La Palma

As I write it is Saturday evening, 15 November. We are in Santa Cruz, La Palma and have been here nearly one week. We left San Sebastian last Saturday and, as predicted, moved around to Puerto de Vueltas on the West side of the island. Kathy and I were both quite upset passing the places where we had enjoyed Emily and Ben’s company. At Vueltas we snorkelled. Kathy nearly drowned as her mask filled with water, so I suggested we moved onto a shallow reef. At this point a huge wave picked us both up and threw us along the said reef. Fortunately it did not damage either of us and we both swam like mackerel for deeper water. On our return to Sal Darago, we had warm showers on the stern in the evening sunshine, followed by a delicious beef stew. What a relaxed life!

The alarms blasted at 0500 and as we groggily prepared breakfast, the Calor Gas ran out. Having changed the bottle for the one we managed to buy for €40 from Enrique in Las Palmas, we left at 0610 and arrived in our fifth Canary Island at 1410. We had been accompanied part of the way by ten or more meretricious dolphins which tried to outdo each other’s tricks at the bow. Here in San Sebastian there was a NEW, EMPTY marina, BUT (there always is one) each of the few yachts already parked took up TWO berths. This was because there was a constant, large swell.

After logging in on Monday, we used a hose pipe to wash the main and genoa, while I scrubbed both sides vigorously. We left the two sails up to dry in the pleasantly warm sunshine. Just before lunch, the wind got up and we struggled to get both sails down and in their bags, but we managed it. In the afternoon, we put the old genoa on. Kathy then went for a recce and some food and I put the old mainsail on. We now have our two old sails on so it does not matter so much if they chafe on the Atlantic crossing. It was dark when these jobs were completed.

Jobs continued on Tuesday with the attempted replacement of the diesel fuel oil filter housing including using the TWO, NEW, CORRECT BANJO BOLTS, which Emily had caressingly brought from the UK. It took a while as I had to change the gearbox oil too, but at the end of the morning all was fitted and Kathy who had twice gone to the local yacht club for a hot shower returned (unwashed – as the showers were cold) marvelled at the new leakless BANJO bolts. She demanded the engine was run for half an hour as a test and strangely disappeared into the hot boat shower while the test was being carried out. A much cleaner Kathy emerged from the shower declaring the test run a complete success. In the afternoon, we strolled around the traditional Santa Cruz streets finding another Santa Maria, but this one was stuck into the pavement and was closed due to refurbishment. I then went to the yacht club and enjoyed a lovely HOT shower – apparently only the female showers are cold ;-0

Having booked a hire car we went on to do some light shopping on Wednesday morning. In the afternoon we refuelled using one of our four 5 gallon “spare” drums. I then checked the stainless steel wire rigging (standing rigging), undoing and then tightening every rigging screw. Kathy meanwhile checked our tins in order to ensure we have enough food for 30 days minimum. The next day, at last we were mobile in a motor. The first job was to refill the GAS!! Regular readers will remember the SAGA (incidentally the Saga cruise ship called here earlier in the week) concerning the previous refill. So we drove two miles to the Disa Gas plant, rang the door bell, asked the man to refill the bottle and two minutes later he returned with the full bottle and asked us for …. For…. FOR….€5 … YES …€5.

We returned to Sal Darago in shock and had to have coffee and toast before driving 2426 metres up an incredibly tortuous mountain to La Caldera De Taburiente, allegedly the largest volcanic crater in the world. At about 1000 metres we drove into cloud and visibility reduced to 50 metres. Well I suppose we had been lucky with the gas. It was galling to read in the brochures “Its unpolluted and extraordinarily clear skies have made it possible the island to become an ideal place for astrophysics.” (No error in the quote!) However at about 1800 metres we emerged above the cloud into clear skies. It really was like driving in the sky. You can actually park at the top of the mountain and look down on a dozen international observatories including one operated remotely from Edinburgh University. And then there was the volcanic crater itself. Sorry Saucepan (near Tobermory) you just wouldn’t get a look in. STUNNING. We continued across the island round frenetic bends and crazy gradients until we reached the West coast, at which point Kathy decided to drive. The roads were less bendy, but more crowded and built up. We started to ascend the mountain again, further South when suddenly we were swallowed by a tunnel, down which we travelled for several kilometres (they are a bit like short miles for the truly English readers). Emerging from the sphincter on the East coast, it was dark and raining. We beat a hasty retreat to the boat and put the tent over the cockpit to reduce the effects of the rain.

It was now Gavin’s Birthday – 14 11 08 – and Kathy’s shopping list took so long, I was forced to do some hand washing ( there is no laundry at this marina) {actually there is very little here except for the swell of which there is far too much}. At last, by 1100 the shopping list was complete. We have been warned that this is the last serious shopping place and that El Hierro (our next and Last Canary Island) has only small Supermercados, which may not be able to supply our needs. We purchased everything on the list and on the way back bought 27 litres of diesel for €19.00. As you can imagine we were not ready to tour the South of the island until quite late in the afternoon, but the hire car had saved us much time and energy in returning our purchases to the dock. Eventually we found ourselves in Los Llanos and remembered that we had not bought cereals. Fortunately we found Frosties. Again we climbed the mountain to return home but this time we took a detour before the tunnel to see the South end of the vast volcanic crater at Cumbriceta. The cloud again enveloped us and we went for a short walk along the Aguina Canal. This had clear warnings signs saying it was dangerous and unsuitable for breathing things to walk along it, but Kathy insisted and I followed in front. When the drop became dizzyingly high and the crumbling foot holds were less than two inches wide, I sensibly decided to turn back. I like a challenge but… Later we discovered another supermarket and found Crunchy Nut Cornflakes AND Just Right. We bought several packets so you can guarantee we are not going to be short of breakfasts for quite a while.

After supper on the boat, I popped into the stern cabin (our bedroom) to find the rain leaking through the corner of the hatch onto my side of the bed. I finished sealing it at about 2245, by which time it had stopped raining. TODAY (sighs of relief all round), we returned the hire car and they did not even check it! Following the obligatory shopping (what else can there be to buy? – in this case fresh bread) we did jobs on board. Kathy did some washing and I changed the safety deck lines, cleaned and serviced the stern gland (it’s to do with the shaft that drives the propeller), serviced the spinnaker poles, filled the tanks with water and we had showers at the yacht club. Mine was lovely and hot, but don’t ask Kathy about hers. Later we had a delicious roast beef meal.