The passage from Marina Lanzarote to Marina La Gomera is a little over 200 miles which we would expect to take around 36 hours. On passages with an overnight element, we would normally aim to arrive mid morning to be reasonably sure of arriving in daylight irrespective of whether we made better time than planned or took longer than planned. However, for a variety of reasons, this wasn’t practical on this passage and we got to La Gomera just after midnight, slightly ahead of schedule.

Entering a harbour and marina for the first time is always a little anxious-making and having to do so in the dark significantly more so. However, with the lights and buoyage being clear and as described in the pilot book, we had little trouble finding our way in. Despite the hour there was a marinero on duty to guide us to a visitor’s berth, take a line to secure us to the pontoon and welcome us like long lost family to the island.

San Sebastian is the capital of La Gomera and the main point of entry. The harbour is busy throughout the day with ferry traffic to and from both Tenerife and Gran Canaria, and like most of the big harbours in the Canaries is a stopping off point for cruise liners.  From experience, we know not to do any sightseeing when there’s a cruise liner in the harbour: rental car availability will be poor to non-existent, coaches will clog the narrow streets and the sights will be teeming with tourists being whisked around by the tour guides. Our sightseeing starts tomorrow.