Hi all,
We arrived to Grand Canaria Nov 11th. The port authority docked us in a small part of the marina with all the other catamarans. So far the ARC organization has been excellent, parties and seminars every day, very helpful assistance staff and the city of Las Palmas has been throwing welcome parties. Most of the supermarkets, butcher shops and open markets do boat deliveries which is quite handy.
Our crew is complete now, there is a couple from Germany, a girl from New Zeland, a South African guy and the two of us (Croatians). Lucky for us Eylem has a restaurant and she loves to cook, so we are in for one gourmet crossing. She also loves to do the provisioning so she did a big thing buying everything and planing our meals. Thanx Eylem :)
We are all quite relaxed so I think our litlle adventure is going to be very easy going.
For a last couple of days people from Lagoon have been going around helping us Lagoons with our preparations. I have to say they have been very helpful, they solved some of the problems that were bothering us all summer. Thank you Lagoon.
We serviced the engine and I went up the mast yesterday and checked all the rigging, which means we are almost ready for the rally.
So far we threw 3 parties aboard the Arctic Queen so we already have a reputation of a party boat among ARC people :) Also every evening there is a sundowner party, something like a happy hour from 4.30 till 8 and there is a sailors' bar just next to the party place where we get together exchanging information and experiences.
Our safety inspection went well, we still needed to do a couple of things but more or less we are good to go.
Good luck to everyone in final preparations!
The Arctic Queen Team