17th December - 27th December

On December 17th we lifted our anchor and waved goodbye to our beautiful spot and our neighbour on sailing catamaran "Frida" with the two beautiful cats and set off back up the coast in the direction of San Miguel. As we departed the resorts of Los Christianos and Adeje we passed a huge cruise ship at anchor and as is my habit whenever I see a cruise ship I sent my mother-in-law a photograph. She responded that it was a "5 star plus" cruise ship and rather a popular one; I don't know what "5 star plus" entails but I'd bet the passengers aboard didn't consider a luxury shower to be a crop sprayer of fresh water! This is the second cruise ship we had seen from this spot; the other had been when we first arrived and spotted the incredible "sail assisted cruise ship" which we had seen at sea some months back but this time she was actually carrying full sail and was quite a sight. I managed to take a picture through binoculars where you can see each of her masts carries multiple sails. I somehow doubt that the cruise industry will ever show the appetite for sustainability that would be required to mitigate their carbon footprint but to see vessels like this offers some hope that one day that may be the case.

We had deliberately planned our stay at Marina Amarilla in San Miguel for a very calm day as Jamie intended to set about replacing the faulty thru hull once we arrived and to do this he needed calm conditions as the faulty part was close to the waterline. For this reason we set out early and in flat calm conditions with no wind. It was so peaceful that Meep came and joined us on deck and snoozed in my lap most of the way. We motored the 10 miles to San Miguel and as we entered the marina we were instructed to go to the fuel dock and check in with the office staff. As Jamie turned us around in the fairway and manoeuvred us onto the fuel dock the most hideous jarring sound emitted from the steering wheel. A shuddering grating sound of unhappy metal on metal sent shivers down my spine. We managed to get into our berth and tied up and while I washed the saltwater off our topsides (a luxury only a marina berth affords) Jamie set about looking into our various problems. He replaced the faulty thru hull that afternoon. Over the next few days he dismantled the steering column and what he discovered were bearings so worn it was hardly surprising the steering was making a racket. He showed me the bearings and told me an old mechanic's term of "letting something develop" ......seems these had been "developing" for some time!!!

We soon realised we would probably be in the Marina at San Miguel for longer than the 2 nights we had booked. It's such a beautiful marina though; we could think of far worse places to be stuck. Set on the edge of a huge golf course owned by the same people as the marina and with the stunning backdrop of El Teide and the surrounding mountains it really is a lovely setting. A short walk brought us to a parade of restaraunts and a little further to the centre of the resort of San Blas with its bars; restaraunts, small supermarkets and other little shops selling tourist tat and assorted treasure.

Over the next few days we set about getting the steering stripped down (Jamie) and making the most of the marina laundry facilities (Magpie). Then we hired a car and drove back to Santa Cruz to buy replacement bearings from a shop we had spotted whilst provisioning spare parts previously. Whilst there we also managed to source a few other parts and pieces we still needed from the chandleries. It was strange being back in our old stomping ground having waved goodbye to Darsena Pesquera over a week ago. After sourcing the parts we needed we treated ourselves by driving up into the national park that had overlooked us for so many weeks. It was a breath-taking climb up into the clouds and the higher up we got the more luscious the surroundings until we were very much in a rainforest setting with moisture dripping off vegetation so green and vibrant it barely looked real. The views were spectacular despite the intermitant cloud. We stopped at a fabulous little restaurant called Casa Santiago where the home cooked food was delicious and plentiful and the place was bustling with locals and visitors all enjoying the run up to Christmas - it had such a warm and festive atmosphere that combined with the sizeable portions of bread, meat & "patatas" (and a little glass of vino tinto) I left feeling decidedly sleepy and very glad it was Jamie and not myself charged with getting us back down the mountain. Fortunately ex-rally driver Hickman can negotiate these winding wet mountain roads even WITH a tummy full of pork steak and bread so I could just enjoy the view with my eyes half open!!!

We kept our hire car for 2 days so we decided to have another little explore the following day and this time take the same sort of drive but up the mighty volcanic "El Teide" - Tenerife's most prominent geological feature and the highest peak in all of Spain. I have talked about El Teide many times in this blog and the main reason for that is that wherever we have been on the island we have been able to see (on a clear day at least) the often snow capped peak rising up from the middle of the island.

