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SailingPegasus.nl - Zeilen met de Pegasus - Blogdetails
Datum: 20-03-2017    Lanzarote - Arrecife Part 1
 The Marina
The Marina of Arracife on Lanzarote is a very new, modern one. The whole complex consists of a wharf, harbour office, several facilities (super-duper showers), modern (expensive) clothes boutiques and restaurants. Maybe it is the time of season, but the whole looks a bit desolate. We learn from fellow sailors that this complex has cost a lot of money and that already several businesses have closed down. There were 2 supermarkets, but not anymore. Apparently they made the wrong estimation about the number of tourists pouring in. You have to walk at least 15 minutes now for the old centre and a supermarket. Luckily, there is a little shop nearby where you can get tasty coffee and fresh bread. Next to the glass access door of the pier they have installed holes for separating garbage (very tidy). On the other side you can drop off your garbage in larger tanks (also separating it). The pier is shut off with a key, which seems grossly exaggerated to us, since you can climb over the wall with very little effort. (with a little bench next to it, to help you up…) The whole of the quay wall isn’t fenced anywhere, so you have to watch your step or else you might drop about 2 metres below, on the rocks, at low tide.
The city
Arrecife is the capital of the island of Lanzarote, the most northern of the Canaries. It has about 60.000 inhabitants, which is about half the population of Lanzarote. In peak season this number is doubled by all the tourists coming in on, among other things, cruise ships. The city has a car-free shopping centre, police station, hospital, schools, bus station with several connections, industry and structural parking problems. It takes some getting used to finding your way around here, because the city has mainly one-way-traffic. Here also, you feel the city is somewhat deserted. Most of all in between the hours of 13:30 and 17:00 (the Holy Siesta), you see almost no-one on the streets. About what you can visit on Lanzarote, I’ll write later on.

The first weeks on Lanzarote
Our laundry has piled up and we really have to get to work at it. Fortunately, this marina has a couple of very good washing machines. We keep ourselves busy for the next two days with washing, drying and stowing away. Furthermore, Fred takes up a little work (has to be done every now and then), reading, cleaning up, diddle on the pc, watching movies, update the website, shopping and relaxing.
Encounters with other sailors
On the second day there is a knock on the side of the boat and to our amazement Mark of the “Windharp” steps into the image. We had no idea he was here. We welcome him in and ask him to join us for dinner, so we can catch up. We know Mark from the Netherlands and have seen him in Portimão. He has had quite some bad luck with his ship and has been lying in the Arrecife marina for months. He is waiting on a new engine, which has to be shipped from the Netherlands. In the days that follow, Mark drops in regularly (often around dinner time) and pretty soon we calculate him in. Homey!
One afternoon we step on board his ship to eat Spanish croquettes. It took some doing (he was out of gas, the oil not hot enough or too hot), but it tasted great! Mark has a soundbar in his boat, for a better sound of music. That appeals to me! We interchange music and movies and also some games. To one of these games I get addicted, almost immediately. And so we hop over on each other’s boat regularly.
By Way: Mark is on the look-out for a nice, sporty female companion who wants to sail the seas with him (see pics).
We also get to meet Peter of the “Sea Love”, who has been sailing around the Canary Islands for some months now.

Health
The past weeks my back has been bothering me and the bad night during the trip hasn’t done me any good either. Time for a check-up. I take the photos and the list with medications, the doctor in Lagos proscribed, with me to the clinic. Unfortunately, they can’t take photos here, but they can give me a prescription for the same medicine. The doctor isn’t difficult at all about it, so Fred asks him if he would proscribe some extra Diclofenac? No problem. Well, that went smoothly! Because of my medicare-card we don’t have to pay. At the pharmacist’s we pick up the medication and again there are no questions asked, it just pay-and-go. And thus we get a number of medicines for under € 20 and even get the prescription back. We are going to try this once more in the future. Maybe it works again and we will have a nice stock for little money.

Rented a bike
For € 100,00 we hire 2 bikes for a week. They are citybikes, so I can sit up straight reasonably well. We both like cycling and it works for me, in spite of my back. Or could it be the medication? Whatever the reason, I am happy and almost feel no pain!

