The Canary Islands
Spain's volcanic archipelago off the coast of Africa — a mild, wind-reliable winter base built around one of ocean sailing's great departures, with a 3,715-metre summit at its centre and a run of wild, marina-free anchorages to the west.
Every winter, a fleet gathers at Las Palmas that has nothing to do with charter at all: several hundred boats provisioning for the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, the trade-wind crossing to the Caribbean that has run from this dock since 1986. It sets the tone for the whole archipelago — a mild, wind-reliable winter base where a 3,715-metre volcano stands over Tenerife, a well on La Gomera still marks where Columbus provisioned three ships in 1492, and the western islands still have no superyacht marina at all. Prime season here runs October to April, precisely when the Mediterranean has shut for the year.
“Columbus watered his three ships at La Gomera in September 1492; the ARC fleet still gathers a trade wind away every November.”
Signature anchorages
Five islands and one Atlantic institution — full-service marinas on the three eastern islands, open anchorage and agent-run logistics on the two wild ones to the west.
- Las Palmas — Marina Las Palmas, Gran CanariaThe archipelago's biggest marina and the ARC's home dock: 1,363 berths, most to around 45m LOA (length overall) and 5m draft, inside a working Atlantic port that also holds Astican's drydocks, one of the region's largest ship-repair yards. Yachts above 45m berth on the commercial quays via an agent.
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife — Marina Santa CruzDeep water close to the old town: 300 berths from 9m to 80m LOA, 8m draft at the mouth, a sheltered inner-harbour stop below Calatrava's white, sail-shaped Auditorio and a short run from Teide.
- Marina Lanzarote, ArrecifePurpose-built pontoon berths to around 60m LOA, on the edge of a capital built to César Manrique's rule for the island: no billboards, no high-rises, nothing taller than a palm tree.
- San Sebastián de la Gomera & Valle Gran ReyMarina La Gomera at San Sebastián takes craft to 20m only — small-boat scale, not superyacht; Columbus provisioned his three ships here in September 1492, at the well still standing as the Casa de la Aguada. Round to the west coast for Vueltas, a 20-berth government harbour serving Valle Gran Rey (pre-book only), or anchor off Argaga nearby — good holding, cliffs for shelter from the north.
- Los Órganos, La Gomera's north coastTwo hundred metres of sheer basalt organ-pipes, eighty metres high, dropping straight into the sea — no road reaches it. Reached by tender or excursion boat from Valle Gran Rey or Playa de Santiago; open to the Atlantic, so a settled-weather call.
- El Hierro — La Restinga & El GolfoLa Restinga's marine reserve, at the southern tip, forbids anchoring outright — moorings only, across twelve marked dive sites, sheltered from the trade wind by the island's own bulk. El Golfo, round on the northwest coast, is the amphitheatre scar of a prehistoric flank collapse — a striking, exposed day-anchor, not an overnight one.
- Teide, inland TenerifeNot an anchorage but the excursion every week here is built around: cable car to La Rambleta at 3,555m, a free national-park permit for the final push to the 3,715m summit, and some of Europe's darkest, clearest night skies from the Starlight-certified observatory at 2,390m.
The scene
A rally start, a carnival, one artist's island, and the sky above a volcano.
ARC departure, Las Palmas
Several hundred boats and well over a thousand sailors provision at Marina Las Palmas each November for the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, the trade-wind crossing to the Caribbean that the World Cruising Club has run since 1986 — the largest annual transatlantic sailing event anywhere.
Carnival de Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Second in scale only to Rio's, by most counts — over 250,000 visitors for weeks of parades, costume and street parties through the capital; the 2026 edition runs 16 January to 22 February, with the main days 11–22 February.
César Manrique's Lanzarote
Jameos del Agua, a volcanic lava tube turned concert hall and lake, home to a blind, albino cave crab found nowhere else on Earth; and the clifftop Mirador del Río, 400 metres above the strait to La Graciosa — the landscape aesthetic Manrique set for the whole island.
