Sailing School In The Canaries
We knew we wanted to go sailing this winter, but that was the only thing we were sure about. After brainstorming and researching our options, we settled on the idea to take a sailing course in the Canary Islands with Canarysail.
CanarySail offers a cruise week course where we’d get ample time sailing while having an instructor onboard to give us tips and teach us new things. We liked that format rather than one of their RYA practical courses that follows a set curriculum because it was hard for us to determine which level would be the best fit. Most students take the cruise week to gain miles toward their RYA certification. We weren’t focused on gaining any certification, we just wanted to go sailing after losing our boat to hurricane Ian. And there’s always more to learn as a sailor!
Flights
To find a reasonable price without ridiculous layover times, we flew from MSP to Lisbon and spent a few nights there before continuing to Tenerife. From Lisbon, we took a local budget airline EasyJet to Tenerife. After our sailing courses, we spent more time in Lisbon to explore the city.
It was interesting on our flights to hear the flight attendants give announcements in multiple languages. In the airports and hotels, we noticed the signage in many languages and started to pick up a few helpful words in Spanish and Portuguese that way.
Funny Travel Story
On our flights to/from Lisbon, we carried our sports water bottles in our day packs. Of course, they need to be empty when going through security. Trying to be good about staying hydrated during our travels, I made sure to stop at a water bottle filling station before boarding our planes.
During the flight to Lisbon, I pulled out my water bottle, pushed the button to open the straw, and was startled to see a pressurized stream of water shooting up and over the seat in front of me. I quickly shut the top back down! Fortunately, most of the water landed in the empty seat and the passenger that got a sprinkling took it in good humor.
OK, lesson learned. Don’t flip the straw open to get a drink while flying.
Free Day In Tenerife
We arrived in Tenerife the morning of our first day of class, but we couldn’t check in for our class until 5:00 pm. We took a taxi from the airport to a neighboring town Los Abrigos. When we tipped the taxi driver what we felt was a normal tip, he was especially grateful. Later we learned that we tipped him quite well! They don’t expect tips to be nearly as much as in the U.S.
We relaxed by the small harbor and enjoyed coffee at a local café. As we explored the waterfront, we thought we could see the marina in the distance. It doesn’t look that far, no need to take another taxi we thought. We are somewhat known for not taking taxis if there is an option to walk or take public transportation. However, on this hike, we’ll be lugging our luggage on our backs! Tony assured me “We have plenty of time to get there, we’ll just take it at a leisurely pace and stop often to rest”. I admit it was a beautiful hike!
Classmates and Instructor
That evening we checked in for our class, met our fellow classmates, and settled into our boat SV Alfados. One student is from Scotland with a delightful accent. The other student is a young man from England in his GAP year. During the trip, he was always offering us tea with a splash of milk. Our instructor, Bart, is from Belgium and now lives in Tenerife. He is also the owner of SV Alfados. Thankfully, RYA courses are all taught in English.
There was another boat from CanarySail doing the same cruise with students from other countries. Both boats were all male except for me.
Coastline and Landscapes
The next morning after our safety briefing, we set off for our first destination. As we left the harbor, I mentioned the beautiful view of Tenerife from the water. Bart laughed and said, “just wait till we arrive at La Gomera!” He was correct, as we approached La Gomera it was even more stunning. And with each new port, we never tired of seeing the rugged shorelines, mountain peaks, and charming groups of homes nestled in the valleys of the hillsides.
Wind
Our week started out with 3 days of strong winds consistently in the 20s and with big swells. It was perfect practice and confidence building for us for future ocean sailing. The rest of the week, there wasn’t much wind, but we still enjoyed the scenery. We also spent some time on skills like lights, buoyage, and passage planning.
Our instructor Bart was exceptional at knowing when to give detailed instructions, when to be available for questions, and when he could go and take a nap and know SV Alfados was in good hands. We were impressed by his ability to coach and instruct so naturally during our days on the water. And thankfully, we had a great mix of personalities. There was a strong spirit of teamwork aboard with everyone ready to pitch in and do their part.
Special Sights
Sailing past Los Organos (The Organs) was a spectacular sight to see!
Whenever we saw dolphins or sperm whales, everyone rushed up on deck to get a look! It’s always a treat to see wildlife while underway.
Every day as we came and went from port to port, it was a highlight to see the rugged and dramatic coastlines and adorable small towns from the viewpoint of the water.
The traditional colorful fishing boats in the marinas were picture-perfect.
Exploring each town with a short walkabout is one of our favorite things to do. We enjoy noticing things like old buildings & churches, narrow streets, parks and nature, and people-watching.
Our Route:
San Miquel, Tenerife to San Sebastian, La Gomera
San Sebastian, La Gomera to Santa Cruz, La Palma
Santa Cruz, La Palma to Garichico, Tenerife
Garichico, Tenerife to Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera
Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera to Las Galletas, Tenerife
Las Galletas, Tenerife to San Miquel, Tenerife
We covered 280 miles.
Shore-Based Sailing Course
During our second week with Canary Sail, we took a shore-based course called Yachtmaster Coastal Theory. Their classroom is in San Sebastian, La Gomera so we arranged to take an inter-island ferry there. There are two ferry companies that go between the Canary Islands; the Armas and Fred Olsen. We took the Armas.
