La Gomera
Penguin
Wed 2 Nov 2005 11:53
 The Marina, San Sebastian, La
Gomera. The mountain of Tenerife in the background.
Since our last web diary entry we have travelled
down the east side of Tenerife. Collecting a windsurfer for 30 euros on
route.He wasn't any good so we fed him to the Pilot Whales but kept his
board. Marinas and anchorages are difficult on the south of Tenerife
and we had some rolly nights on anchor. We then went over to La Gomera, a
lovely marina and very friendly. Lots of swimming and a day of attempting
windsurfing. It has been 18 years since I windsurfed and its like
riding a bike, with the board we got it was like going from a bicycle
to a unicycle. Rob got to the other side of the harbour and back a couple
of times. We will keep trying with it or try and trade for a larger
board. Plenty of swimming, the water is warm and lots of rocks to
snorkel around. We have done some hiking around the island and
the picture here was taken from the statue of Jesus a climb of 250m. The
views from the top of the hills/mountains are quite spectacular. The island has
many marked footpaths around the coastline and into the hills, some quite
daunting along narrow ledges, finding the start of the walks from the town is a
bit of a problem. Different sort of navigating for Rob.
We travelled back to Tenerife to collect Pete and
Jane Hannifan who are with us for a week, and returned to La Gomera. We
will hire a car and explore further a field in the next few days, getting to the
National Park in the centre of the island. The stretch of water between
the island is some 9,500ft deep and the third most popular place for whale
watching, on our trip over with Pete and Jane we had Pilot whales within 3m of
the boat, we just let the boat drift and they slowly came past and so did the
Pilot Whales.
I went and had a chat with a
couple of the Atlantic rowers, they leave La Gomera on Nov 27 and will take 50
to 70 days to cross, in virtually an open boat, so I think our 18 days (approx)
in a yacht is nothing to worry about in
comparison.
The ARC web site is now available and you should be
able to track us after the start on November 20. http://www.worldcruising.com/arc2005
HLS
Well Pete and Jane have been with us since last
Friday and everything is MINT now! To Peter
everything is mint, he has just come back off a walk and seen a mint hawk moth ,
a mint dead shearwater and we had a mint dinner in the town but the shearwater
was a bit tasteless.
We went exploring today found a mountain called
Garajon (1487m) highest on Gomera. We walked the last 7.5m ! Which was
better than yesterday when we had to descend a 600m volcanic mountain on
our bums
amongst the cacti and rocks. We also went to Valley
Gran Rey which is stunning it changes from dense forest areas to dry
and volcanic . The town was very nice and easy going and surrounded by
banana plantations.
Rob went snorkelling he came face to face
with Ray who was 5ft across, black as your hat, winging his way through
the water, we are sad to say that Rob's swimming shorts are now a different
colour.
We can highly recommend Gomera and a holiday with
Jane and Peter Hannifan.
Next web page will find us fast approaching our
date with the Arc people and our Atlantic crossing.
Happy Birthday to Danny, Lucy, Chrissie, my Mum and
Jane Hannifan for next week (21 again!)
Jak.
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