Endless night! So long! We went to bed around 6:30 p.m. and then got up every hour, like an alarm clocks. Louis started his night in the saloon to end up falling asleep for a few hours in the captain's bed. So I relayed it to monitor the surroundings and the screens every 30 minutes until 3 a.m. He then wanted more room to move quickly so he took my place and I was able to fall asleep in the captain's bed on my 3-6am turn. It felt really good.
Louis wanted to fill the tanks during the night but as there was no rush, we changed our minds. There were huge waves. It was crazy. The waves were higher than the cockpit.
So I went back to the toilet, security requires, and I ended up exiting the bathroom with my pants around the ankles. I lay down on the bench seat so I could pull them up, it was easier that way. Well, I took advantage of it when we were just the twoof us. It would have been awkward if we were four let's say!
iThis morning at 8 a.m., Louis shouted “Land ho” (“land in sight”). So tired that I don't even want to get up to go see it. It was pathetic! He took a photo that he showed me (Tenerife). I'm going to go see it later. It was really two exhausting nights.
A little later, I heard a ringtone. So with all the good humor and energy I had left, I shouted, “Louis, your phone is ringing. We have signal. “And he, burst my bubble by saying to me:” Cindy it is just my alarm “. Wow, I would have tried!
It's dinner time and we're still a long way off! I mean, we see Grand Canaria now, but that doesn't mean we're there. You can see the buildings and the city, but you have to go around the peninsula to get to the port. You have to go along a protective wall, a kind of 100km long breakwater wall. Well, I'm exaggerating, but when you're close and you've been wanting to get to the other side for almost a week, I tell you that it seems like an endless wall. It's very commercial as a place, industrial even. There is a drilling platform, huge liners, gigantic cruise ships, we are a little disappointed to have left the Azores at this precise moment. But hey, I also want to put both feet on the ground, so we'll give the island a chance to show us its splendors later.
We get there, we see the end of the wall, we are almost there. The sails are rolled up. We get stirred up a little more, but we're getting there. And there, a few hundred meters from being able to enter the bay, the engine turns off! Oh no, no, no, it's out of the question! I want to go ashore! Here we are! So we move away from the wall and we raise the sails to have a little stability and so Louis can go and check the engine. We have a theory but we have to verify. We are almost out of diesel but we still have enough. The problem, we believe, is that there are so many waves and it hits so hard that it made bubbles in the diesel and the air, diesel doesn't like.
We purge the air bubbles and then we restart the engine, we lower the sails and we head towards the bay. Louis warns me that if the engine fails again, we will have to hang on to what we can. I look around and it's just big metal structures or ocean liners. No easy way to get attached to it. I have enough! I just want to be at the dock.
The engine is holding up well. We speak to him in titi to the engine! "Don't let go" "You're good" "You brought us to a good place, don't let go"
We managed to enter the marina around 4 p.m. and go to the reception dock. Two employees are waiting for us there so that I can throw them the mooring lines. That's it, we've finally arrived!
They tell us that they are expecting us in 30 minutes for check-in. Perfect, that'll give us time to wash up a bit. I stink! But as I change, they tell us that we must go immediately because the employee is leaving soon. So I put on a windbreaker and off we go. We put our feet on the ground! Well, on the quay first, then on the asphalt which seems to be moving. We sit inside and everything moves, we laugh about it. We do what is necessary and then they tell us that we are lucky, there is a boat that left a little earlier otherwise we would not have had a place at the marina. We ask them if we can stay at the reception quay for the night to go tomorrow morning to put on some diesel before going to moor for good. It is accepted! We can relax tonight! So we take a quick shower in the boat, with a bowl of hot water or two. And then we go for a walk on the other side of the marina, on a street of restaurants and sailing shops.
We stop at Pier 19 for dinner, recommendation of the marina. We order vodkas on ice. It's not common in Europe, usually they make gin and tonic. Our martinis have about 4oz of vodka each, on large clear ice cubes. Which makes Louis happy! Louis orders garlic shrimp, which we share and which are very good. I didn't want to get a starter because I've eaten so little for a week that I'm not very hungry. Louis orders a steak and I an extraordinary tuna tataki. So delicious! But I couldn't eat it all. The waitress even looked at me with big eyes asking me if I wanted to bring it back with me. I told her no because we didn't have electricity yet since we were at the marina dock, but that I hadn't touched it if anyone wanted the rest. I felt bad and promised myself to go back and eat a whole one. Chocolate cake to finish for Louis, I took a bite or two. Everything was so delicious, we will be back!
Now is the time to go to sleep, in the v bunk, our bedroom, the two of us together, in the stability of the marina. The marina wharf creaks but we fall asleep quickly, we have experienced much worse!
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