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At the Back of Beyond - Insider's Tip: The Canaries |
Written by Thomas Hillebrand
Isn't a sailor suffering most in January and February? November was the time to catch up leftovers from the last season, December was the holiday season and from March onwards you normally prepare for the new season. But in January and February, when the winter is at its peak, sailing is so far away that one could get depressed about it... you'd think.
There is a solution for this problem: Charter in the canaries. The two frustrating months are the best time to sail in this region. The climate is constant and temperatures definitely above 20° C. The regular trade winds between 3 and 6 beau fort make sailing comfortable - storms and calms are the exception. Maybe it sounds incredible with view to the mass tourism caused by the sun worshippers to the canaries: This region is still "virgin" in terms of sailing.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
 | | Co-skipper Anil likes to ride fast |
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9 knots on the log, wind abeam. Under us rushes the Atlantic Ocean. Our heading is southeast. At the horizon we can somewhat see the island of Gran Canaria. 150 nautical miles ahead is the coast of West-Sahara. At a rather weak wind of about 10 knots maximum Anil, my co-skipper and I try out the peak-performance of our 50 ft charter yacht. The other four crew members have gone shopping for our one-week sailing trip. We want to see if the yacht is causing any problems. And we find out, that it is just perfect. One hour later we are back again to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of Tenerife in the marina del Atlantico.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Santa Cruz de Tenerife - Los Christianos (Tenerife) (42 nm)
Cast off! Our first target is south of Tenerife in order to get the best position for the transit to La Gomera. We still had a rather weak trade wind from north-east and we slowly sailed down the island. We even had the engine running from time to time - a situation which we normally only face on our home lagoon the Greifswalder Bodden! Mercy! We are on the Atlantic Ocean! Should this sailing trip really become a "diesel holiday"?
 | | Weak wind: Fishermen on the Atlantic |
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Believing the corresponding guidebooks which we read before the trip, this approach was completely wrong. Nonetheless: According to the literature one could experience calms at the lee of the big islands under weak winds even if the winds in winter would be steadier than in the Northern latitudes. Due to an approaching cyclone the north-east trade wind had backed a little bit and was now nearly north. We were absolutely leeward of Tenerife and we hoped that this would be our only day under motor.
In order to avoid misunderstandings about sailing under land: The nautical literature is warning of unpredictable thermals due to high mountains. Very close to the shore, wind gusts are not infrequent in warmer seasons. On the other hand the canaries are said to have cape-effects and wind acceleration zones. A wind acceleration zone may cause an increase of three beaufort compared to the normal wind. And this - according to appropriate wind charts - happens near the coast line and mostly a bit leeward of the largest diameter of the island, thus at a point where the unaware may expect a shore line. It is therefore wise to act with caution because the wind may accelerate locally and it is absolutely vital to know how to reef. The positive side of this situation is rather low waves which cannot rise very much in such restricted areas.
Apropos sea state: the ground swell on the Atlantic, mentioned by many sailors, is a wonderful and impressive experience on the open sea, however, hitting the shore of the Canaries it can be very destructive. The resounding waves - a leftover of distant hurricanes in the North Atlantic - often have a height of five or eight meters and are very, very long. And it's just in front of the shore line where these waves turn into a heavy and dangerous swell. That's the reason why old and badly protected harbours on the island should be taken with a pinch of salt. Anchorage in bays also requires a good preparation. Swell is therefore a part of the sea weather report on the Canaries.
 | | Sunset at the south coast of Tenerife |
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Well... that's all as far as the decisive particularities are concerned. The tidal range, which is 1.8 meter at neap and 2.8 meter at spring tide is much less than the tidal range of the North sea. And there is no delay of the spring tide, being caused by full- and new moon (on the North Sea this delay is up to three days). The last striking fact could be the Canary current which displaces a boat to southwest at a speed of 1 knot - but - is there anybody who has not yet had any currents in his home area?
At dawn a school of dolphins appears next to our boat. At least a dozen of these beautiful mammals accompany us for a few miles.
Shortly after a breathtaking sunset we arrive at Los Christianos, a small harbour at the south west coast of Tenerife. No marina, no place at the quay wall. We had to anchor, like another dozen yachts in the south easterly part of the mole, and we had to learn our first lesson about sailing and anchoring on the Atlantic. Sometime at night a heavy rain started and at the same time a swell came in from the Atlantic which turned into a small, steep wave in our bight. Without any change of the wind, our boat was now very shaky - no way to think of sleeping. Long before sunrise we cast off in order to stop the seesaw.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Los Christianos (Tenerife) - San Sebastian de la Gomera (24 nm)
The crossing from Los Christianos to San Sebastian de Gomera only took about three hours. And since the long Atlantic swell lulled nearly everybody to sleep only Claudia was awake after a short while. She safely brought us to a place of world history.
 | | San Sebastian bight on La Gomera: That's where Columbus started |
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On September 6, 1492, in an unimpressive bight of San Sebastian Christopher Columbus and about 100 men went aboard their three ships. From here they went 36 days westwards - a leap in the dark. Then, on October 12, 1492 Columbus entered the New World on an island he baptized San Salvador.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Shore leave
It goes without saying that San Sebastian developed a lot during the last 500 years. And that's the reason why there is a big, comfortable and protected marina at the end of the ferry harbour. From here, we explored the island of La Gomera.
 | | Sunrise in the Marina La Gomera |
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From the geological point of view, the Canaries are quite young islands, having been formed by the eruption of volcanoes. The peaks plunge down correspondingly. After a short ride in a cheap hire car we are at 1,000 meters above the sea level and look on the Teide. This peak on the island of Tenerife is the highest mountain of Spain with 3,718 meters. It is a volcano which was active last in 1798. Its peak is most of the time above the clouds and it is covered with snow in wintertime.
 | | View to Tenerife on the Teide volcano |
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One of our visiting points on La Gomera was the Garanjonay National Park having been established in 1981. The 40 square kilometer area hosts a multitude of evergreen subtropical plants. Its large scientific importance is due to the fact that lots of species have survived here since the tertiary (which started 65 million years ago and ended 2.6 million years ago). All theses species disappeared on the mainland due to the ice age.
 | | Unique since the ice-age: tertiary flora on La Gomera |
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We had an opulent lunch with fish and seafood in the pictorial Valle Gran Rey. And again we had to remember our sleepless night: Even a slight swell on the Atlantic transformed the bight into a choppy roller coaster, which was absolutely unsuitable as an anchorage for the night. Nevertheless, the landscape was beautiful!
 | | Romantic but unsheltered for sailors: Valle Gran Rey |
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On our way back we passed a village called Arure, which is situated in the west of the island on the road to Valle Gran Rey. We there discovered the "Bodega Vino Tinto". The very friendly owner, Senor Silvestre, made us try all of his delicious wines. And we bought quite a few bottles which all bared his name on the label.
 | | Señor Silvestre in his Bodega Vino Tinto |
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Wednesday, January 11, 2006
San Sebastian de la Gomera - Puerto de la Estaca (El Hierro) (61 nm)
The 61 nautical miles from San Sebastian de la Gomera to Puerto de la Estace on the island of El Hierro were made in less than seven hours. Our average speed was about 9 knots, a free wind was about 6 beau fort. This needed very precise surfing on the waves which sloped from behind, quite a hard job for the less experienced helms-men and women. The drawback of this heading: according to unconfirmed rumours, there should have been some cases of sea-sickness in the afternoon, which - however - were discreetly kept secret in order not to rob the skipper of his joy of surfing.
One hour before sunset we arrived at the end of the world.
For a very long time - as long as it took Columbus to find the new world - people thought that westward of El Hierro there would only be water and then the universe. Therefore, the Greek geographer and astronomer Ptolemäus already set the prime meridian of his coordinate plane on the island of El Hierro (being called Ferro in former times) in the year 150. And even though cartographers had to consider the American continent from 1492 onwards, the prime meridian rested for another few centuries on El Hierro. Only in 1884 the first British observatory in London replaced El Hierro by Greenwich as the official geodetic point.
 | | The back of beyond for more than thousand years: Puerto de l Estaca on El Hierro |
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We came into a very small harbour and had to fix the boat along a pier, which was hardly appropriate for sailing yachts. The wall had a overhang of about 30 cm which firstly still was far away from our rail. However, it was already obvious that the tide would shift the boat under the protrusion which would cause heavy damages.
We fixed the boat with very long lines to the pier, in order to face the tidal range of 2.8 meters at full moon and deployed the stern anchor edgewise into the port basin, in order to stay off the dangerous protrusion. We even found some driftwood in the harbour basin and used it as fender boards. Together with the fenders we thus had two lines of protection out of which only one would slide under the wall in case of danger, keeping the boat safe. We thus spent more than one tide calm and secure and did not have to touch the mooring lines at all.
I had to think of a sailing guidebook about the Canaries: They quoted that it was wise to know how to handle the tidal range and a fender board, otherwise it would be better to start with other estuaries. This is absolutely right, because floating docks, which are quite common in northern Europe even in harbours with very little tides, can only be found in big marinas on the Canaries.
After having reached land we saw, that the European Union had already granted subsidies in order to construct a marina with floating docks, even the floor plan was ready. It looks as if it would be possible, to moor here very comfortably in the future.
But El Hierro is still somewhat the back of beyond as we could suspect during our - alas! - short visit here.
We hardly had fixed the boat when the police arrived in order to check the boat documents. One of them asked us if we just arrived from Brazil, a question which seemed absolutely absurd to me. But - when sailing from Brazil to Europe, Puerto de la Estaca on El Hierro is a very common point of reference.
