Ferry to VGR back in service

The direct ferry between Los Cristianos and Valle Gran Rey which had been out of service for some time due to the annual testing and inspection of the vessel in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, arrived back in the port of Vueltas late last night and is operating scheduled sailings from today and bookings can be made through the Armas website once again.

New vessel to connect Valle Gran Rey with Tenerife

HSC Champion Jet 1 arriving in La Gomera yesterday. (Images: puentedemando.com)

The rapidly expanding ferry company Naviera Armas will be introducing yet another vessel on the route between Los Cristianos on Tenerife and Valle Gran Rey on La Gomera island from today. The high speed catamaran (HSC) Champion Jet 1 has been chartered by the Canarian ferry company Armas from the Greek/Cypriot shipping company Seajets to replace the Trasmediteranea Alcantara 2 which sailed on this route up to last night (see my recent post).
Champion Jet 1 was built in Tasmania by Incat as hull number 044 in 1997 and has just  undergone a complete refurbishment (see image below). This latest vessel on the LC-VGR route can accommodate about 750 passengers and 200 cars and offers all the usual facilities such a bar cafeteria, shop, etc. while achieving a top speed of 36 knots, which makes her faster than the previous vessel on this route and should ensure more realistic arrival times (ETAs). The 285ft long vessel with a beam of 85ft once operated in the Channel islands and later connected Poole with Cherbourg for Brittany Ferries as 'Condor Vitesse' before being sold to Seajets in Greece in 2015, where she was renamed Champion Jet 1 and operated from Piraeus and Heraklion.

Now the chartered HSC is expected to also connect Los Cristianos with Santa Cruz de La Palma once trials there have been completed and hopefully the fast ferry will connect La Palma with La Gomera as well.

Tickets for sailings between Los Cristianos and Valle Gran Rey can now be booked well in advance on the Naviera Armas website. Presently two return trips are offered on most days until the 10th of February 2019 and further schedules are expected to be published soon.
Update: This morning's first Champion Jet 1 scheduled sailing from Valle Gran Rey arrived in Los Cristianos on time, covering the distance in just 90 minutes. The previous ferry was always very late arriving at its destination. The new vessel seems to achieve the ETAs, making the service more reliable which is crucial when you have to catch a flight from Tenerife.

Latest (summer 2019): This service temporarily only operates Saturday/Sunday due to fleet restructuring. A new service is likely to begin at the end of summer and is expected to connect Los Cristianos with Valle Gran Rey and  the island of El Hierro. Update to follow...
UPDATE OCT. 2019: 
This service has now been suspended indefinitely. Read more...

Direct ferry between Tenerife and Valle Gran Rey

The Alcantara 2 in the port of Valle Gran Rey 

For some time now the ferry company Naviera Armas has covered the route between Los Cristianos on Tenerife and Valle Gran Rey on La Gomera. Different vessels were used and some days stopovers and even a change to another of their ferries in San Sebastian de La Gomera were involved making the the whole journey a bit cumbersome at times.

Presently the company offers a twice daily direct connection between the two ports in both directions with the fast catamaran ferry 'Alcantara 2'. The service is bookable with Canarian ferry operator Naviera Armas (see the Travel, etc., page of this blog), even though this ferry still sails in the colours of the ferry company Trasmediterranea. The explanation for this is that Naviera Armas bought 92,71% of Trasmediterranea which was owned by yet another company, Acciona. This € 260 million deal, which had to pass Spanish and European competition legislation, makes Armas now the largest passenger and freight ferry operator in Spain.

The Alcantara 2 previously served the connection to El Hierro island in 2013, that time chartered by Armas. The 240 ft vessel was built in Freemantle, Australia in 1995 with a top speed of 32 knots. It can accommodate over 500 passengers and 120 vehicles while offering the usual services such as a bar/cafeteria, a shop and a children's play area.

The journey between Los Cristianos and Valle Gran Rey according to the ferry schedule should only take an hour and a half, but that seems a bit over-optimistic as most of the sailings have taken about two hours. Please note that ALL ferry companies seem unable to achieve their ETA (estimated time of arrival) - the sailings usually take a fair bit longer.

Anyway, the service is most welcome and avoids the long haul by bus or car across the mountains and the whole island of La Gomera. The hope is that more delivery trucks will use this service instead of driving through the national park.

When you're planning your trip to the south-west of La Gomera, please note that the Naviera Armas schedule is only available 1-2 weeks ahead of the sailing and even if it hasn't changed much in recent weeks, this makes it difficult to plan ahead. However, there's no shortage of places on this service and it can be booked prior to sailing in Armas' port terminal offices where English is spoken.
UPDATE 23-11-18:
The above ferry service is now bookable well in advance, presently until the 10th of February 2019. As it is 'Black Friday' today, there's a 50% discount available on all bookings with Naviera Armas until a minute before midnight Sunday 25th of Nov. 2018. To avail of this discount you must tick-click the second box under the acceptance of their terms and conditions, which states in Spanish only that you wish to avail of their 'promocion Black Friday'. It is easily overlooked and the booking will proceed at the regular price if you don't tick the second box, but that extra click just gave me 50% off the fare for two.
+UPDATE Dec. 15th 2018: A faster vessel will operate this ferry route from today. Read more...