Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

So Wednesday we set off on our new mission to make our boat as unappealing for cockroaches as possible. We bumped into Barry on the way to buy our plastic boxes who recommended Zum spray to be used on lines to prevent them walking across and as a general deterrent, it seems everyone was having the same concerns. He also recommended seeing Florence at Rolnautic about some special poison which is left in the corner of cupboards and apparently is very effective that had been recommended to him by some Italians who’d had a previous infestation.

So off we went and stocked up at El Cote Ingles with an industrial sized tin of Zum, about 12 plastic boxes in various sizes, some fresh prawns for lunch. However, when we got back our zeal for the job meant we worked straight through lunch, I emptied out the galley and sprayed all the cupboards with Zum. All part used bags of pasta etc resealed with tags were transferred to plastic boxes or if not sufficiently sealed then thrown out. Kevin emptied out the cockpit locker which is one of our areas of vulnerability as the exit for the shore power is not insect proof. So he reorganised that space with the help of plastic boxes, cleaned it all out and sprayed liberally. Kevin then sprayed the lines. I hoovered and disinfected and we decided to leave the galley contents in the guest cabin overnight so as not to risk the contamination with the poisonous Zum. Therefore we decided to head up the Sailor Bar for some food and a beer after our exertions and to save trying to cook as the boat had a very strong odour of Zum!

Luckily our last flyscreen arrived in the post from Karen which had been on back order, sent 10 days before, even though Karen had been told 3 days to deliver, we’d begun to think it would not make it. So now we can at least leave one hatch open in the saloon without threat of invasion.