Back to Las Palmas

The unusual concrete figure at the entrance to Puerto Tazacorte   

We left Puerto Tazacorte on La Palma at dawn on 28 November. As we left, we got a good view of the unusual concrete sculpture looking out from the entrance to the harbour.

Barranco de las Angustias (l) and Tazacorte   

From a little further out we could see the town of Tazacorte up above the port and to its left Barranco de las Angustias, the deep ravine which was created when the side of the Caldera de Taburiente collapsed.

The north side of La Palma    

Our plan was to head east and so, taking advantage of the southerly wind, we went clockwise around the north end of La Palma. This was part of the island that we hadn’t seen before. Full of deep ravines from erosion, it also points towards the prevailing weather and so is very green. We made very fast progress until we were caught in the island’s wind shadow which prompted some motoring until we could sail again once we were clear on the eastern side of the island.

Just before we cleared the island’s wind shadow, we were joined by a huge pod of dolphins. Once again, it was a mixed group of Bottlenose dolphins and their smaller cousins, the Atlantic Spotted dolphins, all swimming together along with their young right in front of BV.

They seemed to be happy staying with us and so I tried out an idea I’d been thinking about for a while; underwater photographs. I put my little GoPro-style camera, in its underwater housing, on a selfie-stick and tried holding it against BV’s wake. The drag was more than I had expected which made pointing it in the right direction a bit tricky. However, the results were much better than I had expected....

…. giving a whole new perspective on the dolphins.

The pod stayed with us for about 20 minutes and then suddenly they were gone. As always, it was a delight to see them playing in BV’s bow-wave and a highlight of the passage.

Landing a small dorado    

The wind, when we picked it up again, was a good Force 4 to 5 from the south so we absolutely whizzed along on a beam reach. It was champagne sailing on a beautiful blue sea with a clear blue sky above. As dusk approached, and the wind showed no signs of decreasing, we dropped a reef in the main. Just as we had finished, but before we had had time to tidy away the snakes’ wedding of rope that always results, the fishing line whizzed out. Nicky slowed BV down and I reeled in a lovely bright green dorado. These can grow to well over a metre long but this one was a nice size for 2 large fillets; dinner when we got into port. Our plan involved an overnight passage and so after dinner (not the dorado) we slipped into a watch system of 4 hours on 4 hours off. Overnight [Ed: inevitably, but also as forecast!] it went calm and so the night watches weren’t exactly taxing as we motored across a glassy sea. But the phosphorescence was fantastic – far better than any we have seen before. Looking out away from BV’s hull, we could see hundreds of tiny pinpricks of light in the sea, almost as if the sea were filled with stars, and the white edges of the bow-wave and wake glowed brightly in their entirety, rather than more dimly but with bright flashes.

The north end of Gran Canaria   

We ended up motoring around the northern end of Tenerife and then another 50nm across to Las Palmas. We could have sailed to the Cape Verdes from Santa Cruz de Tenerife but we had already worked out what we needed and where to get it in Las Palmas from our earlier extended stay there and so it made sense to use that knowledge to make our final preparations quick and stress free. The overnight passage was painless and by dawn we were close to the north end of Gran Canaria.

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria   

Las Palmas is just a couple of miles further south on the eastern side of Gran Canaria and so by late morning we were looking at the familiar skyline of the city and the oilrigs in the port.

SY Sea Wind on her way out of the anchorage and into the marina   

Having made our way into the inner part of the harbour we caught sight of Sea Wind leaving the anchorage. Stopping briefly to say hello to Lars and Susanne, we heard that they were moving into the marina for a couple of days to get ready for a lift out for maintenance. We explained that we expected to be joining them in the marina in a day or two…

Back in the anchorage by Las Palmas marina   

… and then made or way back into the familiar surroundings of the anchorage just north of the marina. It was busier than we had expected, with around 35 yachts anchored there, but much less crowded than during our last visit which made it a lot easier to find a good space. We dropped the anchor at midday; the 163-mile passage from Puerto Tazacorte had taken us just under 29 hours (we’d motored slowly to conserve fuel!). The next task was to book in with the marina and then start tackling the list of jobs we’d drawn up to do before we set of for the Cape Verdes.

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands