Not Gran Canaria

We had originally planned to sail from Lanzarote to La Palma de Gran Canaria since, although we had spent time in Puerto Mogan in the south west, we had not been to north or central Gran Canaria. However, we would only have around a week and we had been told that La Palma was one of the few places in the Canaries where there was some theft from boats reported. In addition, there was a cockroach risk there.

After Gran Canaria we had planned to go to San Miguel in Tenerife for a few days  a place we disliked but which was close to the airport and handy for our planned trip to the UK in August for family 90th and 1st birthdays. We had been told by a Norwegian couple whom we met on the island of La Palma, that we should go to Garachico on the north west coast of Tenerife one day. They said that it was a complete contrast to San Miguel and the south coast and they felt we should experience another face of the island. so that is what we settled on - sail from Puerto Calero to Garachico. It is a Puertos Canarios run marina and, given our previous experience of this organisation in Gran Tarajal, Fuertaventura, we decided not to frustrate ourselves trying to book in. Rather, we would just turn up, Indeed the official at Puerto Calero actually said, " You do know they are crazy at Puertos Canarios so just turn up. "We knew it would be cheap. We doubted it would have wifi and we wondered about the shower facilities and we had been told it was a small Spanish town set in the mountains

We left Puerto Calero under engine with very light winds but by the time we had rounded the bottom of the island we were sailing in around 20 knots of wind on the beam. This remained fairly constant throughout the sail. At first the windvane was not settling down but once we put a reef in the main she steered us brilliantly all the way. It was a great sail with speeds of over 7 knots for a long time Top speed noted was 7.6 knots. The wind did drop a little later that night and Scruffbag wanted to take the reef out as I came on watch but I persuaded him to leave it in for my watch. I was glad I did because half way through the watch, a moonless night became even darker as a huge dark cloud covered the sky and the wind increased, albeit for only an hour or so.

The wind did drop right down after Scruffbag came on watch early in the morning and we motored the last few miles. Our pilot book is 2015 and the marina at Garachico is only a couple of years old so we had to rely on the plotter. We usually find a picture helpful but in the event the entrance was relatively easy and I was glad of my smattering of Spanish in talking to the security guard who took our lines.

Thank you to the Norwegian couple for telling us about this place. We could have been in a very unattractive holiday resort watching overweight British tourists washing down full English breakfasts with pints of lager at 10 am. Instead we  wake up to a beautiful view each morning.

We are a few minutes walk from a beautiful Spanish town

Ok so there is no wifi ,but there are wifi cafes. OK so neither marina nor town has a launderette,  but we have big laundry buckets and ideal drying weather. OK so the shower blocks are portacabins with rickety floors, but they are clean and the showers are hot.

The town is also well situated for walking in the mountains and for visits to the island's natural attractions. The town also has amazing natural seawater pools, which we have tried and enjoyed.

Some sailing friends from Cherbourg and some friends from Ipswich are currently on the island so we look forward to meeting friends and to exploring further.