I’d be wary at that time but if you can wait for the right weather window there is no need to be too concerned. If you are on a time table then better to go earlier.
Oh cripes. I had no idea that the Canaries would have no room in the marinas around October to December. Serves me right for not keeping up but living on past visits so many years ago. I can believe what you write because the Mediterranean has become overcrowded. Pity I did not connect the dots to places outside the Mediterranean.I've made the passage from The Canaries to Cape Verdes a few times, ranging from October through to end of January. No problem.
Gib to Canaries and the reverse in most months of the year. Going south is by far the easiest!
Rupert is spot on with the need to book from next month onwards. Last year everywhere was packed with queues of yachts waiting at anchor to get in some places.
Enjoy your trip.
As I said earlier there are a small number of marinas which might have space - probably the most likely are San Sebastián in La Gomera and La Palma marina (everybody cleared out with the eruption last year although many have gone back). Santa Cruz de Tenerife is where we stayed but over the last 3 years it’s gone from plenty of space in busy season (Sept-Jan) to just a few spaces but it’s a possibility and much better connected than the other two. You should call/contact them but you will need a lot of luck given its already mid-August.
Thanks, thinking more about this, another possible solution has occurred to me. I could break off in Almerimar and haul out then fly home from there. Not ideal, because it would delay the passage to Canaries to mid December. I am not sure of the gale frequency in December but would be better than wasting a whole year for the window to precess(?) in Southern Spain.
One other option - and a cheap and safe one too which what seemed to be loads of spaces - is to go to the marvellous modern marina at Rabat. That gets you out of Shengen so no limitations. We had an impromptu stay there on the way down to the Canaries when we had a weird leak. Friendly (in a French sort of way) very professional marina with a few liveaboards and super cheap fees. And the city itself is well connected to international flights plus Rabat and Sale are fascinating places to stay.
A great suggestion which I would never had thought of. I still have the mind baggage of early times when it was advised to steer clear of that coast for fear of getting ones throat cut. Cruising in a sailboat is so comparitively slow that the old proverb that it is immpossible to step in the same stream (river) twice applies. Catch up is a sobering process for me.
Well I checked it out and instead of getting good news the time for renewal has been extended to 11 weeks. I am a resident of Sweden which is the address for a passport return. Fast track applications are not available for citizens applying from outside the UK.