Canaries Sailing
На русском. 🇷🇺
8-day trip of 8 people with catamaran around Canary Islands: Tenerife, La Gomera and La Palma.
Raising the mainsail on a catamaran.
360-video timelapse of the mainsail raising.
Day 1 (January 20)
All crew members except me were arriving later on the same plane, so I took a rental car and went for groceries for the first day dinner.
Then, once everybody arrived, we've spent the rest of the day driving here and there, to supermarket, to marina and back. I've returned the car at around 10pm.
The team consisted of 8 people: Dima (captain), Sergey, Alexey, Victor, Natasha, Anya, Tanya and me.
Victor, as the most experienced (after the captain) sailor became the chief mate, Sergey was also regularly involved in boat affairs. I was on the back-up and usually ran with a fender (an inflated elastic cylinder to cushion collisions with the quay and neighboring boats).
Day 2 (January 21)
This time, we have booked a catamaran, not a yacht. Our captain hadn't operated one before and our position in home marina was a bit tight, so we've decided to hire a local skipper, Gosha, for the first day.
During unmooring one of the marina staff who was helping fell into the water, fortunately he was not too badly hurt and quickly got out onto the pontoon. He had to rinse his clothes and phone with fresh water from a hydrant on the pontoon.
Around midday, we've successfully departed to La Gomera island.
A catamaran is more stable and less lurching on the water than a yacht, yet, the waves of the Atlantic Ocean were strong enough to cause some discomfort and seasickness.
On the way we set the sails, a gust of wind caught the mainsail on the tackle and pierced it a bit.
To get less seasick I went to lie in the cockpit and missed the dolphins!
We've arrived at dusk. There was a festival near the marina, we've visited it after dinner.
Then we sat on the boat in the evening with beer and wine. Gosha told us about himself, it turned out that he had been involved in networking and the Internet since the dawn of technology in the 90s. He also advised to meet the next sunrise on a cliff near the marina.
Day 3 (January 22)
Early in the morning, the least sleepy half of the team went to witness horison near 📍 Monumento de la Antorcha Olímpica México 1968. Distant mountains were showing out of the haze, the sun was gaining power.
After breakfast, we drove around the island in a rented minibus.
There are beautiful mountain views at 📍Mirador del Morro de Agando and 📍Mirador de Tajaqué.
Next we drove to 📍Mirador de Abrante, a picturesque place with red soil.
It was getting close to lunchtime, and we drove to the nearest town. There we split up, the main part of the team went for a walk to the restaurant, and the captain and the driving member of the team went to get a patch for the hole in the sail.
The restaurant pleased with local fish and Canarian potatoes (boiled with salt crust), soon Dima and Alexey arrived.
It was already approaching evening, but we still decided to drive to 📍Playa de las Salinas. It wasn't for nothing, we made it in time for sunset. The beach is rocky, very beautiful with waves crashing on the rocks in the setting sun. It reminded me of 📍Benijo beach in Tenerife.
We returned to the marina in the late evening, had dinner and started taping up the damaged sail.
Day 4 (January 23)
Early in the morning we set off in the direction of La Palma Island, sailing all day. According to eyewitness accounts, there were dolphins again, which I successfully slept through.
Day 5 (January 24)
In the morning we were going to explore the island by car. We couldn't find a minibus and had to take two small cars (with 1.0 liter engines) in the airport rental, Alexey and I were driving.
The tour of the island started with the museum in the ship 📍Museo Naval - Barco de la Virgen. The exhibit has antique items from naval equipment, pretty interesting if you like nautical themes.
Next we drove to the volcano 📍San Antonio. The volcano has been dormant for a while now and is overgrown with bushes. But another volcano, Cumbre Vieja, last bothered residents on September 20, 2021. On the way we met relatively fresh frozen lava masses flooding houses and vehicles. Lava-clearing equipment was also common.
The weather was warm and from the volcano we drove to the beach 📍Playa de Tazacorte. There we bathed and lounged in the black volcanic sand. On the way back to the marina, we were accompanied by a beautiful sunset that painted the mountains in warm colors.
Day 6 (January 25)
This day was the longest boat trip from La Palma to Tenerife.
The mooring crew was up at 6am, around 6:40 we were on our way out of the marina. We arrived at the marina in Tenerife at about 3am, which meant about 20-21 hours straight of traveling.
I spent most of that time lying on the bed.
No one saw any dolphins this time.
Day 7 (January 26)
The next morning we rafted up to refuel and re-moor the catamaran in a more proper place. We haven't sailed with it after that.
For the remaining couple days on the island, we've rented a minibus again. Our first destination was to a beach with white (actually plain yellow) sand 📍Playa de las Teresitas. Almost everyone swam, and the captain wisely used this time for a healing nap after a grueling sea crossing.
In the evening, after the beach time, we strolled through the town 📍San Cristóbal de La Laguna. Cute place, but overall nothing special.
Then we went back to the marina and found out from Gosha (skipper from the first crossing) a beautiful sunrise spot near Teide 📍Mirador El Tabonal Negro and planned to go there early in the morning.
Day 8 (January 27)
In the morning we've wasted too much time and left later than planned. On the way to Teide, in the middle of the serpentines, the car's "check engine" lit up. 😅
At first, we wanted to turn around and drive back, so as not to get stuck in an inconvenient place. But then we decided to take a risk and drove sparingly onward. Luckily, the car didn't break down.
We were late for sunrise and arrived when the sun was already high. Still 📍Mirador El Tabonal Negro is a really beautiful place, with the frozen waves of a lava pool.
Nearby was one of the most popular spots around Teide: 📍Roques de García. It's usually crowded and hard to park there, but early in the morning we were among the first ones there.
Wish we had time to hike around the mountains, but even at the observation point there is a grand panorama.
While most of the team was enjoying the natural beauty, Dima, Sergey and Victor were preparing and handing over the catamaran. We arrived at the marina and went straight from there to the airport, my flight was a couple of hours earlier.
I returned, as I had arrived, with a short layover in Munich. Berlin was welcoming with a train strike, but I still managed to get home relatively quickly.