Santa Cruz and NE Coast
The alarm went off at 06:30. Far too early for this leisure mariner.
But needs must. We had to be at Imprecasa, a marine servicing company, for an 08:00 appointment to get our liferaft inspected and serviced.
They are in the north of Santa Cruz. We got lost and were late.
Our liferaft is a "Forties B" 4 man valise model manufactured by RFD, a division of Survitec who are a sort of safety conglomerate.
Firstly the liferaft is removed from it's valise and the vacuum bag removed. They had to be careful as this bag (the silver foil piece at the bottom) would have to be used again due to non availabilty of spares from RFD/Survitec. The raft is only 2 years old.
Then the raft was unfolded and the gas cylinder removed. The cylinder will be tested and recharged if necessary.
Compressed air is used to first inflate the lower chamber...
... and then the upper chamber and canopy supports.
A rear view of the fully inflated raft with circular peephole just visible.
Liferaft entrance. Note insulated floor and internal webbing ladder to assist boarding.
Our fully inflated raft with orange stability pouches underneath.
This liferaft has an RORC pack which will be inspected and consumable items such as flares and batteries replaced together with any faulty components found. The raft has no food or water. These are provided using our grab bag.
We will return tomorrow for the re-packing. I plan to include a set of specs. These can be accommodated but very little else can be added.
Tomas needed to get some vaccinations done in Santa Cruz. When he was finished we set off for the north east part of Tenerife.
The island here is quite mountainous with deep valleys and dramatic but well maintained switchback roads. Road engineering in the Canaries is pretty impressive.
From what we have seen over the past few days and this morning normal Spanish service has been resumed in that the built environment on Tenerife is a bit of a mess. The innovative approach to planning and building design used on much of Lanzarote is sadly absent here.
We drove up to the Vallee de Guerra and then onto the coast at Punta Hidalgo. Our route then turned inland via Tejina and Tegueste and climbed up into the outstanding Monte de las Mercedes.
Steep mountain valleys in Monte de las Mercedes with switchback roads. The forest here is very dense but the trees are not particularly large.
Moist sea air sweeps up the north face and rolls over into the valleys.
Higher on the very moist north facing slopes the trees appear somewhat stunted and are overgrown with lichen.
Dropping down from Monte de las Mercedes we drove through Taganana and on down to the black sandy beach at Playa de San Roque where quite a surf was running.
Our route then wound down to the east coast at San Andres where we came across a little piece of paradise at Playa de Las Teresitas. How idyllic and what a change from the rugged coast and black sandy beach just a few miles away.
Golden sands, palm trees and a still lagoon. We could have been in Tahiti.
Ships lay at anchor outside a reef protecting the beach.
However, it's all a fake. There being few beaches in this part of Tenerife it was decided, some 40 years ago, to make one. An offshore reef was constructed and the sand was shipped in from the then Spanish sahara.
A fake it may be but it was was well built, appears well maintained and is said to be very popular though it was virtually empty on our monday afternoon visit.
But needs must. We had to be at Imprecasa, a marine servicing company, for an 08:00 appointment to get our liferaft inspected and serviced.
They are in the north of Santa Cruz. We got lost and were late.
Our liferaft is a "Forties B" 4 man valise model manufactured by RFD, a division of Survitec who are a sort of safety conglomerate.
Firstly the liferaft is removed from it's valise and the vacuum bag removed. They had to be careful as this bag (the silver foil piece at the bottom) would have to be used again due to non availabilty of spares from RFD/Survitec. The raft is only 2 years old.
Then the raft was unfolded and the gas cylinder removed. The cylinder will be tested and recharged if necessary.
Compressed air is used to first inflate the lower chamber...
... and then the upper chamber and canopy supports.
A rear view of the fully inflated raft with circular peephole just visible.
Liferaft entrance. Note insulated floor and internal webbing ladder to assist boarding.
Our fully inflated raft with orange stability pouches underneath.
This liferaft has an RORC pack which will be inspected and consumable items such as flares and batteries replaced together with any faulty components found. The raft has no food or water. These are provided using our grab bag.
We will return tomorrow for the re-packing. I plan to include a set of specs. These can be accommodated but very little else can be added.
Tomas needed to get some vaccinations done in Santa Cruz. When he was finished we set off for the north east part of Tenerife.
The island here is quite mountainous with deep valleys and dramatic but well maintained switchback roads. Road engineering in the Canaries is pretty impressive.
From what we have seen over the past few days and this morning normal Spanish service has been resumed in that the built environment on Tenerife is a bit of a mess. The innovative approach to planning and building design used on much of Lanzarote is sadly absent here.
We drove up to the Vallee de Guerra and then onto the coast at Punta Hidalgo. Our route then turned inland via Tejina and Tegueste and climbed up into the outstanding Monte de las Mercedes.
Steep mountain valleys in Monte de las Mercedes with switchback roads. The forest here is very dense but the trees are not particularly large.
Moist sea air sweeps up the north face and rolls over into the valleys.
Higher on the very moist north facing slopes the trees appear somewhat stunted and are overgrown with lichen.
Dropping down from Monte de las Mercedes we drove through Taganana and on down to the black sandy beach at Playa de San Roque where quite a surf was running.
Our route then wound down to the east coast at San Andres where we came across a little piece of paradise at Playa de Las Teresitas. How idyllic and what a change from the rugged coast and black sandy beach just a few miles away.
Golden sands, palm trees and a still lagoon. We could have been in Tahiti.
Ships lay at anchor outside a reef protecting the beach.
However, it's all a fake. There being few beaches in this part of Tenerife it was decided, some 40 years ago, to make one. An offshore reef was constructed and the sand was shipped in from the then Spanish sahara.
A fake it may be but it was was well built, appears well maintained and is said to be very popular though it was virtually empty on our monday afternoon visit.