Leaving Deacon’s Marina, River Hamble – just after 11am, Saturday 27th February 2021
Passing The Needles, westernmost point of the Isle of Wight
Sunset in the English Channel
Moonrise over the English Channel
Onward ho!
Approaching Oporto
Moored at Douro Marina, River Douro, Portugal
Sunset over the Atlantic, in a calm sea
A ship, a ship – a rare occurrence
Approaching Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands
The port entrance, Santa Cruz de La Palma
Manuka, centre, in Marina La Palma
Marina La Palma
The road to the Caldera de Taburiente National Park, the caldera looming above
The 7km walk up (gaining about 700m), mostly through forest of Canary Pine
View over the Caldera
The Caldera (cauldron in Spanish) is over 5 miles across. In places the walls are 2000m above its floor
The Caldera formed about 2 million years ago, by erosion that started from the volcano’s original crater
Stunning scenery – the like is not to be found in many places
And on to dinner: tapas, in this case aubergine (eggplant for you Americans out there and brinjal for the South Africans!)
Avenida Maritima, running along the seafront in Santa Cruz de La Palma
Balcones de Avenida Maritima – old balconied houses
This and the following photos are taken around the cobbled streets of Santa Cruz. Wonderfully colourful
Plaza de San Francisco and the Franciscan convent
Plaza de Vandale – and nothing to do with vandalism… named from the Flemish surname Van Dalle, after the exotically-named Pablo Van Dalle y Terlinxs, a 17th century lord of the States of Flanders.
Durbanites will notice the Flamboyant trees – a common sight on the streets of Durban (while Durban is 29*53’ South, La Palma is latitude 28*40’ North)

Parlamento de Canarias. The white/blue/yellow is the flag of the islands

Mid-Atlantic – open sea
Sunset
Sunset
Liquid gold…
Sunset – looking east, with the moon already risen
Moonrise, at a later date
The moon illuminates the sea
Dawn…
A flying fish – sadly, they regularly fly into the boat at night
The first ship in 7 days…
Becalmed in the Atlantic – note the oily look of the water
Becalmed… this looks even more viscous
Finally – Antigua ahoy!
Moored at Nelson’s Dockyard, English Harbour – Antigua
Nelson’s Dockyard
Nelson’s Dockyard
Manuka just to right of white building
The walk up over the hills that separate English and Falmouth harbours
The walk up over the hills that separate English and Falmouth harbours
And down the other side, my favourite – Pigeon Point Beach, Falmouth Harbour
Pigeon Point Beach, looking inland
As the sun goes down, looking west from Pigeon Point Beach…
Quite extraordinary colours at sunset (and no, I haven’t applied any filter – this is natural…)
As is this… it’s just great to be here at sunset. The temperature cools to about 27 and with the breeze it feels pleasantly cool after the heat of the day
A superyacht neighbour that was here for a few days…
The sticker says it all…
The boat that 4 Brits rowed across the Atlantic, moored on the afternoon of its arrival at a small jetty on Pigeon Point Beach, Falmouth Harbour, Antigua
Barbuda: Manuka anchored off the beach at Cocoa Point
Dragged the dinghy up the beach…
Leave nothing but footprints…
Sunset from Cocoa Point
Manuka at anchor, Eleven Mile Beach, west coast of Barbuda
Baie de Grande Case, Saint Martin