Seismic Location

We arrived in El Hierro after a lively sail from La Gomera. The winds were double predicted on Windguru and too much for 'Dexsteer' our friendly steering gear. I helmed and Tristan pumped the bilges....that  kind of says it all. We were taking on water and its now really obvious that all the caulking has gone and not just the bit we had spent the last month repairing.
Tristan's self preservation skills took over and  he managed to cook eggs and bacon doused in salt water, followed by lots of nuts! Overdose of salt on this trip.

As we approached La Restinga, the wind increased even more and  we were surfing down waves at 10.9 knots..... I felt like it was a competition to beat each surf and actually enjoyed myself. I'm not sure Tristan with his head down in the cockpit pumping the bilges and occassionally looking up to the water mountains felt the same. He had an 'oh shit' look when a mountain of green water dumped itself on the side decks but Meriva performed like the 1960s floating Ferrari she is, shugging the water off and screaming 'solo cercare di nuovo bastardi'. And they did! I have never felt such a concentrated  saline solution in my eyes!

We also blew out the genoa as it jammed in the furling gear and just when we didn't want sail we were unable to get it down. Typical we now had to head into the mountainous sea and got soaked but the difference from Biscay, it was warm and you soon dried. Crusty! Tristan's ingenuity prevailed and he used the boat hook to wind the sail in.

Entering La Restinga was something else! The wind was blowing 30 knots with gusts over 40 knots and a boat that was not going where she was told.

We eventually got lines ashore with a lot of help from fellow sailors.....I felt really guilty as our friends Trisha and Justin's children were yelling from their boat Selkie, 'Welcome to your new home', and I was so intent on getting the line ashore  I had ignored them!

The harbour wall clearly shows the seas around here....shame its not mentioned in the pilot book!

It was a relief to be tied up, however getting off the boat posed an ever greater challenge! The pontoon was broken, held together by nylon rope and tilting at an angle of 45 degrees.....most unstable wobble board ever!


Four lines ashore and then the skipper dived overboard.......to tie a line to a  submerged  concrete block.

We slept, slept and slept a bit more feeling battered and exhausted.

The damage wasn't as bad as we thought......the caulking had failed  as it didn't appear to have been replaced  at all,  and there was nothing for it..we had to  take the boat out of the water and do it properly.

A  yacht turned up two days later, the 'sail doctor' who  were able to repair our genoa. What a small world it is....a guy we  met hiding from a gale in Porto Sin was aboard and he remembered us.

Tristan has ordered the materials and we have sorted out lifting Meriva so as soon as they arrive we are on sticks. In the meantime we can enjoy El Hierro.

The constant volcanic activity is powerful and exciting and the lava fields are awesome.

 The black lava is twisted and contorted into rope shaped patterns unlike anything I have ever seen before.

Siempre vivre

Crystals of green tourmaline are in the uplifted rocks. Plants have colonised where ever they can find shelter. One plant, sea thrift, locally known as Siempre vivre,' always alive' is beautiful.

 We met a guy who took us down a lava tube and showed us petroglyphics from the Berbers.

Crawling out of his hole!

We have had some horrendous winds since being here and  we both feel glad to be tied up, but I think this has been everywhere in the Canaries. None of the pilot guides mention the acceleration around La Restinga, but being in an acceleration zone is an 'experience'.

A Calima covered the boat with a thick layer of  orange dust from the Sahara. Its frustrating as we had varnished and Meriva was looking good.....now  she looks like a cruising boat.....bleached and sand blasted.

The air quality all over the Canaries was bad for a few days and everywhere is filthy. We have no water on the pontoons or electricity so washing down the boat is not an option.  Both of us have taken to swimming daily and I have been scuba diving  for the first time since 2004!   

Somewhere out there is a volcano! It first erupted on 11th October 2011 and is a mile off La  Restinga..... most of the bars have the 'floating stones' which have been called Restingolites after the town. Whilst I am 'over enthusiastic'  about the current seismic activity, being here and amongst the locals, it has put everything into perspective. People are struggling to survive a combination of a 'bad 'economic climate and 'damage'  to the tourist trade when the word 'volcano' is mentioned.

It is an amazing place with fantastic geology and ecology and is totally unspoilt.