La Palma and to the Canaries

Shelena
Phil Scourfield
Tue 29 Sep 2015 13:30
28;40.7N 017;46.04W
30th September, 2015

The choices for us following departure Madeira were worryingly broad. We
could travel to Lanzarote to our south east or La Palma to our south west,
or go for Tenerife due south. We had met someone in Porto Santo that claimed
La Palma was the best of the Canary islands. Someone else we met, SY Anorak,
who was doing the ARC + as we are planning to do, were heading for La
Gomera. We finally decided on La Palma. This was to be an over-night
passage, so a further test of Helen's wrestle against sea sickness.
Anorak's Swedish skipper, an experienced sailor called Stig, claimed that
Scopederm, a round plaster patch, which is placed just below the ear lobe,
never failed him, or any of his crew. The chemical seeps out of the patch
over 72 hours and inhibits feelings of nausea. Helen's doctor thought the
patch was no good, and instead had prescribed Stugeron. It makes Helen
sick!. So given Stig generously offered up a patch, Helen was game to give
it a try.

Success, no sickness during 28 hours under passage. Now, I have had
experience of the patch myself. A number of people used it when I crossed
the pond in 2010. I did not know any of the crew I joined on Snow Wolf, but
several were wearing the patch. To be honest I thought they could well have
come from a different planet and so far as I was concerned; or they belonged
to some sort of brotherhood to which I was to be initiated when thousands of
miles at sea. Made for an interesting passage. The problem with those on
Snow Wolf and for Helen turns out to be that the patch tends to drop off
without warning. It is as if the patch has too little glue. Perhaps there is
a better solution. We continue to look at all possibilities!

Once at La Palma we rented a car. The big point of interest is the fact that
some of the most powerful telescopes are located on La Palma at the top of
their mountain over 2400 metres high. The weather was cool up top and we
found ourselves wearing warm jumpers and I even had my sailing waterproof
jacket, not just on, but zipped up to the neck!

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