bus and buy a ticket on the bus and a turquoise bus doesn't go from here to Tamaraceite." I ask him if maybe we could buy such a ticket at the information desk, 20 meters away. He shrugged, said we can try and gave the way free. At the information desk we buy two tickets and take the yellow bus to Tamaraceite. Now there is nothing special in Tamaraceite, except for a large shopping center and a Decathlon in which we want to replace our worn hiking boots. 

Grandiose view from our new berth

The return trip goes smoothly and with new hiking boots we are ready for new adventures, which you can read as usual here on www.glenswelt.com. Until then we wish you always fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.