Santa Cruz -Tenerife

Moonbeam
David and Lynn Wilkie
Fri 29 Oct 2010 18:11
The Marina in Santa Cruz is not particularly inspiring as many of the pontoons appear damaged and unusable and possibly have been for some time; the environs are just a container store and car park; there is no wi-fi but the mountain back drop to the North is inspiring and just across the ( very busy ) road is the Plaza Espana which is the social centre of Santa Cruz with some inspiring buildings and pedestrianised streets with cafes and bars. The overall impression of the city is very good with a Spanish atmosphere untainted by the blight of mass British and German tourism which dominates much of the islands.
 
Thursday we caught the tram to La Laguna which is another unspoilt gem with some superb historic buildings and lovely cool courtyards hid behind austere facades; easy to walk around and no tourists tat.
 
     
 
 Tram in Santa Cruz                                                     La Laguna
 
      
 
      
 
             
 
We have been doubting our wisdom of provisioning in a ' bit by bit' technique rather than hiring a van and doing one massive shop as we seem to spend an inordinate amount of time shopping for food and drink! However on the basis we have to find somewhere to put it all it is much easier to progress incrementally and ponder the problems as we go i.e how many tubes of Pringles will Maitland consume while we cross the Atlantic? And how do we hide them so he does not eat them all on the first day?
We take advantage of 'Offertas' in the supermarkets as we see them and buy things like packed meat with a long use by date. Back in Northern Spain we purchased a 2kg sealed joint of Ham with a 12 month use by date but after 3 months in looked a bit suspect so we opened it and washed it and dried it and now it is superb although rather sooner than intended.!  Why does it all take so long---- well imagine shopping for 5 people for 3 weeks plus contingencies and then doing it in a different supermarket everytime and all without a car! The exercise must be good for us!?
 
       Not sure about this one!
 
  Good market in Santa Cruz everyday
 
We had taken some photos of the Dutch Rustler 36 on Tuesday and had given them to him and while chatting he asked if I could have a look at his Monitor wind steering vane which had been repaired but now did not work! I found it had been incorrectly re-assembled and after some ' massaging' of the stainless steel with a big hammer it was all fine.Then we discovered he had kept the boat at Craobh Haven for 2 winters!! Here in Santa Cruz we appear to be the only British yacht with the majority coming from Norway, Sweden and Holland.