Tonight Karen and I are sitting on the balcony of Real Club Nautico de Santa Cruz de La Palma having tied up in their small marina which is currently under development. We are tied up stern to with two bow lines securing the front. When we entered there was only one place left in the marina with not a lot of room – fortunately the wind was running at about 8-12 knots and the docking was reasonably uneventful except trying to find a second bow line attached to anything.  But we aren't the worst parkers - check this dude out - he parked his galleon in the middle of the town!


Next to us is another Lagoon- a 380 which I must admit makes our boat look quite large.


We are now relaxed and enjoying a Jarra (grande cerveza) and uno copa de vino blanco de La Palma.

My Spanish is improving having finally taken delivery of an interactive course from the States. I can now say “Necessito dos cervesa – uno grande y uno pequen~a” – roughly translated to “I need 2 beers – one large and one small”. Karen has yet to grow the hairs on her chest to handle a Jarra yet and is still taking the ham off her “sandwich vegetal”??? Can’t she take a hint and understand there is no place for a truly vegetarian person in Spain?

It is interesting how you get feelings about a place. We have now lived in 4 places in Spain since we left home – each for over a month. And each of them was very different – Baiona was very laid back with a bar in every 2nd building, Playa Blanca Lanzarote – the English tourist haven, Las Palmas Gran Canaria – a bit grimey but even though we got the bike stolen we were comfortable there and then Santa Cruz de Tenerife. I don’ know what to say here – the marina was safe with new facilities, close to the CBD, we had 2 marineros help us tie up and there were more chandleries than anywhere else we had been, but somehow we did not connect with the city – which was a shame because it was nicer than any of the other capital cities on the islands we had been on. It also facilitated us getting our yellow fever shots, Spanish course from the States,  LEDs from England and the G2 upgrade to our boat – which is by the way worth waiting for.

We spent days wandering the city, days waiting on our boat for the parts to turn up to fix a panel in the owners cabin – which we waited 6 weeks for and they didn’t turn up and I think that and the soot from the ferries that  really disaggregated Karen and me from the city.

This is unfair on the city as we did enjoy it, we were greeted by what we thought was a cheap version of the Sydney Opera House that turned out to be the Auditorium of Tenerife and a representation of a Conquistador’s helmet and what seemed to continual concerts and music. The city itself is very clean and interesting and had all the retail we required.


But as soon as we arrived here in La Palma, we feel at home. It is a pretty town (Santa Cruz), much smaller than the other island capitals we have been in but maintains much of the charm of it’s history.



The Yacht Club is a friendly establishment, with no real assistance to tie up except the other yachties. The facilities are more than adequate with a pool, this bar and restaurant. We are currently deciding whether we will stay a couple of days or a month – and despite the adverse comments we have heard about the swell in the marina I think it is comfortable enough to stay for the month.