Flying the flag for la Palma marina

I should be writing about the snow in the Canary Islands earlier in the week It probably warrants a few words at least as it was very late in the season, incredibly low down and a surprise for not only us but also for the guests and most Palmerans as well. The finca here in the north didn't actually get any snow at all – we are too near to sea level - but as we drove south towards the capital, we were gasping at snowy sights we have never seen.
But I'm not writing about that because we were heading to Santa Cruz de la Palma for a spot of shopping and it was a case of beautiful weather with blue skies and glorious sunshine. Very much business as usual!
And as it happens, we were with relatives so in addition to giving them an in-depth tour of a supermarket, we decided to include the Marina in our travels.

 

This was only our second visit to the marina ourselves since last year when we discovered, quite by accident, that it was open. From the outside, the city side, it looks nothing more than the type of building you would expect to find in any boring port.  Ah, but this isn't the commercial harbour we are talking about, this is the fun side of it, the sports harbour.

Enter then if you will just by the roundabout near the main post office and you are drawn through the entrance of the marina, emerging to a row of chic shops, bars and restaurants complete with an upper deck and a super-swish restaurant.  In front of you gleaming white boats sway gently at their moorings - cabin cruisers, catamaran, fast fishing vessels, Blue Water cruisers and in the distance maybe one of the many cruise liners that visit the island or the Fred Olsen fast ferry.
In the north, we are used to simple things. Restaurants where they cook meat over burning wood.  Goats trotting along a country road.  Pine trees reaching up to the skies.  But the Marina of Santa Cruz is a vision of modernity at its best. And so well worth a visit.