Tenerife Carnival

We only stayed two days in Gran Canaria, then sailed the 55 miles across to Tenerife, and had our best sail so far of the whole trip. The sun was shining and the wind was on the beam.  We had a great sail at five to six knots, and even had a visit from a pod of dolphins as we approached the island.

Tenerife is completely different from the barren islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Instead of lots of low-lying mountains, the whole of Tenerife centres around the huge Mount Teide. It is so tall (over 3,000m) that it ‘catches’ the clouds, and the north of the island is green and lush, compared to the mostly dry south.

We headed for Santa Cruz, the capital city of Tenerife, and a bustling port with four separate harbours. From the sea, the whole city is dwarfed by the jagged, green mountains behind, a very stunning backdrop to the city.

Mountains backdrop to Santa Cruz

We arrived on the first weekend of Santa Cruz Carnival and could hear the music as we sailed in, passing a big funfair. As soon as we had moored up and done the formalities, we headed into the town centre to see what was happening. EVERYBODY was dressed up. There were families dressed as ladybirds, a family of bumblebees, a fantastic spaceman, teenage boys dressed as ballerinas, and MANY, MANY men in drag!

one of the three stages at Santa Cruz

trees of light!

We felt rather out of place in our ‘normal’ clothes, but wandered round soaking up the atmosphere. The trees were draped with lights, food stalls and temporary bars had sprung up on street corners and colourful groups of performers entertained on three different stages throughout the town. The numbers of children fizzled out as it got dark and the streets got increasingly rowdy, so we returned to the boat, but by the sound of it, the party continued until dawn. The Spanish certainly know how to party!

The main parade was on Mardi Gras Tuesday. We marked the day by learning about the roots of Mardi Gras (or ‘Fat Tuesday’) for ‘school’, then cooked up multi-coloured pancakes for breakfast, in Mardi Gras colours of gold, green and purple!

Katie's Mardi Gras pancakes

In the afternoon, we went to watch the big parade. This time we got into the party spirit of things by dressing as a pirates. A lady in a cafe said she appreciated our efforts and bought the children a can of Coke!

Reuben with his free can of Coke!

Aargh!

McCabes ready for Carnival!

Ghostbusters!

Carnival Troupes

The streets were lined with people but we managed to find a spot to watch and squeeze the children forward for a view. For over three hours, troupes of men, women and children in a variety of outfits marched and danced their way past. The volume of the music couldn’t compete with our experience of Trinidad Carnival, but the paraders definitely gave their all! Again, the afterparty continued until daybreak, maybe the whole town has a week off work to recover?

wonderful costumes

Ash Wednesday was the day for a bizarre ritual – the ‘Burial of the Sardine’. I have no idea how this started or what exactly it represents, but they make a huge sardine, and parade it through the streets as though it were a dead body. Men and women alike dress in black mourning clothes and follow the ‘funeral cortege’ through the streets wailing and moaning and generally being over-the-top. There were several ‘priests’ at the front of the procession, and even a bagpipe-player in a kilt, so it seems like anything goes!!

bagpiper & 'priests' at front of parade

The big Sardine

This was quite a late parade, obviously aimed more at adults. Since we had made the effort to go out (dressed up again!), we hung around to watch it, and while we were waiting for it to begin, the children had fun collecting stray feathers (from all the boas being worn) and even found a five –euro note on the ground!

Revellers by the little Sardine

Carnival lights

'Mourning widows'

We didn’t get a chance to see much of the city itself due to the chaos and upheaval of the Carnaval, but we did like the crochet-covered trees in the square!

Next day, our weather showed light winds before several days of stronger winds came in. We decided to take the opportunity to get south while we could. The marina in Santa Cruz was very expensive, and we wanted to get to the more sheltered south side of the island (or so we thought…)

Sailing in the acceleration zone

Still smiling!

The Canary Islands sit in an area of predominantly NE trade winds. The winds get funnelled around the mountains, creating ‘acceleration zones’ down each side of the islands. This was our first experience of sailing within one of the zones, and we were not disappointed. The winds were light leaving Santa Cruz, so light that Dave decided to put the spinnaker up. This pushed our speed up over 4 knots and we were sailing nicely. As we continued south, however, the wind kept gusting off the land, and increasing all the time. Dave had just given me a shout to help get the spinnaker down when… RRRIPP!, it split in two down the middle!

We replaced it with the staysail, and were still hammering along at 6, 7, 8 knots, I think we even reached 9 knots at one stage. The island protected us from the NW swell, but the wind was incredible, blowing at least a Force 7, and blowing whitecaps across the water. We were sailing beautifully downwind, but passed a couple of yachts motoring upwind making hard work of it!

Deep waves were rising up behind us as we rounded Montana Roja on the southern tip of the island but, as soon as we turned the corner, the wind dropped off to a Force 4, and we were sailing gently again! We dropped sails just off the marina de las Galletas, where we had booked a space, but when we entered the harbour we realised it was designed for much smaller, lighter boats than ours. The lady in the office called us on the VHF in a panic, ‘ROCKS ALEXANDRIA, ROCKS ALEXANDRIA, WE DO NOT HAVE FREE SPACE FOR YOU!!’. (I love her mis-pronunciation of Ros Ailither!)