The surroundings
We cycle through a part of town every day and also along the coast, to get to know the area. But also to the supermarkets, looking for a pet shop, Chinese shops (to buy nice gadgets) and some sort of mediamarket for the soundbar.
Boat chores and other stuff
Somewhere there is a small leak in the pipe of our gas bottle. Fred fastens everything well, replaces part of the tube, but cannot find the place where the leak is. Years ago, he installed a copper gas pipe in the boat, because that is much safer. Now there is only a piece of tube at the connection with the stove and with the gas bottle. So it can only be the coupling on the bottle. When screwing on, Fred wrecks the old socket wrench and we have to go and look for a new one. There are 3 watersport’s shops on the other side of the marina and in one of them we find the right tool. We buy a detailed paper seamap of the Canary Islands; always handy to have next to all the electronic maps. Bought a LED-lamp to replace the last ‘ordinary’ lamp. All of the lights on the boat are now just LED. We hang the soundbar above the tv in de saloon and from now on we have a super sound when we listen to music or see a movie. It can also be connected to our laptops. Of course FRITZ, our mascot, has to be photographed.
The weather
It’s varied, that’s for sure! From very sunny and 30 degrees C to cloudy, rather chilly and 15 degrees C. We also had some rain, not much, but still. And a few days of storm with gales up to 30 knots. Mark‘s boat tilted so much, banging against the pier, that a few fenders were done for.

FEAST!
On March the 14th we celebrate a little. Today my youngest son reaches 25 and Fred and I know each other 9 years! How much has happened in these past years and how different and happier our lives look now. Certainly a good reason to have a nice dinner, eating out. We choose tapas, which we both like very much. We drink to the health of Vincent and to ourselves and many more happy years!

Kit
Well… the first couple of days he is a little cautious: the area looks quite different, of course. But after a few days he falls back on his old routine: tour of the boat, tour on the pier and exploring new (deserted) boats around him. We even are told by our neighbour that he jumped in the dinghy, which hangs at the back of the boat.
And then happens what we have been fearing for a long time. Precisely at the moment we want to go out to dine on our anniversary, Kit has disappeared again. We both start searching, inside and outside the boat. It figures: you want to go out and Mr. Kit runs off and is nowhere to find. I go and ask at several boats if they have seen our cat, but nobody has seen anything. Then someone comes to me from the pier and yells that he hears plaintive meowing. I walk with him and hear it too. Where is the darned animal??!! Suddenly I see Kit, meowing loudly and wet all over, on the rocks. The quay is a very high slippery wall, built on the rocks. Much too high for Kit to jump or climb on. On top of that he is wet through and through. He must have swum at least 50 metres! Fred gets a piece of net for Kit to climb into, but he doesn´t have the strength anymore. Then Fred climbs up to him over the rocks, along the high wall. He hands Kit over to me and I grab him by his new firm collar. Immediately I walk to the showers to rinse him off and warm him up. Meowing, he undergoes everything resigned. He can hardly stand on his paws. After the shower, I wrap him in a towel and carry him on board. We put the heating stove on, so he can warm up a little more. I put an old vest (his favourite one) on the salon couch, where he cuddles in to. He starts by licking himself clean thoroughly and has been really startled by his adventure. The following days Kit stays inside, then slowly starts to look around in the cockpit, but going ashore? No way! He has the creeps for now and is wiser than to get close to water! We are very curious how long this will endure.
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22-03-2017, reactie van René Schwab
Hallo Fred en Caroline,
Was net even aan het kijken waar jullie liggen en toen zag ik dat niet ver van jullie ligplaats de AidaBlu ligt aangemeerd. Een groot wit cruiseschip makkelijk herkenbaar aan de ogen op de boeg. Een jaar of wat geleden hebben Anita en ik daar een een zeer relaxed weekje op doorgebracht langs Las Palmas, Madeira, Lanzarotte, Gran Canaria en Tenerife. Vooral Madeira was erg mooi. Gaan jullie daar nog heen?
Komt Carolines rug alweer wat tot rust?
Groetjes
 
22-03-2017, reactie van Karin
Uit ervaring weet ik dat Mark gek is op kaas. Doe hem de groeten!
 
25-03-2017, reactie van Ludmilla
Arme Kit; een echte verzopen kat....
En gefeliciteerd met jullie 9-jarig jubileum! Keep it growing!
liefs
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