|
|
Trip Report # 8-2004: The Canary Islands, Cont'dFiled from Puerto de Mogan, Gran Canaria27 49N 15 45.8ENovember 8, 2004
Photo: The harbor at Santa Cruz, Tenerife After an overnight sail from Lanzarote, we arrived in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, at about 1 pm. We were escorted to a slip with a finger pier by a very helpful marinero in a small boat. As we motored toward the slip, we were hailed by Bryan and Sharleen on the catamarran, Tonga Time, people we knew only from hearing them on the radio. It was great to finally get to meet them.
Photo: Bryan & Sharleen, from Colorado, crew of Tonga Time Bryan & Sharleen had been in Tenerife for a while and were able to give us some tips about what to see in Santa Cruz and on the island. We rented a car for 30 euros a day and spent 2 days seeing Tenerife. Tenerife has everything. Mountains bisect the island on an east-west axis and the northern part of the island is lush and green, while the southern part is hot,dry and sandy. We drove through the Anaga Mountains in the northern tip of Tenerife, an area that is still relatively unexplored and unexploited. Small villages lie in hard-to-get-to areas off the main roads. Hikers abound in this area and that is probably the best way to see what many regard as the "hidden Tenerife". The roads were excellent, though, and there were many miradors and overlook areas with beautiful views.
Photo: Winding roads in the Anaga Mountains, Tenerife We stopped in the bustling town of La Laguna, home of the university and one of the most important towns in the Canaries until the mid-eighteenth century. There were many fine examples of Canarian architecture, but we found the crowded city an extremely difficult place in which to drive and park.
Photo: Street scene in La Laguna We really enjoyed walking through the beautifully preserved, old colonial town of Orotava. Orotava is also the craft center of Tenerife and has both a craft and pottery museum.
Photo: One-way street in Orotava
Photo: Ready for fiesta in Orotava
Photo: Church steeples and tiled roofs, Orotava
Photo: Classic architecture: symmetry and lovely balconies. We had lunch in the old British resort town of Puerto Cruz on the northern coast. The town is a well-established, neat and attractive tourist mecca, but with an identity and a local population who live and work there. It is built above the sea, but there is no natural beach there. Cezar Manrique built a "beach" for the people, consisting of a series of pools, rock steps into the ocean, sunbathing terraces and black and white lava rockery. He really taught the people how to use the materials they had at hand and gave them an appreciation for the beauty of local resources. Puerto Cruz has a banana plantation, a parrot park, and botanical gardens founded in 1788 by King Carlos III. We had a very nice lunch of grilled fish and salad for 25 euros.
Photo: Tom at lunch in Santa Cruz, overlooking the "beach" The highlight of our tour of Tenerife was a trip through the Parque Nacional del Teide. About 3 million years ago, a giant volcano erupted and caved in on itself. The remaining walls form a caldera that is huge and contains the volcano, Tiede, the highest point in the Canaries, and several other volcanos in the midst of a spectacular lunar landscape. The trip into the park follows a road through a pine and hardwood forest and ascends above cloud level and then tree level.
Photo: Peg above the clouds in the Parque Nacional del Teide, Tiede in the background Once out of the forest, we made our way up the side of the volcano Tiede, which has a wide range of desert flora, beautiful in the range of color and texture. There is a cable car one can take to the very top of Tiede for 20 euros per person. We elected not to do that, thinking we were as high as we wanted to be.
Photo: Tiede from the plain within the caldera
Photo: Lunar landscape in the caldera with a palette of natural hues supplied by the varied flora
Photo: Amazing formations at Los Roques
Photo: Tom & Peg in the caldera Once through the Parque Nacional del Tiede, the southern part of Tenerife continued to be hot and dry. But there were many farms and vineyards, some terraced because of the steepness of the terrain, and some protected by netting to mediate the harsh drying effect of the sun.
Photo: Terraced farming on the mountainside in southern Tenerife The marina at Santa Cruz cost us 16 euros a night, including water, electricity and taxes. We liked it because of the finger piers and also because it was a short walk into the heart of the city. We could get the International Herald Tribune and walk through streets free of traffic and lined with shops of all sorts. The marina's services, such as showers and laundry, however, were very rudimentary. There was plenty of water, though, and we showered and did laundry on the boat. We left Santa Cruz and sailed to an anchorage at Los Galetas on the southern tip. Bryan and Sharleen were there and invited us to share a fish they had caught. It was a wahoo and it was delicious. It must have been huge, because they gave us a large portion, frozen, to take back to the boat with us. The fish they gave us provided us with 4 meals, including one dinner for four! Thanks, Bryan and Sharleen.
Photo: Tonga Time at anchor at Los Galetas We left for the island of La Gomera the next morning. It was sunny and there was no wind until we came within 10 miles of Gomera and encountered the acceleration zone around the island. There are acceleration zones around and between all of the islands. Caused by the island topography, these are areas where the wind is at least 10-15 knots higher than outside of the zones. The wind piped up to 25 knots on the nose and we decided to go back, make some northing and then reach through the acceleration zone, rather than tacking through it. It paid off. We had a much better sail, in 25 to 30 knots, right up to the marina entrance. Once we got close to the marina, we were out of the acceleration zone and were able to motor into San Sebastian. Again, we had a slip with finger piers for 14 euros, everything included.
Photo: Marina & black sand beach at Gomera
Photo: The marina at San Sebastian at the foot of the cliffs
Photo: A main thoroughfare in Gomera Gomera is a round island with the high central peak of Mount Garajonay. The marina at San Sebastion is full of cruisers getting ready to sail to the Cape Verdes or Caribbean. It's a good place to provision, since it has a major supermarket and a public market twice weekly. It also has a good internet cafe, where you can have a cappuchino while you work. And best of all for exercise deprived cruisers, it has a nice gym which charges $37 euros a month (there is also a daily or one-use charge) with a wide variety of exercise machines and equipment. Photo: Roger & Judy from Maine on Hanoah, a Pearson Vanguard, bound for the Caribbean
Photo: Martin & Wel from the Netherlands, on Beagle, now in the Cape Verdes, and friend Jan After driving on winding roads at frightening heights on Lanzerote and Tenerife, we decided to take a bus tour through the Garajonay Nacional Park on Gomera, and were happy we made the decision. It was a relaxing ride through beautiful mountain scenery and we arrived on the other side of Gomera in Valle Gran Rey on the coast. After a relaxing lunch at an outdoor cafe, we walked along the coast to the ferry port and took the ferry back to San Sebastian. The trip cost us 13 euros a piece for the bus and the ferry.
Photo: The harbor at Valle Gran Rey, Gomera We left Gomera on October 31, bound for a stop at Los Galetas before going on to Gran Canaria. We went through acceleration zones around all the islands and so had at least 20 knots for the entire trip. We arrived at Puerto Mogan where we will leave the boat while we spend the holidays at home. Here in Puerto Mogan, we met friends again, all of us working hard to get the boats ready for the Atlantic Crossing. But, we still had time to enjoy each other's company in the evenings.
Photo: Val(Molluka II), Andy (Gold Eagle), Tom, Peg, Tony (Molluka II) and June (Gold Eagle) at dinner in Puerto Mogan, Gran Canaria We will return on December 29 and expect to set off for Martinique with our friend, Garry, as crew, sometime during the first week in January. We wish all of you a happy holiday season and look forward to our next adventure together. Love, Hugs, 73s & 88s, Peg & Tom Maynard s/v Starboard Home
|
|
Grand Daughters' web pages: Anna's Home Page, Anastasia's Home Page Isabelle's Home Page
|
Previous
Trip Report 
