Tenerife 28 28.031N 16 14.677W
Persephone... Cruiser/Racer
Nigel & Karen Goodhew...
Sun 11 Dec 2016 09:23
We left behind the good people of Carried Away (Simon and Amanda), Meriva (Tristan and Sue) and Zephyr (Graham and Gillian), but hope to catch up with them all in due course.
Ahead of us in this Atlantic Islands social whirl, were EnaVigo over in Tenerife.
The sail across was a benign, gentle, if somewhat slow affair as the wind was light and for the most part, behind us. Virtually all of Tuesday was spent sliding past the island of Gran Canaria to the south of us as we made the best progress we could under spinnaker across to the northern tip of Tenerife and the principal port, Santa Cruz.
Eventually, in the afternoon, we made an executive cruising decision to start the engine and motor in for the last 19 miles as the wind died off to a rather unfulfilling 5 knots. And the calculation was made just in time to reach the harbour entrance as dusk fell at 18:04, sharp!
After an slightly vague exchange with the marina on VHF we were guided in to our berth rather efficiently by the marinero and here we are, some 5 days later.
On Wednesday, we were invited to a late Thanksgiving meal hosted by a lovely american couple, but actually held aboard a german yacht, with slightly more space. The whole "works" were presented, with roast turkey and all the relevant trimmings. It was a delightfully congenial, international gathering...germans going to patagonia, americans headed further west than their home, brits going to the 'states and swiss circumnavigators.
Santa Cruz is a delightful city. The centre is a few steps away from the marina, which is in a dedicated basin adjacent to the busy cruise ship terminal. I might not have started this pen portrait quite as elegantly as I intended, but bear with me, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.
It's immediately clear that Tenerife is a wealthier island than Lanzarote. There's much more going on. The marina entrance is marked by the Tenerifan version of the Sydney opera house...a music venue and cultural centre. Behind that is the TEA...the Tenerife centre for the arts, which is adjacent to a delightful mercado, with some of the finest fresh produce we have seen for some time. The main street bustles, and the architecture expresses history, wealth and status.
A priority was to get some supplies, and also to visit El Corte Ingles...a department store of some standing...where Nigel was able to get the battery in his watch replaced. These details matter!
We met up with Steve and Jody, who delivered our OCC burgee, brought out to Tenerife by Liz and Robbie when they visited the island and Ena Vigo last week. So we found the local chandlery and have procured the relevant string and block to make up a second burgee halyard to raise the new flag together with the trusty RORC burgee under the port spreader.
The weather is settled and sunny. The trade winds appear to be settling in over the next few days and yesterday we said adieu to Steve and Jody as they slipped out and away, headed to the Cape Verdes. We, on the other hand, have hired a small car and will spend a couple of days exploring the island.
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