Pit Stop in Las Palmas before Crossing the Atlantic

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Last Updated on October 31, 2021 by Amy

Starry Horizons was in Las Palmas in the Canary Island for two weeks. The majority of our time has been spent doing boat projects and preparing for our Atlantic Crossing, but we did have one day to get out for some fun activities.

Muelle Deportivo de Las Palmas

We docked Starry Horizons at this marina, and it was the first (and only time in our circumnavigation) that we med-moored. We backed up to the dock and picked up mooring balls for both our bows. These mooring balls have two lines, one that runs to the seabed, and one that runs to the dock.

While we were in Las Palmas, the wind was often FIERCE! One time, a large monohull was coming in to try to pick up a mooring across the dock from us. They got a few lines tied up but were getting blown way too hard onto the boats next to them. They eventually gave up and tried to leave. They had forgotten about one of the lines, and the skipper throttled HARD, snapping the line. The line slingshotted back to the dock, and we were very lucky no one in the milling crowd got hit.

We did, unfortunately, get our folding bikes stolen here. They were locked to the bike rack at the end of the dock, and we left them there overnight. In the morning, they were gone!

There is room to anchor off the beach between Muelle Deportivo and the other marina, Real Club Nautic.

Our dock here in the marina is the “Tango” dock, which I think is mostly used for boats who are here for short stays.  My nickname for it has been “Cat Alley” as there have been 5 catamarans here at various times.  We’ve been the only Fountaine Pajot, but there has been a Leopard 40 from France, two Lagoon 420’s (one from Austria, the other from Germany) and one Lagoon 400 from Norway.  And of course, when catamarans get together, we love to talk shop.

On Sunday, we hosted an impromptu get together with the crews of the Lagoon 400, the Lagoon 420 from Austria, and an American couple from Maine who are here on a half-boat but provided the welcome sound of American accents.  It was a lot of fun talking with the other crews, where they’ve been, where they’re going and all the stories they have to share.  We’re definitely building up our “cruising cred”, but we’ve got a ways to go to match some of what these guys had to share.

It is nice to finally be in a cruiser’s town.  In A Coruna we were really the only ones living at the dock.  In La Rochelle, there were a few boats that came and went, but nothing long term.  Here, the pontoon is full of liveaboards, and there is quite the community. Cruisers are everywhere!  There is a bar called Sailor’s Bay, which is usually full of cruisers taking advantage of the free internet.  There are also lots of young adventurers here looking for a ride to the Caribbean.

The marina helped us take care of formalities to clear out of Spain/EU.

Playa de Las Canteras

We rode our bikes over to Playa de Las Canteras, which is a beach on the west side of the island from where we are currently docked.  There is a pretty extensive boardwalk with lots of shops and restaurants.  All in all, a very touristy spot, but it was great to get out and actually see a bit of Las Palmas.

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Provisioning in Las Palmas

One of my biggest jobs on the boat is to make sure we have enough food, and food that will keep us happy and healthy.  As you can imagine, we needed to buy a lot of food in Las Palmas!

Where I Shopped

There were two main places I shopped.  One was the Central Mercado, and the other was El Corte Ingles.

The Mercado Central was a mall with stalls set up for different vendors.  Mostly the vendors were meat and produce.  I stumbled along in my Spanish and became loyal to the vendors who remembered me.  There are separate vendors for chicken, seafood and other meats.  The meat quality was all very good, and much cheaper than the El Corte Ingles.  I priced out chicken thighs and the price at Mercado Central were €4.50/kg versus over €8/kg in El Corte Ingles.  There were also more misc vendors for things such as local products and wholesale items.  I spend about €75 at the wholesale nut and dried fruit vendor, buying snacks.  There was very good chorizo from the pork vendor, I bought a lot of it and froze it for later.  The chicken vendor will slice your chicken breasts for you.  Also, there is a second floor and an ATM available.

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El Corte Ingles is a giant department store with a grocery store in the basement.  The grocery store was very good, with all kinds of products and gourmet items.  The prices were high, so I didn’t buy much meat or produce there.  When you enter the El Corte Ingles, you want to be in the section that sells perfumes and cosmetics, and then go down one floor.  You need to check your bags in the locker (for a refundable €1) or seal them in a plastic bag, which they provide for you at the entrance.  You can also lock stroller or carts in the locker room for another €1.  Shopping carts require a €.50, €1, or €2 coin, refundable.  The best part of El Corte Ingles is that it delivers.  Do your shopping for non-perishable items, and at checkout ask for delivery.  They will be delivered next day, boxed, complete with paper stuffing.  They even taped up the face wash and q-tips so that they wouldn’t spill all over the place!

