Marina San Miguel, Tenerife

At the risk of being repetitive, we are still in Marina San Miguel, Tenerife, the forecast continues to be daily in the 20-25 knot range (we’d not seen 25 knots on the forecast until we got to Tenerife, now we see nothing else!), although we have clocked 30 plus knots sat in the relatively sheltered marina so even this is optimistic. As previously mentioned, the forecast alone would not be insurmountable were it not for the wind acceleration zones on route which can almost double the wind strength.

The forecast last Sunday looked like last Thursday would be the day to go, a slight window existed enough for us to get to La Palma at least. We check the forecast daily and by Tuesday’s forecast, the Thursday window had gone. We checked again on Wednesday, same story, on Thursday we checked the forecast and the window was back, but as it is an 82 mile sail from Tenerife to La Palma we needed to have set off at or before first light to make it and it was now 10:30am! Quite frustrating, but with guests arriving on 3rd September into Tenerife we have decided now not to risk getting to La Palma and being unable to get back to meet them. We may still visit after they leave as this will give us a good route back to Gran Canaria avoiding the worst of the acceleration zones by heading along the north of the islands. Gran Canaria is our last destination before the Cape Verdes, as we need to stop in to collect some items we ordered in Las Palmas before we move on.

Although there is little to do locally, we have kept ourselves amused on board. I have been catching up on some overdue emails, which has been great to hear from a few people that I haven’t spoken to since I left. I have also had a fair amount of admin duties to catch up on with end of year accounts etc to do. I have also made some good progress on wedding planning, we have venues now for the wedding, reception and we are treating ourselves to three days hotel accommodation for the wedding. Although this is at a resort with a marina, so we can still see Invincible and only because we have family staying aboard to look after her whilst we are ashore!

I have also been quite engrossed in a good book so haven’t even been keeping up with my Spanish lessons, so now that is finished I have to get back to work! Kevin has been doing quite a bit of research into boat set up, now we have got some miles in and before we set off on the next log passage. Following our experience of Force 7-8 winds and gusting Force 9 every time we make passage in the Canaries recently, Kevin has decided to order an ATN Gale Sail. The design is American and consists of a long sock which hanks on over the top of the furled genoa, thereby preventing accidental deployment of that sail in strong gusts, connected to a 60 sq ft sail (in our case) and is hoisted on our spinnaker halyard. It is a very simple but effective design and gets a really good write up, particularly by the long term cruisers such as Hal Roth, whose book we have on board. Hopefully that should be here before we head to La Gomera (customs permitting) with our friends Jill & Phil and knowing the La Gomera acceleration zone as we do now, will get it’s first outing on that trip.

Kevin has also been doing a thorough check through of other equipment on board and has had our Sea Brake out on the pontoon and decided that the bridle which came with it for our boat length (but presumably assuming monohull beam) is not long enough. He has used some excess line from our kedge anchor to rig up a new bridle with sufficient to allow operation from port aft winch and starboard helm winch respectively, which allows it to be used for emergency steerage. He has also been doing his usual maintenance checks which detected loose grub screws on the rudder stock, which has now been rectified, definitely the sort of preventative maintenance we like to do sitting in a marina rather than the equivalent repair on passage.

We have also discovered a great bar along the coastal path which has an unobstructed view of the coast north from the marina, behind glass panels and under awnings held down by steel girders! It is fairly well sheltered and even better has Happy Hour from 5-7pm, which is just right for our usual routine of a couple of drinks before returning to the boat for dinner. It seems that this is no secret oasis though because last night all the ex-pat Brits complete with dogs were in too. It’s a 10 minute walk along the coast and makes a good break from the marina, we can confirm the weather forecast watching the waves crashing impressively up the cliffs or through the valiant attempts of yachts who decide to brave the weather only to turn round again after 20 minutes, all of which we watch with a cool beer. We realise that this is really not a hard life and 2 weeks lounging in Tenerife is actually what millions of people save up for as their annual holiday, so we are by no means complaining about the weather, which apart from the wind is glorious sunshine everyday, with occasional cloud in the morning.

We have been itching to do some snorkelling on the other side of the breakwater to where our boat is moored where the tourist Submarine goes everyday. We have spoken to two separate groups who have been aboard and both have reported seeing large Atlantic rays. Having watched the support boat from the café regularly, the sub goes no further than can be easily snorkelled, unfortunately the sight of waves crashing on the headland immediately outside the breakwater has put us off attempting that either by swimming or in our little tender, but if we do get a calm day some day soon we will be out there to see for ourselves. Otherwise we may even resort to a submarine trip ourselves as we have never been aboard one.