Well, here I am in Porto! But not quite – due to Covid restrictions, I am permitted to go out into the local area, basically to buy food, but can’t travel the few kilometres into Porto itself.
My arrival at about 1630 yesterday did cause a bit of consternation. They had no forewarning either… I attempted to radio them when I got within a few miles (and could get their details from their website), but no one was in the office. So I just sailed in and tied up at the fuel jetty. After a few minutes a guy arrived – he was very friendly, astounded that an Englishman had just sailed in, but very uncertain of how things stood.
Early evening there was a rattatattat on the boat and two policemen outside. They spoke a little English, enquired where I’d come from, had I stopped en route etc., and seemed happy with just taking a photo of my passport. One of them said he wanted to come with me!
The office was open this morning and I was told by a lovely woman that all was ok and that I could go out and buy food in the local area – but not go into Porto. Which was fine, nice to get out and walk on dry land after a week sailing. Leaving will be a question of weather – think I will take the easy option and go on Tuesday 9th, when I should then have moderate winds down to the Canaries…
Hello again Hans,
Pleased to see you’ve made it safely to the Canaries, though for some days I thought you’d changed your mind to head for Funchal, from your course at the time. I have good memories of Santa Cruz de Tenerife from two visits by ship in 1972, but never got to La Palma. I imagine you might see a couple of the quite impressive Naviera Armas passenger ferries there, mainly connecting to La Gomera. Current vessel on this route is VOLCAN DE TABURIENTE, I think. All the Armas ships are named, quite attractively, after volcanoes in the Canarias. All the best for a good port stay, and fair sailing further.
Cheers, Trevor
Hello Trevor!
Compared with Tenerife or Gran Canaria, La Palma is a small, quiet place – although it’s still quite evident that tourists who would normally be here are absent (some restaurants closed, touristy-looking shops empty). Very attractive town, lots of old buildings, cobbled streets. A pleasant place to be – and it’s sunny and warm, reaching 21 in the afternoon.
You are quite correct concerning the ferry – it was here this morning, and I noted that it’s name was Volcan de Taburiente (if it returns I will take a photo!). It’s named for this island: the extinct volcano is named the Caldera de Taburiente – at 5 miles across, it’s reputedly the largest caldera in the world.