We had passed another newly-built marina a couple of miles back so we motored back there, arriving just as the daylight disappeared, and thankfully they were able to accommodate us. Not without a few choice remarks, ‘You didn’t reserve? With a boat like this?’ I then explained our mistake with the smaller marina.

In the morning, we took stock of our surroundings. The marina San Miguel was itself was very substantial, though not on the edge of a ‘real Spanish town’, as we had looked forward to in las Galletas. In fact, it soon became apparent that we weren’t anywhere near civilisation at all, we were perched on the bottom end of a huge golfing resort, with nothing within walking distance but the resort’s shops and restaurants. And it became clear during the week that far from being clear of the acceleration zone, we were slap bang in the middle of it. We renamed the marina ‘Windy Alley’!

Ros Ailither in Marina San Miguel

'Viking ship' in marina, still waiting for permit to open as a bar after 7 months!

Unfortunately, there were no other options for us. The sheltered anchorage at Los Cristianos, where we had stayed happily for two months on our trip ten years ago, had banned yachts from anchoring. The next marina on the west coast was too small for us, and there was nowhere else along the south coast sheltered enough to anchor in these winds. We certainly didn’t feel like bashing back to Santa Cruz against the accelerated winds we had sailed down with!

The view from 'Windy Alley' marina

Sinjun & Sally, freshly arrived from the UK, came to visit the following morning in their hired Fiat 500. They didn’t mind the wind, and were just happy to be in a warm climate for a change! We all wandered around to restaurant above the harbourmaster’s office to toast their arrival. We had a fantastic view out to sea, but were sheltered from the winds by glass panels all around. There was only one choice on the menu for lunch, and thankfully it was delicious – lentil soup followed by chicken and potatoes, Canarian style.

Welcome lunch for Sinj & Sally

Chicken & potatoes, Canarian style

Our visitors drove off to their lodgings for the night and we decided that we had better hire a car too if we wanted to see anything of the island. After searching the internet, we arranged to pick one up from the nearby airport in the morning. The following day we set off to the top of Mount Teide while the sky was cloud-free.

The roads in Tenerife are an incredible feat of engineering - huge sections of rock blasted out to make way for the road, and hairpin bend after hairpin bend all the way up the mountain. You have to concentrate hard, enjoy the views (briefly!), and try to forget that the only thing stopping you from falling off are the stone blocks lining the edge of the road!

Stone blocks to avoid falling off the edge!

After an hour of climbing, mostly in second gear, we reached the plateau around Teide itself. A winding road takes you past huge boulders with patches of mineral green, and to the base station of the cable cars, already at a height of 2,356m. The cable cars swung upwards out of sight and we nearly backed out at this point, having discovered the extortionate price! However, it would have been a wasted journey, so we bit the bullet and soon found ourselves being spirited to the top of the mountain.

Patches of green minerals in rocks nr Teide

Going up in the Cable car!

The top station has an altitude of 3,555m, and wonderful views over the whole of Tenerife. We walked out to the lookout point, the children skipping over the trail on the way out. We were looking down on the clouds that blanketed the north of the island, we could see over the mountain range in the north down to Santa Cruz harbour, and across to the neighbouring islands of Gomera and Gran Canaria, also wreathed in clouds.

Neverending path to the lookout!

At the top of Mt Teide, 3555m high!

We stopped awhile there enjoying the view, and Dave found a few ‘fumaroles’, where steam was coming from a hole in the ground and the children could put their hands in and feel the heat – and the moisture- inside. True ‘hands-on’ learning! They also smelt the ‘rotten egg’ smell of the sulphur leaching out in yellow/white patches.

Investigating the steaming fumaroles

Eggy-smelling sulphur deposits

The walk back was altogether more taxing, we all felt out of breath and Reuben complained it was ‘too far’ and he couldn’t take another step! We realised it was the effects of the altitude. We passed a man and his elderly mother who had walked up the mountain from the base of the cable cars. It had taken them over 6 hours, and they were concerned about missing the last cable car down. Happily, we all made it down safely.

We met up with Sinj and Sally a few times over the course of the week, as they moved from place to place. We took another trip up into the mountains, to a picnic spot high in the Canarian pine trees. We saw lots of lizards scuttling about, but they always scurried away under rocks before we got a good look at them. Reuben was fascinated by a dead lizard he found in a bowl of water, and lovingly carried it home, hoping it might come back to life. When it showed signs of decomposing, the children gave it a sea burial, and Reuben drew a fantastic picture of it from a photo.

Walking in the pine forest with Sinj & Sally

Reuben's 'superlizard'

We visited a beach on the windy east coast, where Katie found a calm spot to do some more snorkelling, and Reuben had a go on a boogie board. He is still on the cusp of swimming on his own but didn’t seem to be fazed when he got tumbled a few times in the surf. Katie has seen several species of fish in the water here, so after looking them up online, she is drawing pictures of those we have seen. 

