SV Kiviuq

First, apologies for the title; OK for Bob Dylan perhaps (of whom I am a huge fan), but certainly not for the purist.

That dealt with, it's a windy, although sunny morning here in Tazacorte Marina, but we are tucked in nicely in a very sheltered spot in what is a rather interesting harbour. It is on the west coast of La Palma and therefore with some justifcation describes itself as the last marina in Europe. And indeed the next stop westwards is the New World.

I believe the original plan was to develop the harbour mainly as a ferry port, and the layout and structures reflect that, but the ferry companies were not keen, perhaps because of the relative isolation. Effort was therefore put into development of the marina, and given the number of boats here at present it has met with success. From a weather standpoint Tazacorte is considered to be one of the most secure marinas in the Canaries, and for this reason it attracts owners who wish to over-winter in this part of the world. It also attracts, by virtue of its location, those itinerants like us who are about to sail into the setting sun.

Because of its exposure to the full force of the Atlantic the sea defences are impressive, and the entrance to the marina part of the harbour was deliberately made narrow and twisty to discourage the unrelenting ocean swell from entering. The entrance is south facing, along the coast, and partly protected from that direction by a number of semi-submerged, and unmarked, rocks. This is all clearly seen in the map function part of the blog (link at right).

The approach into Tazacorte harbour therefore needs to be made with care from the southwest. And it was this approach that we made yesterday morning after a quiet overnight passage from Santa Cruz de Tenerife. With respect to daylight the timing was good, but with the dawn, as we gybed a few miles off the southern tip of La Palma, the wind gradually picked up from the south, and the seas with it. Because of this, and the nature of the entrance, at one point we considered staying at sea until things quietened down, but a VHF call to the port was reassuring with manageable conditions reported in the harbour entrance itself. So we rounded up into thirty knots of wind to lower the mainsail. This is no easy task at the best of times, but in the rough conditions it was challenging. Undaunted, while I looked after the helm Marilou did a tremendous job at the mast and made us ready to turn towards the harbour entrance. It was then my task to get us in, with Marilou, aided by binoculars, helping me to identify the narrow entrance. As it turned out we found our way in nicely to find that, as reported, the entrance itself was nowhere near as rough as further out, I suspect largely thanks to the aforementioned rocks to the south.

With the benefit of experience we would probably now be happy to enter Tazacorte at night, but there is no doubt that for a first time entry daylight is almost a must. And, especially in difficult conditions, boldness must most certainly be tempered.