La Gomera
'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Wed 26 Nov 2008 08:23
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28:05.271N 17:06.495W
I spent a very pleasant five days in Tenerife. At
first sight, the island is slightly down-at-heel and downright scruffy in
places. There are many tourist areas, full of the usual 'tat' & many
unfinished building projects. Marina San Miguel was situated in a major golfing
complex, some of which was brand new and other parts 'old and past it.' The real
surprise was the trip up to Tiede, the main mountain. The scenery was stunning
and the tourist 'bits' were relatively unobtrusive, it completely changed my
mind about the island.
Anyway, after five days it was time to move on, so
cast off and onwards for la Gomera. It was quiet a pleasant trip, starting off
with a headsail run for about 10 miles out of the 25, then the wind veered round
to the ESE and eventually dropped off to about a F2 (the forecast was for NE
F3/4 occasionally 5, sea moderate). so on with the 'iron topsails'. There was a
strange swell pattern, changing from a following sea to a head-sea. Closing on
Gomera the wind came up to about 20kts from 30deg apparent, a bit too close to
sail comfortably, so I ploughed on under engine for an hour or so and arrived in
the harbour just after dark.
You can't anchor in the harbour now and the marina
was full, so at present I'm alongside the harbour wall, which is not too
bad as long as the weather is OK. At first glance this morning, there has been a
bit of developement in the town, so whereas last visit you could visualise the
town as Columbus saw it, now I think not.
So, maybe here for a couple of days, depending on
the weather, then onwards again. Unfortunately, a visit to La Palma is looking
unlikely now, due to time constraints, but let's see.
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