El Hierro – Saving the best for last

We set sail for the last of the eight islands that make up the archipelago of The Canaries.   We had not visited two of the main islands, Fuerto Ventura and La Palma.   We skipped the former as we needed to get from Lanzarote to Tenerife quickly due to our battery issues, and we missed the latter due to the volcano that started erupting in September 2021 and was still threatening livelihoods.   The marina was open and many yachts were taking advantage of visiting the island to experience the activity for themselves.   We would have loved to have done this, but needed to continue to El Hierro to rendezvous with Ruffian and finalise our imminent departure from The Canaries.  

As we left La Gomera we could see four islands – The peak of La Tiede on Tenerife, the coastline of La Gomera, the growing shape of El Hierro in front of us and the outline of La Palma to the west.    The wind had faded to nothing and we ended up motoring most of the 35NM to Puerto De La Estaca, taking advantage of having the engine on by making water for a few hours along the way.   When the wind increased a little, we unfurled the sails but found it hard to maintain 4knots so only enjoyed the peace and tranquillity of the passage for about an hour.   I don’t like motoring, for a number of reasons – the noise (even though our new engine is so much quieter and cleaner than the old one, it’s still noisy when you’re down below), the cost of burning fuel and finally, I feel it’s cheating when we are a sail boat!  

We spent our time reading, talking and playing with knots!   Steve had a go at making a food hammock by knotting several lengths of string.   The hammock we were using proved unsuitable, with several of our precious fruit, falling through the holes.  We tried many different variations, including putting the fruit in two plastic colanders before putting them in the hammock that was strung outside behind the steering wheel, but the hammock strained under the weight and the colanders tilted over precariously so we ended up taking it down.   We don’t like storing the fruit in the boat as they attract fruit flies which then lay eggs in the boat and infest other food in our stores, so we try to keep any fruit outside.   Steve’s project has a little way to go, but will keep him busy while on passage!   Next he’ll be taking orders for any knitting requirements!  Kidding!

We arrived at the marina without being able to get hold of anyone, except for Iain and Fi on Ruffian who assured us there was plenty of space.   We had emailed the marina a few days earlier and been told there was no need to book a berth in this new facility as there was always lots of room.    As we arrived at the small marina we could see this was very true.   A whole pontoon finger was empty so we were able to pick our space while being welcomed by Fi who caught our lines – it was great to be back in the company of Team Ruffian.    We celebrated that night on board Ruffian and were joined by Peter and Inge from the boat next to them.   We had been in touch with Peter a few weeks earlier as they were also sailing to The Gambia.   They founded a Dutch campaign called fossilfreearoundtheworld which they run from their sustainable yacht, Ya.   We had a lovely evening getting to know Peter and Inge and catching up on each others news and plans.

The next day we went over to see Ruffian for morning coffee and as I was climbing on board, I felt a sharp pain in my back and was unable to straighten up without considerable pain.  Steve helped me back to Cerulean where I took some painkillers and anti-inflammatories and lay flat on my back for the rest of the day!    Steve joined team Ruffian for a trip into the main town of Valverde for one of Iain’s “epic” walks.   While they were out Peter came to check on me after earlier having asked Steve if I needed any help and getting the answer, “always”! 

Later, as we were below, there was a heavy thump on our cabin roof, like a football landing above us. Steve went up to see what caused the noise and found a large, young shearwater sitting on our deck. Poor thing must’ve got disorientated and landed heavily on our boat. Fortunately it was fine and left us at some point during the night.

That evening was the first of a three night festival that was held at the marina with food trucks, craft stalls, music and children’s entertainment.   It was a lovely atmosphere with a range of music and people dancing, catching up with friends and excited children running around.   It reminded me of the street festivals in Lyttelton I used to go to with the friendly banter of a close community and catching up with old friends and neighbours.  

The four of us hired a car for two days and, with me still in considerable pain, opted to make the first stop the hospital.   It was hard trying to make myself understood but, judging be the odd way I was standing, and the back stretches I kept performing as I waited to be seen, a nurse soon realised what was wrong.   She directed me into a small room and gave me two injections – painkiller and anti-inflammatory – and sent me on my way, all done for free and within 30 minutes of arrival.    After an hour I was able to walk without looking like I had a pole up my back and the more I moved, the easier my back seemed to be.   It felt so good to be able to move, and move we did!   Over the two days we explored the whole of this beautiful island, once known as “the island at the end of the world” because in the 2^nd Century BC a meridian line was placed in the most westerly point and remained a meridian line until 1885 when Greenwich was eventually recognised around the world as the meridian.   Unlike some of the other islands, El Hierro has both a beautiful, unspoilt coastline and stunning interior.   It has large flat plains, lava fields, extinct volcanoes, lush forests, black beaches, natural rock pools and pretty villages.   In short, a beautiful, special, unspoilt island.

One of the villages we visited was La Frontera – a picturesque settlement with calm natural swimming holes surrounded by jagged rocks and thundering waves crashing on the boulders around the pools.   Steve and Iain jumped into the cold water while Fi and I watched them laughing and acting like excited teenagers as waves broke nearby and water sprayed around them.  

We continued to a wrestling arena in the village, which is still used today for Canarian Wrestling where two wrestlers try to get any part of their opponents body to touch the floor.

There is another marina at the south of the island called Puerto de la Restinga.  As we walked around the marina we noticed a sea turtle feeding and swimming in the harbour.   It is one of the few marinas that has a clean beach within the port – we loved it and the laid back feel of the town which the marina is in the heart of.

Like so many of the other islands, artworks feature in towns, beaches and countryside. We stumbled across amazing statues and murals in hidden away places. One, close to the capital, Valverde, is a large plaster of paris construction that, on first inspection was a little unusual, but when we read the story behind it I liked it more! Underneath all the plaster was some discarded electrical equipment, fridges and even an old truck. Local children helped decorate the sculpture with other found objects, giving an impressive entrance into the town.

Once the car had been returned, Iain led us on exciting walks he had researched near to the marina.   We walked up hills and down cliffs.  We watched birds, swam in pools, were impressed by the many stone walls that zig zagged across fields and generally looked in awe at the impressive vistas we were treated to.  Every day my back was getting stronger and better. 

We had originally intended to only spend a few days in El Hierro but, with no wind forecast and an opportunity to rest my back, we were happily delayed on the island, along with a number of other boats in the marina who were waiting for the same good weather window to leave.   We decided it would be a perfect opportunity to meet new people so, with Ruffian, we organised a Sailors Sunday Sundowners and encouraged all the boats to bring food to share.    The turnout was great with most of the boats represented with people from France, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, USA, Norway, UK and of course NZ attending.   It was a lovely evening and afterwards the marina had a very different feel with everyone mixing, visiting other boats and more laughter and conversation.

The weather started to change and a window opened up for us to leave.   Iain had managed to work out why our Satellite phone would not allow us to send emails – a huge achievement and mission which we would not have found without him.    We were ready to go.   I spent the last day baking and preparing food for the 7 to 9 day passage, while Steve worked his way through a long list of last minute jobs.

We were about to start the longest passage either of us had done yet with 900NM of ocean in front of us.   We felt excited and ready to leave Europe behind and start exploring another continent.   El Hierro had been a perfect way to draw a line under our 20 month European adventure and we really did feel we had saved the best island in the Canaries to last.