BEST WHEN BERTHED Just arrived in Las Palmas, and we are checking out the marina. Not very encouraging, to put it mildly. And it was going to get worse, a lot worse. But at least the weather was fantastic!
NEWS AND FEATURE STORIES
Gran Canaria – getting ready to go
LAS PALMAS: Underveis is still safely berthed in Las Palmas. But after four weeks of intensive work, we are seeing the end of it. We hope to be good to go in a few days.
LEFT THE DAY WE CAME Inga and Johan on S/Y don Quijote left Las Palmas for the Atlantic on the day we came. After 26 days and nights at sea, they reached Martinique only last Thursday, as this is being written. In the middle, Armando from Cuba in legendary Match Bar.PARTY ON BOARD We have been very outgoing in Las Palmas, and here we are having a bacalao-party onboard the Underveis. We brought it all the way from Bergen, and the recipe was given to us by Marilyn at Smola. From the left side: Ann Kristin and Morten from S/Y Sunflower, Petter William Andersen from S/Y Pauline and Paolo from Minas Gerais in Brazil, from the Leah. With the 26 foot Leah Paolo has sailed from France, through the Mediterranean for five years, and he is now in the Atlantic. He is on his way back to the mountain village he came from, but he has no idea when he will be there. A great guy, whom we first met in Safi in Morocco, and after that we have met him again several times.THE BEST The chandleri Rolnautic in Puerto La Luz is number one when it comes to assortment and service. Here, Enrique smiles his biggest smile after selling Rune a brand new autopilot. Enrique speaks English, and without him and his attitude, we wouldn’t have come far.THE SAILWOMAN Ludmila from Russia married and moved to Las Palmas some years ago. Se has sown us a new bimini and side panels, and made some repairs. She always smiles!EVERYWHERE The Norwegian Seamans church is everywhere, and we always try to go there when we are in the neighbourhood. There we can have a nice meal, call home for free, surf on the internet, see Norwegian TV and many other things. Here from Arguineguin on Gran Canaria.LEFT HOME The Aadlands from Stord left home after 22 years in order to work for the Seamans church.CULTURE The Norwegian duo A Corda gave a concert in the church at Lanzarote.VOLUNTEERS Jostein Seljelid (73) and Paul Dahlgren (69) from Geilo and Fredrikstad have spent many winters in Lanzarote. They are often in the church, helping out.CHILDRENS WORKERS The married couple Guttorm and Siv-Tonje Tyssen from Trøndelag work as childrens workers at the church in Arguineguin. – Very interesting job, they say to underveis.net.BARNEKLUBB I Essaouira lå Underveis rett under baugen på redningsskøyta, sånn for sikkerhets skyld. Havneinnløpet i Essaouira var trangt og grunt, med mye oppgang inne i havna.ALWAYS PREPARED Rune photographs and writes stories as we go along. In the Norwegian churches there are many interesting Norwegians to be met.ON ALERT Frontex is the name of an EU naval force in place to guard the waters between Africa and the Canaries. Every year, around 6,000 people perish as they try to fly from Africa and across. Frontex has a massive naval presence around the archipelago, and everywhere you can see the silhouettes of men of war in the horizon.
But now we are more than ready to go to sea again, time is running. And we are already on overtime here compared to our plans. So when we have fixed the last remaining things onboard, one last cleaning, provisioning and filling of water and diesel remains. Then we will bid Africa and the Canaries farewell, and set our course for the promised land on the far side of the horizon, into the west. A journey we are looking most forward to.