Tenerife

We had a good night’s sleep and woke to another clear warm day with little wind. The forecast said we should get some wind by 11.00am and that it would start to die by about 3.00pm. However, we were off come what may to Tenerife. 

We set off at 9.00am as planned and were motoring at a good pace with just over 50 miles to a marina on the South of the Island called Marina del Sur. It was an old fishing harbour and had been converted to a marina. It has a small working town - Las Galletas inhabited by Canary Islanders, so it sounded genuine rather than some of the other purpose-built marina resorts. The pilot book talks of genuine fish restaurants with good portions and being very Spanish. Although I had emailed them, I had not heard whether they had space for us and decided to ring under way.  If not, I had also emailed another bigger marina and if neither could take us then we could anchor nearby.

Tenerife is triangular in shape and is the largest of the Canary Islands and has an area of about 2,043 square kms and a population of about 900,000. It has the highest mountain in Spain, El Teide, which is a gigantic volcanic cone often snow caped and it rises to 3,717m (you can get a cable car up) above a frequent layer of cloud. We had actually seen El Teide from Gran Canaria and the huge cone which looked a breast. The backbone of the mountains runs east west, and this causes a climatic divide between the north and south of the Island. Winds carry moisture up the north face of the range resulting in high winter rain and a humid temperate climate ideal for a number of crops. The world-famous botanical gardens are in the Ortova valley. There are 3 major towns in the north - the capital Santa Cruz which has tree lined streets, art deco buildings and the best produce market in the Canaries. Mark and I went there in September 2019 in my last boat. Behind Santa Cruz is the picturesque La Laguna, the old capital and university town which dates back to the 16th century and has narrow streets, churches and monasteries. Finally, Puerto de la Cruz which was the first tourist destination on the islands in Victorian times and it became a famous wintering resort.

The southwest has the beaches and the tourist resorts with nightlife etc. There is a motorway around two-thirds of the Island and there is lots of hiking There is good sailing but you have to be aware of strong acceleration wind zones on either side of the Island.

I rang Marina del Sur and they said they could find us a place bit could not explain in English how we would moor so we will have to work it out when we get there. However, it was could to know they could accommodate us. The wind came in at 11.00am -some 12-17 kts and we set sail and were soon sailing along at 8.5-9.5 kts on a beam type reach. It was so good to feel a decent breeze in the sails after what had seemed weeks of light wind. Stormbird was clearly enjoying herself and was effortlessly powering along which impressed David who had not sailed on her properly before. We hardly had any angle of heel and there were small waves and no real swell. We all enjoyed the experience and had lunch en route seeing Tenerife gradually enlarge as we eat up the miles. We could clearly see El Tiede with a layer of cloud along the whole Island north to south with El Tiede pointing through.  As forecast by about 3.00pm the wind started to decline and our speed dropped to about 6-6.5 kts. We were not in rush and were happy to be sailing and just sailing along. There was a traffic separation zone for large ships between Gran Canaria and Tenerife, so we had to be on the lookout for cargo ships. As we drew closer, we could see fields of wind farms on the coast and the range of browns, greens and yellows of the landscape as it rose up to El Tiede. There were some yellow white streaks at the top and I wondered if that was snow?

As we approached further, we could see more tourism of the purpose built resorts on the coast and jet skis and boats whizzing around. The wind had dropped further and we put the sails away for the last half a mile and approached the marina. You had to be careful on approach as there are a number of rocks in the harbour. We called on the radio and although I knew we were going on pontoon 3 no one was there to meet us and they were not really answering on the radio. However, after about 10 minutes a man indicated a stern (rear) to mooring down pontoon 3. We had not had to moor this way so far and so we reversed in and the man took our lines for the stern cleats. You are then given a small rope (slime lines) on both sides which you pull and work your way to the bow. The small ropes are connected to a thicker rope which you then attach to your bow on each side. These ropes are attached at the bottom and as you can imagine come up with weed and muck on them. You therefore adjust the bow and stern lines to position the boat and so you can step off the stern. 

Once secured we then had to see if our passarelle would work. This is like a gang plank attached to the rear of the boat and which hydraulically extends and moves up and down.  I had had installed on the rear step a rope reel of 100m of lines for lines ashore or secondary anchoring. However, this meant that it restricted the amount which the passarelle could angle down. I went off the check in with the marina. You have to do this every time and they all need to see your passports, boat papers (registration and ownership) and insurance.  You tend to pay for water and electricity on top of mooring.

When I returned Mark, Ben and David had sorted out our access and we would have to make some adjustments to the passarelle and drum before the world trip. Once settled we went to find a bar for a much-needed beer. There was a stony beach by the town and we had a cold beer overlooking the beach and sampling some cod croquettas and padron peppers.

Whilst sailing Mark had made some fresh baps and he made some fresh hamburgers which were delicious. It was good to be somewhere new and to have had a good sail to get there.

When we were sailing I received an email from Keith Winstanley, who is one of Stormbird's crew, who unfortunately had fallen off a ladder. We all wish him a speedy recovery and Stormbird looks forward to welcoming him on board soon. Get well soon Keith we are routing for you.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions – do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com