Dunas Maspalomas

... pronounced Mitch-ell, Santiago, Ben, Kiros and Naira are quick and efficient.

Eden Apartments are on the hill behind the Europa centre, there is a short direct path to the complex of shops (the Netto is there) and restaurants / bars
Personal recommendations are El Brasero for really great T bones steaks and Tapas. Little Italy for pastas and Pizza. Extreemz bar for cheap beer 12noon-6:30pm (Dec 07 it ...

... layer. Within the cloud layer are dense "cloud" pine forests which are similar to rain forests. Once you drive up and above the cloud layer the sky is clear blue and the terrain is warm desert- an amazing contrast to the dense cloud forests and cool air that were just a mile back! You look back down and you see the cloud layer which looks like a solid mass of cotton below you. It reminded us of looking down at the clouds when you are in an airplane ...

One more weekend before I fly back to the UK to spend three weeks with family. On the 19th May, my other half - the driver - motoguzziman joins me in Manchester and then on the 27th we fly to Totonto where the bike is stored. We´ll need two new tyres before we can take her anywhere - but friends are ready to help us sort that out.

Today was my first A day of classes since we have been back at sea. I have three classes on A day so the majority of my day before 3pm was spent in class with an hour and half break for lunch. After class I picked up my twelve different forms that I have to complete for immigration requirements into some of the future ports. It seemed like it took forever to complete them all! I only messed up on one of the twelve forms so I think I did pretty well because ...

Las Palmas was the home of Christopher Columbus before he sailed to the New World in 1492. It was an interesting place to walk around for a few hours. Beautiful wooden balconies on many of the buildings, tropical foliage and lovely sunny weather in the middle of January combined for a nice day. Amazingly, I escaped without buying a single pair of Spanish leather shoes (because my luggage was already so full). Next time I visit, I'll bring an extra suitcase to completely fill with shoes.

... of having a plunge in between your sightseeing and shopping. Above all, Las Palmas is an authentic Spanish working city that doesn't warrant its somewhat seedy image. Sure, like any port, there are areas where you wouldn't walk at night with an expensive camera slung round your neck but, overall, you should feel perfectly safe here and the city is well-deserving of at least a couple of days of exploration.

... didn't eat a descent meal since the rock. During my second watch, between 2 showers i got the pleasure to have a quick look at the stars. And Denis was really nice to let me his cabine for few hours the time to get some good sleep because i couldn't get some in the cnetral place where i used to sleep. 26th of November: Just after the storm we got a deadly calm weather which was even worse cause we had to turn on the engine which ...

... he´s going to be deprived of his weekly M&M intake. Speaking of deprivation - we´re not drinking for the whole trip given we have to be awake for our ´watches´- a challenge for me at the best of times never mind if I have had a couple glasses of wine. So tonight´s our last night having a drink - which I´m about to go back to now! Will try to upload some pics when we get to the Caribbean. All our best from Yacht Grace x

... Year's Eve was a HUGE mistake. It sounded like it would have been a great area for a party, and I had envisioned that it would be just like on the peninsula, with tons of people pouring out onto the streets. Even on a regular night, certain Spanish cities can have an electric atmosphere on the street - I could only imagine what New Year's Eve would have been like. Sadly, this tacky tourist trap was nothing like that. It ...

I hated this holiday - the apartments were away at the top of the hill, beyond the Europa Centre and they were building a new hotel next door, we were told that it was only remedial work - total nightmare. The were drilling from early in the morning til sunset - but apart from that nothing would entice me back to the same area again!