Brits abroad

I’ve had a fun few days with friends from the UK who came out for a diving holiday. Here are some photos of us acting like / being idiots:

And a more normal one, with a random old dude:

Thanks to Matt, Dean, Alex and Maud for the photos and company. We had some good meals around the harbour in Arrecife, which is quite pretty. Special mention to the ‘black rice’, which was a paella with squid and squid ink. Very tasty.

They hired a car, so I’ve seen a bit more of the island. Puerto del Carmen and Playa Blanca seemed to have been largely designed to make Brits feel at home, so were not very appealing to this intrepid explorer. Although I find the barren countryside a bit oppressive and am hankering after grass and trees, so it’s occurred to me that I might be guilty of similar attachment to the familiar, albeit to green and pleasant land rather than naff Irish bars and fast food restaurants. From what I’ve seen, Lanzarote is mostly rubble, and the scale of human population doesn’t feel very natural or sustainable to me. The interior does look impressive though; there’s a real live volcano with the very cool name Timanfaya.

We also went to Playa Papagayo, a nice beach on the south coast down a dirt track from Playa Blanca. Here it is:

It was very busy but a nice spot. I’m planning to anchor near there on my way west, weather permitting. It’s fairly sheltered and the water looked extremely inviting.

I’ve bought a bike so I can explore further afield. I’m picking it up tomorrow and will post photos like a proud parent.

The company that gave me a quote for rigging work has gone quiet on me. This seems to be a common feature of the boating industry – quite a few companies have either not responded at all to my emails, or gone quiet after initial interest in taking my money. Very strange. However, the yard here is well equipped and I’m told there is a resident rigger, so once my sails arrive (hopefully unburdened by importation tax) I should be able to set it all up. Suzerain may need to come out of the water for a day or two, but I am allowed to live on her while she’s in the yard, and it shouldn’t be too grim as long as it’s only for a short time. I’m now off to change the hose line to the fuel tank, which I’m sure will be as fun as it sounds. Hasta luego.