We visited the cloudy north of the island. The sky literally turned grey the minute we turned inland from Santa Cruz, and by the time we reached Puerto de la Cruz, we had real sprinkles of rain. We dined at a ‘Pizza Rustica’ restaurant overlooking the crashing shoreline. Here, the coast takes the brunt of both wind and swell and, not surprisingly, the red flag was up to warn off swimmers.

Looking out over Puerto de la Cruz shoreline

Carnival Mask shop in Puerto de la Cruz

We visited the famous ‘Dragon Tree’ of Icod, reputed to be a thousand years old. We had been to both these places ten years ago when Dave’s Mum came out to visit with his brother. Now, as then, we were rather unimpressed by the tree (a tree is a tree after all!), but the children were pleased to think they were following in Nanny Rita’s footsteps!

The famous Dragon Tree, dwarfed by perspective!

The north of the island is very fertile, however, because of all the rain, and we passed mile upon mile of banana plantations. The children were tickled to see that the bananas grow ‘upside-down’. Sinj and Sally even stayed in a banana plantation, and were allowed their fill of bananas to eat!

Wet and fertile north coast

Canarian Canaries

We finished off the day with a cuppa tea in the pretty little town of Garachico on the north coast. As in Icod, the town was full of beautiful wooden balconies and window details. The sun was setting by this stage and we had a hair-rising drive home up and over the mountains before we hit the new motorway further south. The views of the coast from up high were as impressive as the drops from the road!

Later in the week, we visited the busy tourist centres of Los Cristianos and Playa de las Americas. The difference in the weather there was staggering. Having set off from ‘Windy Alley’ with the wind howling, it was lovely to wander along the beach in calm sunshine. We were the only people there not only wearing long trousers, but with jumpers around our waists for later! We again mourned for our one-time sheltered anchorage, then headed up the road to find Dave’s old friend Jeff, who runs the ‘Lakeland’ teashop there. Real English cakes!!

At Lakeland Tearooms

At Playa de las Americas, we met up with Maggie, the children’s friend’s grandma, who is delivering a package of messages back to Topsham for them! 

We drove to the secluded cove of El Puertito, where apparently you can snorkel with turtles. The water was rather cloudy from the recent swell, but we saw lots of fish, and an eight-legged starfish. Sadly no turtles…

Keen to escape the car, Katie and I set off one morning along the coast path from our marina to Las Galletas, some two-and-a-bit miles away. The path at first skirted the impeccably green golf course, where we returned a couple of stray balls to their owners, then followed up and down craggy inlets and rocky beaches. One of these beaches had a caravan at either end, both obviously lived in, with several sheets of tarps strung up to give extra space. One even had a few chickens and a couple of dogs running about – we reckon they had been there a while!

Holey lava stones on beach

Caravan shanty home on beach

Rocky coves along south coast

It was along this walk that we found a natural patch of ‘green’ in the dry south of the island. It was in a dip out of the wind and the ‘greenery’ mostly consisted of cactus and prickly pears. I had heard from Sinjun that prickly pears were edible, so I thought I’d give one a go. Bearing in mind his warning to be very careful with the nasty prickles, I held one in my hat, picked off the prickles with a knife and peeled it. It looked bizarrely like a small beetroot, even staining my fingers red. It turned out to be very juicy, both sweet and slightly acidic, but full of hard little pips that I had to spit out. Not the easiest thing to eat but definitely a thirst-quencher if you were stuck in a desert!

Prickly Pears

peeled prickly pear!

Just before we reached las Galletas, pretty windswept by now, we came to the most wonderful stretch of rocky caves on the edge of Montana Amarillo (Yellow Mountain). There was smooth light grey rock that looked like it had poured down the mountain, layer upon layer of yellow sandstone hanging perilously as it got eroded away, and underneath it all volcanic black crunchy rock. It was a geologist’s dream, and made me wish I understood more about rock formation.

Katie near Las Galletas

Perfect sandstone bench!

As it was, Katie & I had fun running along the narrow path and scrambling up the smooth and bumpy rocks. It seemed to be almost a secret location, enjoyed by a few but completely off the tourist radar. We returned later with the boys, and Dave and Katie enjoyed a snorkel in crystal clear water, while Reuben found himself a perfect rockpool to bathe in – one without spiky sea urchins!

Sandstone erosion - a geologist's dream

Wierd & wonderful rockscapes

The next few days brought rain showers and cooler temperatures. Snow appeared overnight on Mount Teide, but the high roads were closed when we tried to drive up and see it for ourselves. The temperature dropped over ten degrees during our drive just halfway up the mountain, down to 5ᵒ, so it must have been near freezing at the summit. We diverted to see the enormous rock stacks called ‘Los Gigantes’ instead.

Snow appears on Mt Teide

Finally, the wind dropped, the sun returned, our hire car went back and it was time to think of moving on. We had hoped to continue west to Gomera, but are reluctant to spend any more time in pricey marinas. Useful and safe as they are, at 30-35 euros a night, our cruising fund is getting severely depleted. We know from our brief sojourn in Gran Canaria that there is a cheap (not free!) anchorage in Las Palmas, the capital, so we are planning to spend a week or two there, and give our wallets a little break.