The Far Side of La Gomera

With apologies to Pink Floyd (I think). We have made the nineteen sea miles round to Puerto de Vueltas which sits at the bottom of the Valle de Gran Rey. It is nice to be anchored off a small stony beach though we are having to readjust to rolling around a bit. The problem with spending nearly all your time in marinas is that you lose the knack of the greater self sufficiency needed when lying to your own ground tackle. The last time we were at anchor was nearly a month ago in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Still, we are enjoying it here so far. Although it is not really remote at all, we do feel quite cut off as there is no mobile phone coverage here. Even in the town, things are quite sketchy. We have only been ashore very briefly so far but I will report more later on.

The anchorage is one of the more dramatic we have visited so far being right under some very high cliffs. Shelter from the prevailing winds is near perfect though it would quickly become untenable were the wind to go into the south. We have been reflecting on some of the river anchorages we used to visit in the UK where you would be more or less completely surrounded by land and the wind could blow from any direction with impunity. Here you have to trust to the fact that the wind nearly always blows from the north quadrant so any southerly facing shore is going to be well sheltered.

The other thing that we are noticing is that our time in the Canaries is coming towards an end. My Brother is going to be sailing with us to the Cabo Verde islands and he flies down on November 30. Thus, on the second or third of December we will be casting off to the next stage of this adventure. This is one of the things about cruising. You are always taking your departure for somewhere new. This makes for a bit of poignancy to each place you visit, especially if you have had to leave before you are ready. However, there is mixed up the anticipation of the next destination. I have started looking at the chart of the Cabo Verde islands with more concentration about possible passages between the islands and there are now a few waypoints in for the islands.

On top of this are the inevitable nerves about embarking on a long ocean passage. It is 780 odd miles from here to Mindelo which will be the longest passage we have undertaken so far. It should be an easy passage but you always worry before the actual departure about whether you have done sufficient preparation and all that sort of thing. Once on the move of course all worries and ennui will vanish to be replaced with the slower almost suspended feeling that long passages bring. There will then be the excitement of landfall and a new area to be visited. I suppose, that long distance cruisers finally stop when they find somewhere that they don't want to leave for whatever reason. Will we find that on this cruise?