Mad Fish

Mad Fish
On delivery from Scotland

Tuesday 20 November 2012

TENERIFE – 1st Nov to 11th Nov


TENERIFE – 1st Nov to 11th Nov

What a contrast to the other 2 islands. Our first impressions not so welcoming. We had hoped to get a one night stay in Porto Colon close to Los Christianos so we can visit our neighbour. We were told no room and with no anchoring and an unfavourable swell we had to go to San Miguel. The Marina was large and past of a golf resort which turned out to be huge. We decided to eat in Los Christianos so we could show the boys what it was like for others on a commercial holiday. This was a mistake as the food was cheap and awful and we were constantly annoyed by street sellers. The boys thought the coloured umbrella that you wore like a hat on your head were just stupid. As it had started to drizzle the sales of these had improved and many women were now looking rather stupid. Ethan made us all laugh when he saw a girl with a big coloured umbrella and remarked “wow they come in a bigger size and on a stick too!”

We had agreed to meet Tamla outside her hotel at 8pm and set off for a walk up the hill. We were constantly badgered by restaurants and bars to eat.

Tamla’s hotel was away from the crowds but once inside the music was very loud and it was difficult to talk. The boys were not keen on the kids entertainment being done by a man in a sailors outfit and resorted to playing games on our ipods. This annoyed Isabella (our neighbours 5 year old) who wanted to play with the boys like she had at home. We went up to another bar and sat outside so the kids could play in the park. The highlight of the night for them was the lady shouting at them from the balcony because she was locked out and needed  hotel staff to rescue them.

Tamla plied us with free drinks from their all inclusive wrist bands and we left around 10pm for the taxi back. It is about 10 miles away and cost €25 each way, so not so cheap a taxi as we had been used to. We had picked up some spare anodes though and more importantly Tea that Tamla had kindly brought out. The boys have decided that the boat is a much better holiday than a hotel.

The next day we walked to a small shop and the boys were very excited to see Robinsons squash and other British items not seen for many months. We got back to the boat just before the heavens opened!

The marina staffs were very helpful in completing the forms for permission to anchor. It seemed however that this had not actually been granted. However we were told all was good so we went up the coast a few miles and enjoyed a couple of free nights at anchor. There was a nice golden sand beach and the boys enjoyed jumping off the boat and snorkelling. We seemed to be woken at 4am with a really uncomfortable swell on both mornings and sought refuge at the capital Santa Cruz.

On the way we were called by Tenerife traffic to tell us we did not have permission to anchor and not to anchor without it. We caught up with our friends on Chewsy (Steve and Chris) who had spent 7 nights in the anchorage we had just left enduring the 45 knot winds we had had in Gomera. The official rib had said they could stay so they thought getting permission in Santa Cruz to anchor further north would be a mere formality. This was not the case and after going to port control and completing the forms they were told we never give permission to anchor.

This is also a commercial port home to ferries and cruise ships. We did some shopping and I bought some more Pandora beads as they were offering 30% discount. We had Macdonalds 2 days in a row as our friends on Intrepid Bear offered to take the boys to a museum for the afternoon and they were going their first. Russ and I did a bit of shopping and then went back to prepare roast lamb for the bears. We had a very enjoyable evening and proved you can cook a roast dinner for 9 on our boat.

The next day the boys played Pokemon on the DS all morning which gave us the opportunity to bag up our atlantic dinners and check the stores. I was very pleased to find I had more M&S tins than I remembered buying and we could create 21 dinners from the food we already had onboard. We did also find that Santa Cruz had a small M&S food and added a few more tins and some Mango Chutney to our stores.

The yacht called Leopard was also in our Marina dominating the skyline with her massive carbon mast. We had seen they had a skeleton crew and said we would get the boys aboard for a look around. Charlie (the crew) was more than happy to break the boredom and show us around. The boys were amazed that it had a carbon fibre toilet. They also did not understand why they had covered the carbon fibre doors with a wood laminate to make it look good. Surely nothing looks cooler than carbon. School for the boys was to write up about their visit to Leopard and Oli has written an excellent piece which I will post separately.

Now bored with a big city and killing a few days before Gran Canaria we decided to try stealth anchoring. We left Santa Cruz with our AIS switched off and headed 7 miles north. We dropped anchor amongst some spectacular cliffs and jumped in the sea for a swim. Again the anchorage seemed to become rolly at 4am but during the day it was very pleasant. Our friends the bears and Rafiki (now known as the monkeys – as Rafiki is the wise monkey from Lion King) joined us the next day. Rob nearly blew our cover by saying he would meet us in the anchorage but Sara was quick to say no they were going to the other marina. The kids all went swimming and we enjoyed some Rum cocktails on the Bear. Mad fish left with 7 bottles of Rum as people very kindly gave them as leaving presents and we won a few bottles in MYC (Marchwood Yacht Club) raffles. Taking rum to the Caribbean seems stupid so we have been trying to consume to make space for things we cannot get there. We have 2 bottles left – the sailor jerrys is strictly for bananas on the bbq or hot chocolate as it is spiced so not so good in cocktails, so it has earned its place on boards.

We had a fantastic sail to Gran Canaria with a good 20 to 25 knots of breeze on the beam. We covered the 43 miles in a little over 5 hours which is pretty good going. We left 30 to 45 mins before Rafiki (47ft) and Intrepid Bear (43 ft catamaran) and they didn’t manage to catch us which surprised us. This was the end of a 3 month journey to the start destination of the ARC. We have 2 weeks to prepare, be scrutinised and party hard.

 

 

 

 

 

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