San Sebastián de la Gomera

Leaving Puertos de Vueltas. Even after a couple of nights at anchor here, we still found the scale of the scenery breath-taking – look at the tiny yachts against the cliffs!    

After our long hike the previous day, our creaky joints and aching muscles needed a gentle start on Saturday 18 November, so we didn’t actually leave the anchorage off Puertos de Vueltas until nearly midday. The swell had started to come from a more westerly direction and, although the wind was still light [Ed: too light to sail] the rocking and rolling in the anchorage was rather uncomfortable, so we decided to head around the coast to San Sebastián, the capital of La Gomera, to see what that had to offer – other than a stationary berth for the night! In 1492 Christopher Columbus set off searching for a westerly route to the Indies from San Sebastián so, if nothing else, we would be following an eminent wake!

La Fortaleza – the first peak on the previous day’s hike and the site of the last stand of the Guanches of this area of la Gomera   

As we motored around the coast, we tried to identify some of the hills and ridgelines we had walked the previous day.

Puerto de Santiago on the southern tip of La Gomera   

We passed quite close to Puerto de Santiago but the swell was still working its way into the bay here and the yacht at anchor was rolling quite significantly so we weren’t tempted to stop.

Approaching San Sebastián de la Gomera   

The outer harbour at San Sebastián can be very busy with conventional ferries, cargo ships, fast ferries (small and large) and cruise ships. As per the instructions in our pilot book, we called the harbour authorities for permission to enter when we were about a mile out and were pleased to hear that they had no ship movements planned for the next half hour or so. We then called the marina and were even more pleased to hear that there was space for us in the yacht basin.

With BV safely moored up (the mariñero was extremely efficient and helpful in allocating us a berth and in helping us with our lines) we set out to explore the town. Much of it is perfectly pleasant but entirely unremarkable but the centre does boast some historic buildings dating from the 16^th to 19^th centuries and is really rather attractive in a very relaxed and un-touristy sort of way.

Torre del Conde    

In the park in the centre of the town stands the Torre del Conde (1447). This was the first building of note to be erected on La Gomera and is considered the most important example of military architecture in the Canary Islands. In 1488, the then Governor of the island, Hernan Peraza the younger, who had long been hated for his cruelty to the native islanders was murdered by them after he broke a pact of friendship with one of the tribes and committed adultery with a local beauty and fiancée of one of the islanders’ most powerful men. Following Hernan Peraza’s murder, his wife (another famed beauty) barricaded herself in the tower awaiting help whilst the local tribesmen attacked the Spaniards in the town. Unfortunately for the islanders, it was the Governor of Gran Canaria, Pedro de Vera, one of the cruellest men in Canary Islands’ history who rallied to the cause to ‘help’. On arrival, he ordered the execution of all Gomeran males aged over 15 (hanged, impaled, decapitated or drowned, sometimes with hands and feet removed first for good measure). The women were handed out to the militiamen and the children sold as slaves. And, to ensure no insurrection was likely be raised from off the island, he also ordered the execution of about 300 Gomeros living on Gran Canaria.

Today the tower houses a historical exhibition, including maps from 1492, but it was closed when we visited.

Sunday dawned gloriously. We had had plans for more hiking but our muscles were still aching from Friday’s excesses and the Sunday bus timetable wasn’t terribly helpful either. So we resigned ourselves to chores – laundry, food shopping, some sewing tasks and, most importantly, checking the generator for leaks following its recent service.

The sheltered yacht basin at San Sebastián de la Gomera. Note the cruise ship moored alongside the breakwater and the 2x fast ferries with berths close outside the marina. However, the breakwaters are arranged such that even when the large ferries are manoeuvring to their berths, there is no wash or swell felt inside the marina – it’s a really well-designed yacht basin   

Some of the older parts of the town   

Later in the day we climbed up to the viewing point overlooking the marina (ow!!). It’s a great vantage point to look down across the harbour, its beach and the town. It’s easy to see why the bay provided such a good harbour even without the addition of the breakwaters.

We could easily have stayed longer (a bit like Columbus!) and we certainly felt that the island has plenty more to offer in terms of walking and exploring inland. However, the longer term weather forecast showed a period of strong southerly winds coming in and remaining for an extended period. Whilst San Sebastián marina would be well- protected, and there are relatively few places in the Canaries of which you can say that, we didn’t want to end up caught on La Gomera for that long. So, we made the decision to move on to Tazacorte on La Palma over the next couple of days before southerlies set in properly. It’d give us the opportunity to see something of another island but we’re pretty sure that at some point we’ll be back in La Gomera, it’s a lovely place.

San Sebastián de la Gomera, Canary Islands