Islands in the sun!
19 November 2013 | La Gomera, Canary Islands
Belinda and Kit
Current Position: 28° 05.34N 017° 06.509W, San Sebastian de La Gomera, Canary islands
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Still in the Canaries and we’ve taken the opportunity to explore. The weather is always warm, 25-28C, mainly sunny although sometimes overcast; particularly to the north of the islands.
Using various means of transport whilst on Tenerife we managed to see quite a lot of it. We took the tram from Santa Cruz up to La Laguna, an attractive town high in the hills, with many traditional Canarian balconied mansions, interesting museums and shady café/bars.
We hired a car and drove up, up, up – above the clouds and close to the summit of Mount Teide. The surrounding volcanic landscape is surreal – easy to see why much of ‘Planet of the Apes’ was filmed there. We drove along the mountainous spine of the island with fabulous vistas down to both coasts and out to the other islands.
A particular highlight was a night at the opera in Tenerife’s impressive auditorium; we saw ‘Cosi Fan Tutti’ sung in Italian with Spanish subtitles! Just as well we’d read up on the plot and knew what was going on! We returned next day for a morning coffee and to see the Auditorium close up in daylight. Local artists have painted ‘portraits’ of famous people on the rocks lining the shore of the patio café – politicians, composers, rock stars, musicians – they’re all there!!
The Auditorium itself is stunning – it’s white mosaic exterior shimmers in the sun and is visible for several miles out to sea, a very handy landmark for us sailors as it’s close to the seaward entrance to the marina! It was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava Valls and opened in 2003.
If you think we’re having a fine time – you’re correct! However it’s not all play for us; in between outings we are busy preparing Quilcene for the forthcoming Atlantic crossing. Kit has been working out our sail plan for the downwind passage, and fitted a second spinnaker pole to keep the sails from collapsing if (when!) we roll. My sewing machine has been kept busy making dark covers for our spare water containers to keep the contents fresh, and of course we are still stocking up on spares and filling the boat with stores!
We still found time for a little ‘holiday’ to the island of La Palma. The ferry bus took us from the port at Santa Cruz de Tenerife to Los Cristianos in the south where we jumped on a ferry to Santa Cruz de La Palma for a few days stay in a nice hotel. La Palma exceeded all expectations; a beautiful island, lush and green in the north with dark volcanic craters in the south. There are plenty of buses so we took one that wound its way up to the ‘vulcanos’. These craters are quite beautiful in a ‘harsh’ way, and we walked around the rim of one that only came into being when it erupted from the ground in 1971. Already trees are established on the slopes showing how fertile the volcanic soil is. In fact it is so fertile that there are several vineyards and wine co-operatives in the southern area. We couldn’t resist visiting one Bodega for a tasting – unfortunately we could only buy what we could carry in our rucksacks!
The whole island has been declared a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve and we hired a car to go north to the visitor centre at Los Tiles deep in the Laurel rainforest area. The ancient trees and huge ferns are living fossils, and the misty forested mountains and shady paths are a walker’s paradise.
We drove through miles of banana plantations, some are large affairs but there are also many smaller areas, which are part of co-operatives, some not much more than someone’s garden full of banana trees!
We stopped for a refreshing swim in the natural saltwater pools at Charco Azul on the northeast coast, the ultimate ‘infinity’ pools with Atlantic waves crashing in just yards away. La Palma is called ‘La Isla Bonita’ the beautiful island in English – very appropriate we think. ..…and our hotel apartment had a lovely deep bath – luxury!!!
We soon came back down to earth when our return ‘ferry’ turned out to be a cargo/container ship – a far cry from the posh cruise ships we keep seeing around the islands!
Back on board Quilcene we prepared to head off again to another Canarian Island – La Gomera. It took us 11 hours to make the 65 mile passage and we just managed it in daylight. The wind acceleration zone to the SE of Tenerife lived up to its reputation and we whizzed along attaining speeds of up to 11.7 knots!! Unbelievable!!
With NE winds forecast for the whole area we were surprised to get a southwesterly in the channel between Tenerife and Gomera; never mind, it gave us a good sail across – until we approached San Sebastian where we encountered a rip tide complete with white water and choppy seas. So it was a salty Quilcene and crew that finally tied up on Gomera. So here we are - another island to explore…….