LA PALMA TO TENERIFE
Monday 6 November
2006
I
think I forgot to say that I received my insurance money, £850, about €1200,
which will have to do. It is
exactly the amount I have had to pay out for my annual insurance and then the
extra premium for the trip to the Caribbean + I decided to cover the contents;
who says I am worried about theft.
I
also spent the money before I received it on the new dinghy and extras for the
trip. So I have spent the money twice already and then there
is the cost of the actual repair yet to be done.
I
set off at 10.30. I was originally
going to El Hierro, but still had some last minute things to get and so I was
going to stop at Gomera. I would
have had to catch the ferry to Tenerife from Gomera so I headed for
Tenerife. I thought I had such good
reasoning when I left Gran Canaria for La Palma and bypassed Tenerife because I
did not need to go back there.
If
I was not going to El Hierro I should have left it a bit later because it was
too late to get to Tenerife before dark.
I sailed all the way and the course was absolutely along the line set,
which was very pleasing. Every time
I went down to get something to eat or drink I felt ill and abandoned the
idea. It was mid afternoon before I
remembered that I should check the engine, because I had just serviced it. The engine bilge was sloshing with
diesel, which explained why I had been feeling sick. I tightened up the fuel filter and
cleaned out the bilge and felt much better. I made a lovely yorkshire pudding in the
oven tray and ate all of it.
Tuesday 7 November
2006
The
wind had been picking up all day and by midnight it was 25 knots with a big
nasty swell going across me, but I think that was just because I was at the
extreme SW tip of Tenerife. At 1am
I got into the shelter of the island and the wind dropped to 5 knots and I had
to turn the engine on. I arrived in
Los Gigantes at 3am. LG does not
have a great reputation and I would agree that this is well founded. The reception pontoon had a motor day
boat tied up to it and that was all there was room for, I would have not have
fitted even if it had been empty. I
had to pull up against the fuel wall.
It was high water and I had 3.4 metres below me and a big climb to the
top of the wall. I got ropes on
temporarily, but was soon unable to get ashore and the stern rope was too short
to reach back to the boat and so I had tied a knot in it. I had to join another rope onto the end
on the boat, because I could not get up to untie the knot.
In
the morning I was told to go to pontoon 4.
It was low tide and had gone down to 2 metres. I did manage to get the attention of a
marina person to untie the rope that was tied round the bollard, but they didn t
offer to help with any of the others. I got off the wall and berthed
up.
I
don t know that I have ever seen so much rust. The posts and the retaining rings were
rusty, some retaining rings were totally gone. There were no cleats, but a few D hoops
to tie on to. Luckily there was no
wind and I managed to tie up to what I could find. There was nothing remaining of the hoop
on the finger, so the stern rope was tied at guard rail height to a post. The electricity/water pods look
treacherous, but they are not a hazard as they do not work. I just happened to arrive on the days
they were repairing them. The
pontoons are scary, but most of the holes are covered with plywood sheets, that
just leaves the gaps. There is
usually a ramp up from the pontoon, but here there is an open staircase with
loose boards which moves from side to side. This is most disconcerting and I was
tempted to have one of the large plank steps for the boat, but that would be
naughty.
I
cleaned another litre of diesel out of the bilge and found that the nut before
the fuel filter that I loosened to bleed the system was probably not as tight as
it should have been. Good to
sort these things before I finally set off. I am going to top up the diesel again
anyway.
I
got cleaned up and was going to check in, but the man asked me to come back in
an hour or two, or this afternoon, or tomorrow.
I
was going to Santa Cruz on the bus and I had to change in Playa de las
Americas. Santa Cruz was a long
way, so I decided to go to Los Cristianos as the chandlers there was good. Amongst other things, I needed fuel
filters. At Playa de las Americas I
asked the man next to me if this bus went to Los Cristianos and he said ‘no’ so
I got off. Wrong, I then waited
half an hour for the next bus.
It
was 2pm and I had to wait 2 hours until after lunch for the chandlers to
open. I had something to eat and
bought a new camera as mine had just died.
I am sure I overpaid, I know I should have gone to more than one, but all
the electronic shops in the Canaries seem to be run by the same people.
I
went into the boatyard to see if there was anyone there that I knew. They have really tidied up. All the drug smugglling impounded boats
have gone and the long stays have been moved to the back wall. Pete was supposed to be going to run a
boat trip service in Portugal last March; then I was told that he had decided to
stay in the anchorage in Los Cristianos, but he is still in the
boatyard.
There was Cristian, French, antifouling his boat and we had a chat. Then I went to the chandlers and ordered
the fuel filters and bought some new flares and some bits of chain. I went back to the boatyard and a group
of us went for a drink and then Cristian walked me back to the bus station.
Wednesday 8
November 2006
I
went and checked in and paid. I
should have taken the plank step, I think they charged me for
it.
Lorenzo, who drives one of the whale watching speed boats, came for a
chat. He and his wife want to go
cruising, I am living their dream.
I decided to go on his boat to see if I could get photos of the pilot
whales, last time I was too far away.
It was very good, the whales were very co-operative, I had a new camera
and I took lots of photos.
Strangely there are not many whales to be seen on the photos, lots of sea
where they used to be. We also went
to the cliffs and saw a few dolphins by the fish farm.
In the afternoon I went back
into Los Cristianos on the bus. The
bus timetable does not have a siesta break, but you still have to wait 2 hours
for a bus that runs every 30 minutes.
The fuel filters had arrived, except they were oil filters. I re-ordered the fuel filters –
manyana. I had some cable strops
made up, these I can use to padlock anything on the boat that I cannot put
below. I was trying to think of a
pirate deterrent and looked at a spear gun, but as a customer said, that will
only get one pirate. Some people
have guns and one has a machete, so I bought a gas horn.
Lorenzo said the wind was going S on Friday and you cannot get out of the
marina. If he cannot get out in a
speed boat then I have no chance.
The cliffs are spectacular, perhaps that is what they named the town
after. Even so they are not to be
trifled with and certainly not trashed against. I checked the internet and couldn t see
anything bad for Friday, but did not want to be stuck as the surge in the marina
is reportedly awful.
It
has been a really busy non-stop few days, but I would leave in the
morning.
