Thursday, 8th January, 17 degrees

I was awake early because of a different sound outside. I peered out of our rather smeary window and there in the distance were lights on the horizon, something we haven’t seen since Southampton.

I am not absolutely convinced that Keith appreciated me waking him at 05:45 to marvel at the view but in the interests of sharing – I did. We did discuss getting dressed and going up on deck to watch the ship dock, but only briefly. Instead we dozed for a couple of hours. By the time we really woke up the ship was parked outside the dock waiting to be allowed in and by breakfast time we were safely moored up. On leaving the ship it was a very civilised hop and a skip down the ramp and we were in Las Palmas.

We visited the market in the old town which was a bit lightweight compared to some we have seen (Buxton weekly market excepted as they can be pretty lacklustre too!) We then went on to the Castle which was similarly underwhelming; so we set off for the beach which exceeded our expectations. Finally.

There was an exhibition of sand sculptures which were amazing. You have to understand that we are catching the tail end of their Christmas celebrations here and the Fia de Reyes (the epiphany) so the sculptures had a sort of nativity overtone, but they were very impressive,

We then just wandered along the promenade. There was a lot of English being spoken and we saw the occasional person we recognised from the Aurora, but there are so many on board we will never recognise them all. We wandered right down to the water front where fisherman used to bring in their boats. Apparently fishing as a living is no more here as there are no longer sufficient fish in these waters. While there we looked into the fish restaurant where we had been recommended to us and we agreed we would go back at lunch time. We also inspected reminders of the fishing history this area had previously experienced

And then we set off along the coast. We soon left the metropolis behind

and, having passed some new developments on the edge of the town, were confronted with an endless expanse of larval rock. It was incredible how the town just ended and the expanse of nothing began.

I rather liked the look of one derelict ‘des-res’ on the route out

On the very edge of town.

This is an area called La Canteros, On the seaward side of the route was an expanse of larval rock running into the sea. This area is of special scientific interest due to the algae which attaches itself to it and turns it pink.

On the other side of the path rose rocky hills where caves have been discovered that reveal evidence of aboriginal people living there way back in history.

The path then wandered along a dark sandy beach with the hills behind stretching into the distance. After finding the rather remote wooden building which we had been walking towards only provided a very locked loo (!), we retraced our steps and headed back for lunch. The Restaurant Marinara wasn’t quite ready for us – so we had a bit of a photo shoot of me. Very embarassing

.

We eventually took our places for lunch and we had the best fish we have ever eaten – with a view to die for …….

After our light lunch we headed back to the ship with a couple of bottles of sparkling water – much cheaper in port than on the Aurora, We went back fully intending to go out again once we had relieved ourselves of the water burden. We were going to head to the Aquarium on the dockside not far from where we were moored that we had been recommended. In the event we didn’t do that. We had walked over seven and a half miles and had a good day and decided to quit while we were ahead.

So I adjourned to my blog and Keith got up to date with all sorts and we happily whiled away time until we adjourned for dinner. Our numbers were down in the dining room as some folks had stayed on shore to enjoy the delights of Gran Canaria. We do not leave Great Canaria until midnight and you did not have to be back on the ship until 11:30 by which time we will be fast asleep!

After dinner Keith disappeared to the sports bar to watch the Arsenal game and I had a quiet evening in the cabin very happy with my dayl

Tonight we have to adjust our clocks by putting them back an hour….

It is two days until we reach our next port of call – Cape Verde.