Teide by night
Teide National Park has held Starlight Destination status since 2014 — over 300 clear nights a year and some of Europe's lowest light pollution, with the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias running one of the world's leading solar observatories from 2,390 metres.
Table & stay ashore
Eleven Michelin stars across Tenerife alone, and the addresses that hold them.
M.B, Ritz-Carlton Abama
Martín Berasategui's Canary Islands outpost on the west coast, two Michelin stars inside the Ritz-Carlton's resort at Guía de Isora.
El Rincón de Juan Carlos
The Padrón brothers' flagship at Royal Hideaway Corales Suites, La Caleta de Adeje — two Michelin stars, the first ever awarded to Canarian chefs.
Nub, Bahía del Duque
An Italian–Chilean pairing, Andrea Bernardi and Fernanda Fuentes Cárdenas, building tasting menus that bridge the Mediterranean and Latin America inside the Bahía del Duque resort at Costa Adeje.
Poemas by Hermanos Padrón
The Padrón brothers again, this time in Las Palmas, inside the Santa Catalina hotel — Canarian produce and technique, a cellar of almost 300 labels.
Los Guayres, Mogán
Six consecutive years with a Michelin star at Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa, on the island's south coast — Canarian tradition reworked under chef Ruyman González.
Santa Catalina, a Royal Hideaway Hotel
The oldest hotel in the Canary Islands, built in 1890 in the Ciudad Jardín district near Las Canteras beach — a regionalist landmark reopened in 2019 after a full renovation.
Royal Hideaway Corales Suites
A suites-only address on Tenerife's south coast at La Caleta de Adeje, home to El Rincón de Juan Carlos two doors down.
Princesa Yaiza, Playa Blanca
A 385-room beachfront resort on Playa Dorada with views across the strait to Fuerteventura — named Spain's best family resort by Condé Nast Traveler.
A week, sketched
Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
Embark at Marina Las Palmas — the ARC's home dock — and settle in with a walk through Vegueta, the old town, and along Las Canteras, the city's three-kilometre urban beach.
Las Palmas to Santa Cruz de Tenerife
A fair-wind run of around 50 nautical miles to Marina Santa Cruz; dinner within sight of Calatrava's white, sail-shaped Auditorio on the waterfront.
Teide, via La Laguna
Inland for the day: San Cristóbal de La Laguna's UNESCO old town, then up through the cloud line to Teide National Park — cable car to La Rambleta at 3,555m, permit-holders on to the 3,715m summit — and after dark, the Starlight-certified sky from the Teide Observatory.
South Tenerife to San Sebastián de la Gomera
Reposition south along the coast, then across roughly 24 nautical miles to La Gomera; ashore at the Casa de la Aguada, the well where Columbus provisioned his three ships in September 1492.
Valle Gran Rey & Los Órganos
Round the island to the west coast for Vueltas or the Argaga anchorage, then tender out to Los Órganos' basalt organ-pipes, weather permitting, on the wilder north-facing side.
El Hierro — La Restinga & El Golfo
A crossing of around 43 nautical miles to the archipelago's smallest, remotest island: moorings — never anchor — at the La Restinga marine reserve for the diving, then round to El Golfo's landslide amphitheatre for the afternoon.
Return to Tenerife
The run back north to south Tenerife to disembark, close to Tenerife South airport — the same trade wind that will carry the ARC fleet west in a few weeks still holding steady astern.
Pair with
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The year, measured
Monthly means at the heart of this water — daily maxima averaged, wind as mean daily peak.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air, day °C | 20 | 21 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 23 | 22 |
| Sea °C | 21 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 23 | 22 |
| Wind, peak kt | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 |
ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo · 2019–2023 means · sea temperature 2022–2023
The yachts that run these waters
Profiles from the record — introductions via the harbour desk.
Read on: WAKE — the magazine · the guides · the glossary