Arrived San Sebastian, La Gomera, Canary Islands

Arrived San Sebastian, La Gomera, Canary Islands, yesterday about mid-day while the winds were blowing about 30 k through the “acceleration zone” between the islands of La Gomera and Tenerife. We were prepared having double reefed the main and set the staysail. The wind was from our stern and there were no seas up.

We were shoe horned into a slip in the marina with literally inches between us and the boat next to us and not much space to maneuver behind to the other dock. Mark will be trying to figure out how we’re going to get out the whole time we’re here.

Our first look at La Gomera is very promising. I wasn’t too thrill about coming to the Canaries since everything I read made its sound like it very much catered to tourist.  But the island of La Gomera seems to have managed to stay out of the limelight, probably since it didn’t have an airport until just recently. There is a national park in the center of the island that will make a good day trip, up and out of the heat, and it’s very hot here. And we’re in Spanish territory where everything closed down from 1-4 pm. We plan on staying here about a week, especially since the marina is much cheaper than we expected.

Arrive At La Gomera Tomorrow

Positions:
09/07/05, 30 09.420N, 17 05.987W, 0830 UTC
09/07/05, 29 20.968N, 17 03.781W, 1800 UTC

Going good. Winds have been consistent out of the NE. Expect to arrive La Gomera by late tomorrow morning.

On To The Canaries

Positions:
09/04/05 32 44.460N, 16 42.702W, Braia d'Abra, Madeira Island
09/05/05 32 05.853N, 16 44.723W, 1700 UTC
09/06/05 31 19.798N, 16 50.468W, 0645 UTC
09/06/05 30 25.210N, 16 53.603W, 1800 UTC

We arrived in Porto Santo, the smallest of the Madeira Islands, on August 30th. The island is very dry and reminded me of Baja California. Christopher Columbus married the Governor's daughter in 1471 and lived here for two years. His residence is now a museum. The marina was quite small but it enabled us to meet most of the foreign yachts in port. We were amazed at the number of yachts with small children. I counted six boats with children under the age of 11 years.

After three days on Porto Santo we sailed to Madeira, 35 miles to the west, and tied up at a new expensive marina located on the extreme southeast coast. We had originally planned on staying on Madeira about five days but the marinas are more expensive than we had anticipated. We don't plan on spending much time in the Canaries either for the same reason.

We took the bus Saturday into Funchal, the main city located on the south coast. It's amazing how much new construction, mostly large apartment buildings, is in progress. The north coast is suppose to be more charming but without renting a car we had to rely on the local buses and the times didn't work out to visit the north coast. Knowing what we know now we would have been better off spending more time in the Azores.

We left Madeira today at noon and have been making really good time. It's 250 miles to our next destination, the island of La Gomera in the Canaries.  We plan on spending about 5 days resting up, re-supplying and refueling before heading for the Cape Verde Islands.

The photo (Second of six in the previous message) Mark and Nancy sent of Mark with one of the small cars we saw in the Azores and Madeira is only about six feet long and we call it "The Shoe" since it isn't much bigger and kind of looks like one.

Photos From Madeira ad Porto Santo

We leave today for the Canaries.