The year 2006 found us in our winter harbour of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The first 2 month went really fast indeed. We toured the island, worked on the boat, sew baby dresses for the twins in Holland (the postal services had big business with us), many catholic holidays in town, endless chatting visits with fellow sailors with discussions on life style, equipment, travelling and a lot more. We had much wind with sometimes a lot of damage, some rainy days, but never less than 18 degr. Reading the news in the internet, Els sneaking around the many good sewing- and material shops.

From mid-february on we started planning and preparing ourselves and Grote Beer for the next leg. After such a long time in port many items must be cleared away in order to get the boat ready for sea again. Also we had to replenish our stores. We bought food, drinks, washing powder, cat litter, toilet paper and a lot more for a few hundred euros, got everything on board and stored it away in the many cabinets and other holes that Grote Beer has. Now we need to buy 700 liters of diesel and then we're all set.

THE major event was carnival of course. Here that is a full 10-day undertaking with many colourfull people and presentations, entire nights drowned in alcohol and rain, many unslept faces in the harbour, if it were for the noise only. We did not like it in every respect.

The main corso fell flat and was canceled because the gale and the rain. I suspect that the queen of carnival would have looked a bit hopeless in this weather.

We did like the good musik presentations by the many groups in the parks however. But in the end i liked the South American carnival better.

 

 

 

 

 

The winter of 2005-2006 brought the Canaries a lot of wind. First the hurricane Delta in November which caused much damage to the marina infrastructure, and then in February a short replay which caused us to jump around a bit.

The owner of the boat in the picture won't find this funny. He just bought her. The crisis management in the port was poor. It took them more than 7 hours to lift the boat, but the port is 12 meters deep here.

For us everything came off without damage but the jetties were suffering again.

Our plan is now to visit some of the Canary islands untill the end of April, and then sail to Madeira by way of the Selvagens. At Madeira we will meet Elisabeth and Edgar Loepfe for a 2-weeks walking holiday. Day after tomorrow we leave here.

Easter 2006

Very interesting was a visit to a historical park where we found rock engravings from the aboriginees.

The capital Santa Cruz de La Palma has been a very rich town with many interesting corners. Exceptional are the many beautifull balconies.

Even here we saw the many cruising liners which visit the towns of the various islands on a fixed schedule. We asked ourselves what these tourists really see on the islands apart from the same shopping streets with watches, dresses and jewelry over and over. And never more than 4-8 hours to vist an island. But everybody his own taste.

From La Palma we sailed to Lanzarote where we visited old Trans Ocean friends. It was a pleasure to meet them again. Playa Blanca is a tourist place and we did not really like it. But Rubicon is a perfect marina which leaves nothing left to wish.

From there we sailed to Arrecife, the capital of Lanzarote, where we anchored behind the fortress for a week. Not a very worthwhile town but a good centre for trips over the island.

Then we decided to make a break and went to Isla Graciosa, a small island just north of Lanzarote. It comprises 2 old volcanos and a lot of sand, dunes and beach. And a small village. Under normal conditions quiet and peacefull but during easter the Spaniards celebrate here with their families. The small harbour is full, the ferries are full, the camping site is full and there are nightly parties in the village and on the beach.

From Santa Cruz de Tenerife we sailed to Valle Gran Rey on Gomera with a stop at anchor in Los Christianos. We have been in Valle Gran Rey already in 2004 and it was nice to be back and visit some old friends. From there we went to an island which we did not visit before: La Palma.

La Palma is a very green island and very worthwhile visiting. In the brochures it is called Isla Bonita. They export 150.000 tons of bananas per annum, everything in cooled containers on ferries. The northern and western side of the island are banana fields as far as the eye can see. Also the fact that la Palma has very young volcanos makes it an interesting place. In the north there is the main volcano, the Taburiente, but in the south the much smaller Teneguia which came into existence in 1971. We toured the island in a rented car during 2 days.

On the Taburiente there is an astronomical observatorium at 2000 meters altitude with obviously very good atmosferic conditions. There is even a law that prohibits upward radiating lights on La Palma.

In this context the word 'aboriginees' needs an explanation. During the history, various groups of people, mostly of mediteranian or African origin settled on the Canary islands. On the islands, the word 'Aboriginee' is being used for the Berber tribes who settled here about 1500 years ago, way before the Spaniard came. They were herdsmen who settled away from the coasts.

Though the village is dominated by 5 families, many people seem to want to have a house here. They are building holiday appartments which sell for 250-300.000 euros. In the middle of nowhere.

Easter is being celebrated here as well though it is our impression that only a small part of the population actively participates. On good friday a procession started in front of the local church. Interesting enough easter eggs donot exist here. Obviously this is not a Spanish folklore and is being imported for the tourists only.

But tomorrow we regain the peace. Walks on the beach and in the village, a coffee here or there, some tappas for lunch in the port.

This week the winds are very much in the North. We wait untill they veer to the North-East a bit and then we will the sail to Madeira, a trip of about 300 sea miles. With a possible stop on the Selvagens, a bird protectorate halfway, or not.

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