David and I went to El Corte Ingles together and filled two shopping carts full of non-perishable items that we would need.  It got delivered the next day, even though it was super late – make sure you are very clear on the instructions.  Our Dock was T 23-25, but the dock sign says T18 for some reason, so they couldn’t find us.

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I made several trips back to the Mercado Central and El Corte Ingles, each item filling my cart before heading back.  I kept one of the boxes from the delivery and brought it with me, which was very handy – I filled it with the meats and frozen foods to keep them cold.  Everything else I bagged in reusable grocery bags and put them into my cart.

What I Bought

Back at the boat, I pre-made 28 meals (14 x 2) and froze them.  They were all pork or chicken with a sauce, something I could easily throw in the skillet later and prepare sides.  My sauces were apricot soy glaze, picatta, and raspberry or strawberry balsamic.  Sounds yummy right?

Some more highlights of provisioning:

140 servings of meat on board – including frozen raw meats (salmon and chicken quarters), frozen cooked chicken (breast and rotisserie), and canned (tuna, chicken, salmon, ham, meatballs with sauce, Bolognese sauce, and sardines).
Peanut Butter – Very hard to find, we bought the store out of chunky peanut butter and peanut spread.
19 L of UHT Milk – we have about 12 L leftover!  We bought too much, but it will last a long time.
Cabbage – I have read a lot about how cabbage is the best fresh produce for long term storage.  Sure enough, the green cabbage I bought in Las Palmas is still with us today, and is still in good shape!
GORP – Stands for Good Ole Raisins and Peanuts from The Boat Galley.  Our version was equal parts M&Ms, raisins, peanuts, and cashews.  I made 4 gallon-sized bags full.
Pringles – I did not run out of Pringles this trip!  I bought 12 cans and also supplemented with Doritos and kettle chips.
Additional snacks – we each picked out some chocolate bars (2 for me, 6 for David).  We had a large tub of Nutella, as well as 2 rolls of Oreos, and we each picked out a holiday-type treat.

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Bread

Sandwiches are pretty popular, but sandwich bread only lasted two weeks on the boat before it went stale and/or moldy.  Fortunately, I planned on baking bread and had done a few practices runs on earlier passages.  There’s a great recipe in The Boat Galley cookbook.

The bread was SUPER popular.

Food Storage

Our fridge and freezer provided plenty of room for everything we needed.  We kept most of our fruits in a hammock outside in the cockpit.  For pantry storage, we used the cabinet above the fridge, as well as all three storage areas under the floor of the galley.  Finally, we put light snack items in the drawer under the aft guest bed and put bottled water and milk in the aft guest closet.  A few milks and beers went in the cockpit fridge, which was not turned on.  It was a good thing to store the food items in the guest cabin, which prevented it from getting filled with other stuff.  Most of the time we won’t have this much food onboard so the guest cabin storage will be empty.

What We Ate on the Atlantic Passage

Most mornings we ate breakfast separately but had lunch and dinner together.  David mostly ate cereal for breakfast, while I had precooked and frozen some chorizo with onions and peppers, and made egg scrambles out of that.  I did have some cereal in case I didn’t feel like cooking, which I ate a few times.

Lunch was often tuna salad, but I also made a chicken salad (from the frozen rotisserie chicken) or egg salad.  I try to eat a low-carb diet, so I favored apple slices or cabbage wraps to hold my protein, versus David who enjoyed the homemade bread!  He also ate chips with his lunch.

Dinner was usually one of my pre-made meals, or if I felt like really cooking one of the frozen raw meats.  I always served with a carb (pasta or rice) and one veggie.  If I really didn’t feel like cooking, I made pasta with either the canned meatballs or the bolognese sauce.

Snacks were fruit (fresh while we had it and canned when we didn’t), GORP, and a mix of other misc stuff.  I had a designated “snack bag” in the pantry that was full of things to eat.  I often found at night that I needed a bit of a bigger snack unless I wanted to go to bed hungry at 2 am.

Overall, I was very happy with the quality of food we ate and we had plenty of food leftover, so we weren’t in any danger of going hungry had we taken longer than expected.  David was just excited not to eat canned foods all day every day!