Gran Canaria, Las Palmas Marina, Town and Beaches

Marina Arrival

We arrived at 2am into Las Palmas marina and parked on the reception berth. Slept till 6am expecting to have to move but told not to worry until the office opened.

At 9am had all the paperwork done but apparently two boats needed to be shifted for us to get into our berth. 10 am we finally berthed.

The marina has 1250 berths at very reasonable prices and also handles the mooring area outside which is also full at the moment. All those on moorings or in the bay can also apply to the office to get cards for the showers and toilets.

Viking Explorer Seminars

We lept off the boat and went off to the Viking Explorer welcome and first seminar.

Embarcardo Lunch

Having finished the seminars and feeling hungry we adjourned to the closest restaurant – The Embarcardohttps://restauranteembarcadero.com/. At the time we did not realise that it was probably the best in town and we wouldn’t find a better one. Three hours later and many laughs with the Manager we left for a siesta!!!!

Las Palmas Harbour

The harbour is huge with room for marinas, cruise ships – large and small, oil drilling rigs, container ships and the Navy. Fishing boats are all shapes and sizes and all flags: Belize, China, Japan, Korea, Spain….. On land there is maintenance facilities plus an aquarium.

Beaches

There are beaches both sides of the peninsula. There are very nice walkways and cycle ways all along both areas of beach and through town. The first is next to the Marina.

The other one to the north side is good for surf and very touristy.

Also at the eastern end of the beach there are a huge area of sand sculptures

Saint Lucy’s Day – First Party Hosted by the Swedish Boats

Shortest Day Celebration – Saint Lucy’s Day – hosted by the Swedish members of the Viking Explorer group.

Beautiful Old Town Las Palmas

The week of seminars concluded and Carlota who organises the Viking Explorer group took us on a walk through the old part of Las Palmas. The architecture was interesting but so too we’re the shops which are all international labels pitched at international tourists. The total income to the island is 95% tourism. The streets are beautiful to walk around due to the beautifully paved areas and very few vehicles. As you will see from the photos the paving is all different and very effective.

For those who are interested in local prices here are some photos of the local market.

Covid and Rule Changes

For the first week the rules were masks only inside. Week two just before Christmas the rules changed to masks everywhere. They are also giving boosters to everyone over 60 so Hew and I were both able to get our booster vaccination shots here at no cost. Very good efficient service.

The ARC Rally

Even though the ARC rallys leave also leave from LAs Palmas we have not heard much about them until the other day. The news of the November rally losing a sailer and two boat did make it through but more interesting was a discussion had by one of the Viking cruisers with the local chandlery. He was trying to replace a Dan buoy that wouldn’t fit the back of his boat due to the wind geenrator being in the way and was told they didn’t take returns on safety gear. Big signs all over the windows. The reason being that ARC participants must pass a safety test before they can leave – they come in and buy everything they are missing or have to replace. Then when they pass the check they try and return the new gear!!! Unbelievable that some people would pay so much to join a rally then skimp on their own safety gear!!

Well back to work getting the yacht ready:

Next Bog : Inland Grand Canaria