More Lanzagrotty time

What else did we get up to whilst enjoying the warmth and sun? Well, you have to visit El Golfo to watch the waves crashing against the coastline:

We also walked the other way from the hotel to the huge lighthouse with the rather ugly radar platform that was added to it after completion:

It was so nice to be wandering around at night in short sleeved tops, enjoying views like this whilst the UK was suffering from a procession of gales and rain:

Puerto Calero is always worth a look too. This rather purposeful craft took our fancy:

A serious passagemaker as you can see from her blog Astra blog.  At the time of writing she was on the market for a cool 2 million Euros. Her navigation setup is almost identical to ours, just a later and larger version of the Simrad autopilot. We resisted calling the selling broker, knowing how much cleaning etc our little 47 footer involves. 

Both ends of power boating were in display. The  "hard as nails" passage maker Astra was next to a Fairline posing machine with a naff name:

We had some amusement when the tourist submarine was towed back into the marina as usual but the crew got the tow rope caught in the sub's systems. Two guys were busy prodding and poking away with a boathook whilst the passengers were being disembarked:

and eventually they released the big loop, which you can see floating happily:

Even so called professionals get it very wrong at times, that made us feel so much better about our boating mistakes. 

Our last excursion was to LaGomar, the amazing place built into a volcanic wall, inspired by the famous artist Cesar Manrique. The "metalwork" is so inventive and amusing:

and the residents have quite a cool poolside area, sculpted into the rock:

We love the tunnel linking the underground areas to the main pool. Full of water with little steps to keep you focussed (and hopefully dry) as you pass through:

The setting is just mind blowing:

with the main accommodation high up in the rockface:

We were sad to return to the UK as the weather back home was truly dire. Rain and wind. We landed just as a gale was blowing through and stood freezing in the baggage reclaim at Bournemouth airport. Why it takes them so long to unload the only plane that was arriving is beyond us as there seemed to be plenty of folks out on the tarmac. Still, a way better place to travel from than Gatwick!

Before driving back to the boat, we had an overnight stop and then met Anne and Izzy the doglet for a quick coffee. Cafe Nero were selling a "mince pie flavour dog chew". It seemed to work for Izzy - after one piece her focus on the rest was intense and optimistic:

Amazingly for the last working day prior to Xmas, the trip back along the motorway was not too busy. For once, our timing was good. We were back afloat and ready to do battle with Xmas.

Lanzagrotty revisited and a chance encounter of the Nordhavn Europe kind

Since every attempt to have a break this autumn / winter had been an unmitigated mess, we were not optimistic that a trip we had booked to Lanzarote many weeks ago would really happen.We stayed in Toddlerville then at a stupid time in the morning, headed off in torrential rain to Bournemouth airport. It was the kind of weather that just makes you want to escape from the little island we live on to one way nicer. Sure enough, Lanzarote was, despite being a bit cloudy when we arrived 24C made up for it.. The view from the room balcony across to Fuerteventura looked good:

We stayed at our favourite hotel in Playa Blanca - well, it is actually a reasonable walk out of the town centre which is good as we then get some exercise, especially when walking further to Rubicon marina. Yes, we need our regular boat fix. We hadn't been to the hotel since covid times and the fish seemed to have grown a lot:

as did the turtles:

We had a thoroughly horrid little Kia Rio hire car with a most asthmatic 83 Bhp engine. It might have been advertised with 83 BHp but the torque was non-existent. Not at all competitive in the small car class. It also had a misfire when load was applied and that didn't help. Typical Canary Islands hire car really..... However, it was cheap (two weeks for the cost of three days in the UK!) and got us around the island OK. One must do thing is a visit to Arrecife, the capital, and a walk around the marina and seafront there. No nice trawler yachts, just this rather ugly (to our eyes) thing:

As Xmas was fast approaching, there was a huge tent on the seafront promenade containing a wonderfully detailed tableau of the island but in times long gone by:

The piglets and mum were pretty content:

and the camels were way less smelly than the real ones on the island:

There was even a working boatyard to enjoy:

All for free, all very enjoyable. We forced ourselves to go up to the 17th floor bistro area in the one tower block hotel on the island for cake, coffee and the views. Then we wandered around the town and admired how the critical services had been maintained after a neighbouring building had been demolished:

The cables were casually draped across the void to the next building standing. Impressive. 

Friends John and Irene had arrived at the hotel before us and were settled in. You can see how seriously the ladies took completion of the restaurant questionnaire: 

The rather empty red wine glasses in shot were for purely medicinal purposes of course.

On the second occasion we did the walk to Marina Rubicon, we witnessed the return of the international sailing teams who were based there for a training session. The windsurfers with foils that allowed them to pop up and ride above the water were scarily fast, although more "normal" as they got into the shelter of the harbour wall.

Fate took a hand. We stopped for the compulsory coffee and cake (we had walked for an hour and three quarters), then went to admire a Nordhavn 52 berthed there. We'd seen it all shut up on an earlier visit but this time there were signs of habitation. Doing the gawping thing, a dodgy looking Northern Irish guy walked up and said hello. Yes, Neil and Phil from Nordhavn Europe were there, handling a sea trial for a couple of prospective owners. We were all invited on board and got to meet the lovely Henk and Els, a Dutch couple who were there with their surveyor. 

Preparing for the sea trial took some time as the boat was "well secured" with a real cats cradle of lines:

Phil Roach was the deckhand, issuing instructions to the surveyor who  had drawn the short straw of being pontoon man to release all the lines:

Meanwhile Neil was suitably relaxed on the flybridge with the prospective new owners:

You can judge the relative stress levels involved.

The departure went well and the boat looked really good:

For the non Nordhavn geeks, the 52 is a stretched version of our N47 with a larger aft cockpit and a new flybridge and stack moulding. This one was a very tidy example. A few days later we had the pleasure of meeting Henk and Els for dinner and a chat, sharing the information we know about the boats and chatting about their cruising plans. Strange things that fate does, good things sometimes too. This was one of the good things.