San Sebastian , La Gomera

Friday started relatively early for me as we dropped lines straight after breakfast to depart for La Gomera to show Jill & Phil the more Spanish side of the Canary Islands. In the usual way of things, we had gone from constant 25 knot winds for the last three weeks to 6.5 knots (apparent) as we left the marina, the log had become fouled by our extended stay in San Miguel. We were however in no hurry and decided to sail it out as much as we could. So full main and jib, goose-winged to sail down the south east side of Tenerife, followed by a beam reach rounding the south point, degenerating into the use of the Spifurl then finally motoring as the wind reduced to less than 5 knots. It was a very leisurely sail with a beautiful blue sky and very little swell, so we all just enjoyed the ride. Phil did some helming and Jill enjoyed a relaxing day in the sun.


Phil at the helm


Spifurl in action

We had been pleased to realise the day before that we were arriving in time for Semana Colombina festival which occurs at the beginning of September every year to celebrate the departure of Cristobal Colon (Christopher Colombus) from the port of San Sebastian to discover the New World on 6th September 1492. The festival includes a yacht race from Huelva on mainland Spain and a week of activities around the town. I had previously been confused on the dates that Jill and Phil had been arriving so was thinking that we would miss the festival and would just turn up as usual at the marina for a berth. When I’d realised the day before that we would now make it, I’d tried to book us in, only to find they had no space. So we had prepared for a few days at anchor along the coast of La Gomera, hopefully if the weather was settled enough making it in to San Sebastian from Playa de la Guancha. However, I made a final attempt to call them as the office opened at 4pm when we were about an hour away and they said they could find us a spot.

So we pulled into the harbour and called on the VHF channel 9 and were told to wait at the fuel berth. The harbour was full and there were several large race boats rafted up in the usual visitor’s berths. There was lots of bunting and flags everywhere and music playing somewhere, we’d definitely arrived to the party. Unfortunately that seemed to mean that the usual helpful marina staff were also on holiday as we were greeted eventually at the fuel berth by an older guy who looked at us blankly when we asked which berth to move to. Next one of the big race boats starts circling to get onto the fuel berth, he throws a line to come alongside us, then decides against it as circles away. Then he comes back for another go, we are not really sure what he is trying to do, one of the crew is holding out a small jerry can. Surely they didn’t bring the boat out to fill a small jerry can from a berth 10m away. My Spanish is not really advanced enough for such situations and besides it then became clear that the skipper speaks perfect English, which he does whilst driving away and looking away from us so no one hears a word. He does another pass and speaks to the fuel attendant, my Spanish is not good but I understand the word English and the tone said the rest. He would apparently prefer that we circled the marina rather than he did and was trying to get us to move.

We had been told not 5 minutes ago to wait here by the marina and that they had a berth available for us, so I was frantically trying to raise them by phone and VHF to find out where to go. There were boats being launched to one side of us and impatient racing skippers to the other. Finally I get the office on the phone. She says to go to pontoon E inside the marina, so we motor off the fuel berth and approach the inner marina looking for signs to tell us where E is, but clearly none of the pontoons are labelled. We manage to grab an alongside berth and I leap off to run into the office as again no one is answering the phone. I get directions and an attendant simultaneous hails Kevin as I am in the office and is most annoyed we are not now ready to come across! Anyway, we eventually moor into a relatively tight spot at the end of the pontoon. Phew, Beer o’clock shout the crew and we secure the lines and grab a cool beer out of the fridge. I doesn’t often take three attempts to moor before you can get settled thank goodness.

Anyway, after a shower and change we head out to see the Cave Bar (Club Nautico de la Gomera) followed by a meal. Kevin rates the beer there as the best in the Canaries and the barman recognises us and immediately pulls glasses out of the freezer which I think our guests were either impressed or concerned by! The boys are taken in by the sight of the new Tapas counter on the bar and tuck into Tuna and Octopus rejecting any suggestion this might cheat them out of a starter later. We wondered into the town from there and found a nice little restaurant, all seemed to be empty though and it was 9pm, but obviously we’d got out of Spanish time being in Tenerife as twenty minutes after we sat down the place was full.


Drinks at the Cave Bar (Club Nautico de la Gomera)

We enjoyed a lovely meal of steak for the men and pasta for the girls before a final drink in the town square under the beautiful large trees which I think look old enough to have seen Cristobal on his way. The stage was set in the town square and we could here the music playing whilst we enjoyed our drinks. The music was apparently Columbian; we went round to have a look on our way back to the boat. There was a reasonable crowd gathered with some dancing at the front of the stage and a group of small girls actually sat on the front of the stage for the best view. To our untrained ears many of the tracks sounded rather similar, certainly by 4am in the morning when the music finally stopped, we felt we had heard enough Colombian music for the time being.


Columbian music in the town square