La Gomera


We had lots and lots of wind here on the Canaries, but as soon as the boat was launched again in Los Cristianos, the wind died out completely. We were in the eye of a low pressure area, so on our way to La Gomera the sea was like a mirror. PHOTO 1 . A good test for the enigine and YES! temperature alarm! After all caused by a poor connector, so with the engine itself was nothing wrong. The depression brought us an immense thunderstorm which lasted more than 8 hours, with heavy rains flooding the island. PHOTO 2 In the village the water had risen up to our knees and the wall between street and beach was demolished by a bulldozer, to drain the water into the sea. The beautiful beach was a mess and the water left a thick layer of mud behind. The harbour was full of branches and trees, the electricity was down, all shops were closed, it was a mess. And not easy to clean up, as the mud consisted of some kind of sticky clay, which made shopping a risky adventure!	But a few days later the biggest part of the mess was cleaned up, so we went for a bus trip around the island. Almost always a big cloud hangs over La Gomera, and obviously this cloud produces a lot of rain and humidity. Apart from the rocks, La Gomera is green, green, green and green, a strange contrast compared with the rocky Tenerife only 20 miles away. PHOTO 3 Sometimes a bit jungle-like, it reminded us even of the north of Thailand! The centre and highest part of the island consists of some kind of tropical rain forest where you can hike for days. This forest is high on the list of world heritage natureparcs, so we definitely wanted to go there again. Our friends Hans and Anja came to visit us for a week. They are real sailing colleagues, as they leave Holland this summer for their own circumnavigation. With the four of us we rented a small car and explored the whole island, including the forest.	PHOTO 4+5 The trees and branches are green with various types of moss; in combination with a sprinkle of dew drops, and the sun coming through the green leaves... Beautiful. We also climbed to the top of the island, so we were rather content with ourselves. Hans and Anja are great people to have on board. Endless and useful conversations on yachts and cruising; they are easy to get around with, big fun and always active and helpful. They did a great job by taking out and replacing the window in the forehatch. JW repaired the hatch several times already as it leaked badly, but it always started to leak again. But thanks to Hans' professionalism (as may be expected from a former boat yard owner), our future is now hopefully free of leaks in the foc's'le. PHOTO 6 And together with JW he also did some maintenance on the Windpilot!! The insurance company re-opens the case of the damage to our saildrive, so perhaps everything will turn out fine. If that happens, we will spend some of the now unexpected money on a new anchor: a Spade anchor of 20 kg. We will get rid of our CQR, because the Fortress and the Fisherman are now most used and best trusted.