Over the last three weeks we have been sailing around the Canary Islands and seeing the sights. The sail from La Gomera to Tenerife was varied with an initial good wind that dropped to nothing in the middle of the strait. But then, as we rounded the southern coast of Tenerife we were blasted by a brisk northerly, huge waves and a very strong adverse current. At one point it felt as though we were going backwards and that we might never get to our next port of call. We did make it to Amarilla Marina, San Miguel and had a celebratory beer and excellent seafood lunch at the Marina restaurant.
Staying at Amarilla Marina felt very strange – it is miles from the nearest town on a rocky coastline and surrounded by three golf courses that are weirdly green against the surrounding arid landscape. We hired a car. Top priority was to buy a sewing machine as our canvas is beginning to fall apart and I want to be able to do running repairs whilst we are in isolated locations. Mission achieved, we spent a few days exploring the island visiting Candelaria, Santa Cruz and San Cristobal La Laguna which is a beautifully preserved Spanish town packed with restaurants and quirky shops.
The highlight of the Island is Mount Teide National Park, a spectacular moonscape of lava flows with Mount Teide at its centre, at 3718m the highest mountain in Spain. We took a cable car up to 3350m and walked around the volcanic crater, enjoying distant views of the islands of El Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma in one direction and Gran Canaria in the other. The pano photo also shows the blown top of Pico Vieja and its lava flow all down the mountain. Much as we enjoyed the sightseeing we were beginning to feel stir crazy in our isolated marina and planned to head to Gran Canaria as soon as the very strong North Easterlies abated.
Another sporting sail took us from Tenerife to Puerto Mogan on Gran Canaria. The funnelling winds between islands make the speed and direction difficult to predict and we spent the first half of the trip in big seas with a 15-20 knot headwind. Fortunately, as the wind picked up to 20-25 knots it also came more abeam giving us an exciting sail. Then suddenly, as we hit the wind shadow on the south of Gran Canaria, the wind dropped to 2 knots and we motored into port.
Puerto Mogan is an attractive marina, with lots of bars and restaurants perched around the harbour walls. It is all purpose built for tourism, spotlessly clean, and well maintained by numerous employees trimming hedges and clearing litter. It felt odd, as though we had stepped into a scene from the Truman Show. We also felt claustrophobic, like goldfish in a bowl as huge groups of tourists wandered past, peering down into the cockpit and feeding a frenzy of fish in the water beside our boat.
We’ve had a small disaster. We checked the bilges to find them full of water and subsequently spent a sweaty day below deck trying to find the source of the leak. Luckily the leak was fresh water so at least we weren’t sinking. Annoyingly the leak is from our main freshwater tank, a stainless steel tank in the main cabin buried beneath a lot of very secure joinery. It will not be an easy fix!
It was a short hop along the coast to our current port of Pasito Blanco. This is a very nice purpose built marina in a very nice upmarket settlement of holiday homes a few miles from the main town and resort of Maspalomas. As usual, we are surrounded by a golf course! We cycled into Maspalomas and the main resort of Playa del Ingles but have not returned. It is a massive and charmless tourist development but does have one spectacular attraction. The sand dunes and wildlife lagoon are very beautiful and we wandered amongst them in the soft early morning light.
Quite by chance Jonathan’s sister Lucy and our niece Alice had arranged a short holiday to San Augustin so came to visit us in the marina. Alice particularly wanted a few Instagram photos so we played around with the 360 degree camera, swam at our lovely, uncrowded local beach and had a great lunch at the marina restaurant. A few days later we hired a car and drove up into the mountains where the dramatic scenery around Fataga, San Bartolomé de Tirajana and La Fortaleza is like Colorado. It was like stepping into the Wild West movie.
We are now spending a few days ashore staying at a quirky lodge in a dramatic gorge north of Maspalomas. Merryn was lifted into the Pasito Blanco boatyard a couple of days ago and we have been marching around the yard trying to corner various marine specialists to do a number of repairs. The most important is the fresh water tank which is proving an absolute bugger to remove ready to be welded. In our search for the leak we also found that the galley sea cocks were corroded and leaking slightly so they will need replacing too.
We will leave Merryn in the boatyard for the next six weeks so hopefully all the work will be completed before we return. We are heading to London tomorrow to visit family and friends, and then on to France for a few weeks in the mountains.