Later we were all sitting in a taxi which drove us up the mountain to a height of 600 meters. And we discovered, that even in the capital of the island, Valverde with its 1,700 habitants, nightlife is quite restricted in January. Just one bar was open - it was a bar and a restaurant at the same time. The innkeeper was very friendly and the food was prepared very thoroughly.
Most of us had "El Gallo" an excellent fish being caught at the archipelago. Just one detail was not meeting the high expectations of fastidious city slickers: Even if the bar/restaurant had only two or three other guests who had drinks at the bar, the invasion of our crew with six hungry yaps seemed to irritate the innkeeper a little bit.
He forgot to ask for and to bring drinks in the heat of the battle and a few of the meals needed to be ordered a second time after quite a while by the famished customer. Some of us reacted a little bit harsh; however, I was full of understanding for the innkeeper. Please do not forget: We were at the end of the world! This is not London Time Square. Just a few, who are on their way to Brazil or San Salvador use to stop here.
Thurdsay, Januar 12, 2006
Puerto de la Estaca (El Hierro) - Santa Cruz de La Palma (62 nm)
El Hierro - just to complete the story - is definitely the one and only island in the Canaries which has not yet been subordinated to mass tourism. Still in 1960, the mail boat only stopped here once a week in Puerto de la Estaca. And even today, where the catamaran ferries come here every day - if you want to go to the back of beyond, you are still in good hands on El Hierro.
 | | Grey clouds creep downhill |
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In the morning the mountain tops were covered with heavy and grey rain clouds which slowly floated down the hills. The island and the back of beyond started hiding. Time for us to seek the sun on the open sea. The steep volcanic mountains of the island result in a typical microclimate just above the island which can be seen far out to sea.
We did the 62 nautical miles with a smooth wind abeam, and started the engine near the islands and finally reached La Palma where we moored at the well protected floating jetty of the Real Club Nautico.
 | | El Hierro abaft |
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Friday, January 13, 2006
Shore leave
Honestly - who wants to cast off on Friday the 13th? Out on the Atlantic? Not us - we explored the island.
 | | Iglesia el Salvador, the redeemer's church being constructed in 1503 |
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Santa Cruz de la Palma, the capital of the island, having been founded in 1493 offers enough for one day shore leave. It is said to be one of the most beautiful cities in the Canaries where you still can imagine the ambiance of the colonialist times. For example in front of the Iglesia el Salvador, the redeemer's church having been built in 1503 in the style of the renaissance. It is definitely one of the most impressive buildings on the Canaries.
Santa Cruz de la Palma was founded by Alonso Fernandez de Lugo who conquered Gan Canaria, La Palma and Tenerife for the Spanish crown in 1478 - 1495 by subduing the original habitants, the Guanch people. Tenerife, the last of the seven Canary islands, which only became Spanish in 1495 was still in the enemy's hand when Columbus undertook his first trip to America, whereas La Gomera was Spanish since 1404.
Also La Palma offers an impressive national park, which we visited. In the Parque Nacional de la Caldera de Taburiente you can walk up to an enormous crater. It's rock faces steeply drop up to 1.500 meter. The downcasts and erosions of the volcanic rocks can be seen very well at many places and display the evolution of the islands. It nearly was a thrill to think that the last volcanic eruption in the South of La Palma was only in 1949 and 1971.
 | | At the edge of the crater |
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Despite the rather small number of only 18,000 habitants, Santa Cruz de la Palma has quite a metropolitan flair. The evening was therefore not boring at all - but it was quite short.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Santa Cruz de La Palma - Santa Cruz de La Palma (145 nm)
At 1 am we cast off - the warm and moonlit subtropical night surrounded us and we had long way to go. The wind was perfect for sailing: 5 - 6 beaufort. Unfortunately we did not head exactly to the north cape of Tenerife. In the morning, west coast abeam, we had to tack for quite a while out on the Atlantic. But even by the wind we steadily made 8 to 9 knots. Sailing at it's finest.
And finally we experienced the highlight of this trip: In the afternoon at about 2 pm we saw pilot whales who followed us through the wake and who always curiously watched the boat. The Canaries are said to host about 30 different kinds of whales - from dolphins to blue whales, the biggest of this species. Pilot whales, apart from dolphins, can be seen quite often. They can measure up to six meters but the two we saw seemed to be rather young and did not reach that length. Apparently they were the goodbye-committee, because our trip ended a few hours later.
 | | At the back of beyond: Free view westward |
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At 10:30 pm, after 337 nautical miles on the Atlantic, we were back in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
If you want to supplement this article with hints or own experiences, please click here.
Online Logbooks - Canary Islands
Zeus / Islas Canarias (Spain)
Galateia (Germany)
Casimu (Germany)
SY Daddeldu (Germany)
Zeus (Spain)
Zeus (Spain)
Oeding (Germany)
Your cruising report linked on marinamap
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