It's a little ironic then; that one of the few times when we could barely see El Teide during our whole stay was the time we were driving up it as the cloud was so dense we could just about see the road in front of us but even that eventually became tricky in torrential driving rain... We could barely see a few metres ahead let alone the volcano!! We got a reasonable impression of the spectacular and unusual rock formations that came out of the mist at us like the crones in a Shakespearean play; and the lava pools that had long since dried and set into smooth flat lakes, but at the viewing platform where, on a good day you can take a cable car to the peak, we got out of the car for all of about 30 seconds (see photo of me with my hood up for evidence!) before jumping back in and headed back into the mist and off to find somewhere warm and dry for lunch!

As was always going to be the case the following day was clear and beautiful and we'd have had spectacular views but sadly we had only hired the car for 2 days and it was time now to focus on getting Hamble Warrior's steering reassembled and get her seaworthy once again.

The next couple of days Jamie replaced the bearings in the steering system and welded the unit back together again. It was a pretty impressive effort and I have tried to attach a few photos to show the various stages although I sometimes think we could write an entire separate blog on the maintenance side of our trip! There was more laundry to be done as I washed as much of our bulky bedding as possible ready to be stowed away for the tropics and Meep was allowed the run of the Marina for a whole day before somehow managing to take a swim and having his privileges withdrawn again!

On Christmas eve Jamie launched the kayak and from that was able to wax Hamble Warrior's hull which marked the end of the outstanding jobs we intended to do before Christmas. We decided it was too late to take Warrior out for the test sail we wanted to do to check all our work and made a call that we would spend Christmas in the marina and leave after boxing day.

We enjoyed a lovely few days celebrating. We had a wonderful home cooked Christmas dinner aboard of roast chicken with all the trimmings and my handmade crackers. We had purchased a tinned duck and several jars of vegetables some weeks ago in anticipation of a Christmas day "mid-atlantic" but we decided to save these as we were able to purchase fresh food - the vegetables especially were a treat as we discovered a farmer's market open twice a week in the neighbouring town and none of the fruit or vegetables had been refrigerated which gave it a really good long shelf life. We actually returned on boxing day to bulk buy our fresh produce for our crossing because it was so good and this time hauled it all back on the bus; 10 kilos of onions and potatoes, 10 kilos of oranges and grapefruits, 42x eggs, as many green tomatoes as we could find and a huge assortment of peppers, carrots, cabbages, courgettes and an avocado! The avocado was a treat for eating in the next few days as we didn't deem it hardy enough to bulk buy.

What the market didn't have on either visit were any brussel sprouts and so we did open the jarred ones we had purchased back on the Spanish mainland. Of course I ate a couple because it's a Christmas tradition but I would like it to go on record that they are; in jarred form, no more or less revolting than they are fresh!!

We enjoyed several drinks and meals out over this period. We enjoyed watching football at a bar not far from the Marina called the Hideaway where we gatecrashed a family pool tournament and made new friends Mammy, Auntie Geraldine & Cait. We also met a family of Belgian Heavy Metal enthusiasts and discussed the health benefits of beer and how to say Merry Christmas in various different languages. In San Blas we also made friends with a couple from Cheshire that we started chatting to on Christmas eve and had a fabulous curry at the Taj restaraunt. Up the coast in Los Abrigos we walked around the lovely little town and sat in a beautiful Italian cafe-bar looking out to sea and watching a family of local cats playing in the sand below us. That evening we walked back out from the Marina again at sunset to check out one of the bars we had seen on our walk and as the sun set the large rock which is a prominent feature of the coastline here was turned a blazing red.

It was a wonderful few days and one of my favourite Christmases ever. We could think of few places nicer to be over the festive period. Certainly Tenerife has earned a special place in our hearts - the stunning scenery; the wonderful people, affordable eating & drinking out, fabulous and inexpensive marinas, good provisioning and a perfect climate. As Christmas draws to a close though it's time for us to start thinking ahead to our big trip and making a final decision on when we will leave and where we are heading to next..

That brings us nearly up to date... this has been another epic tome so thank you for sticking with it! Once we start moving again I hope to be able to write shorter and more regular updates as I appreciate these long blog entries are hard going! We appreciate all of you that are following our journey and hope you all had a truly wonderful Christmas and have a happy, healthy year ahead