After we settled into an aparthotel for our week of class, Tony commented “we’re on the main street. Just like our condo in MN.”
It’s been a while since Tony & I have taken a challenging week-long course every day from 9-5, with homework. On the first day, we felt like we were mainly dusting off our brains. We asked a lot of questions in order to complete the practice exercises. The learning came easier to us as the week went on.
“Eddy”, Eddie Coenen, was our highly knowledgeable, gifted, and patient instructor. He’s been teaching for many years and his passion to help others improve their sailing skills shows through in every lesson. He also is an examiner for the Yachtmaster certificate of competence so he has stories and examples to illustrate the lessons. Real-life examples help drive a point home and some were entertaining! We loved learning not only the RYA curriculum but also gained many valuable general sailing tips and advice from Eddy! He has a website nautinstruct.eu we can use as a resource for additional tips and forms.
Hearing our laughter and friendly banter from the classroom, the director of SailCanary stopped in and asked if we were making progress in the coursework or just having a party. We definitely were covering the course material, but we were having fun in the process!
La Gomera
We learned some interesting tidbits about La Gomera from our week of class on the island:
There is a whistling language on the island called Silbo. It is used to communicate across valleys. They don’t want the language to become extinct, so it is being taught in schools.
La Gomera has a connection with Christopher Columbus. He stopped in San Sebastian to stock up with supplies and visit a church to offer prayers for a safe crossing. We found the statue in the plaza of Christopher Columbus.
Speaking of plazas, the plaza de la constitution has big shady laurel trees to sit under and watch the world go by.
We enjoyed walks to the beach and found it interesting the sand is black. Near one beach, we climbed up the stairs to get a close look at a statue of an Olympic Torch.
Language
I brushed up on my Spanish before our trip.
Eager to practice my Spanish at a local creperia (pancake cafe), I concentrated hard to remember enough to order 2 coffees with milk, a strawberry crepe, and an apple & cinnamon crepe. Feeling relieved when I finished, I instinctively said “thank you” in English forgetting I was ordering in Spanish. She replied in perfect English “you’re welcome” and then proceeded to repeat our order back to us in English. It struck us funny.
When I purchased our inter-island ferry tickets, I used a combo approach of Spanish and English to communicate tickets for two people, where we wanted to go, what time, and with a senior discount, please. The cashier seemed to appreciate my efforts in Spanish and we purchased our tickets with no problem.
English Language Differences
Even when everyone uses English, we had a few language barriers.
One of our fellow students casually mentioned “I’m going down below to get my jumper”. We asked “what’s a jumper?” He returned wearing a sweatshirt.
Soon afterward, the song “Where’s Me Jumper?” was playing in the cockpit with crew members singing along.
Foods
We ate well on our trip!
Most restaurants served an appetizer of bread with red and green mojos. I loved the green and red mojos, although I learned to start small with the red one to see how spicy it was before lathering it on my bread. And if you order salted wrinkled potatoes, a traditional Gomeran dish, mojos are also served with the meal. One waiter compared their use of mojos to our use of ketchup, it’s a common condiment.
There were delicious bakeries everywhere, hard to pass up!
Often the crew of SV Alfados would go out to dinner as a group after arriving at the port. At one of those meals, Sam ordered goat and gave us all a taste. It reminded us of beef stew meat.
One evening we arrived at our marina too late to get dinner in town. Paddy and Sam cooked up a delicious meal and introduced us to Spanish Tortillas. It is a traditional dish from Spain made from potatoes and eggs. I’m going to try making it at home!
Did you think I forgot about ice cream? Not a chance! We enjoyed some outstanding gelato. One time because we were caught out on a walk when it started to downpour. Spotting a gelato store nearby with a nice big awning to duck under, well you see what’s coming, we “had to eat gelato”.
Out Of Our Comfort Zone
Taking these sailing courses in the Canary Islands was a definite step outside of our comfort zone.
- living and sailing with people we had not met prior to the trip
- exercising our brains with navigation and tide problems that required multi-step process to solve (like algebra)
- figuring out travel logistics for international travel and inter-island travel
- managing occasional language barriers
And we’re so glad we did!
We met new friends, added to our sailing skills, saw beautiful landscapes and cities, learned some history and culture of the Canaries, and built confidence in facing new challenges and stepping out of our comfort zones.
It’s good to step outside of your comfort zone! Where’s your next adventure taking you?
I love this and am so glad you got to have this experience. Good for you!! what an incredible adventure that was in so many ways.
Thanks! It was helpful to keep our sailing dreams moving forward!
I continue to be awed by your blogging, you are such a natural at it, and so enjoy the descriptive stories of your adventures, makes me feel as if I am there, which is good, because I dont have the courage to adventure the way you two do!! Thanks for keeping it real, and fun!
You’re an encouragement to me to keep writing and sharing! I’m glad you enjoy the stories, thoughts, and pictures of our adventures!
It’s great to learn about your travel experiences, Julie. I had a good chuckle as you described the opening of the straw on your water bottle because another friend had just described the exact same experience on a recent flight she took. Hearing about water shooting to an unsuspecting flight companion within a couple of days is quite a coincidence. Did this trip wet (lol) your appetite for more European travel?
I’m happy to hear I’m not the only one who had a water spout from my water bottle during a flight Yes, our trip certainly did wet our appetite for more European travel! We’ll be back!