Fuerteventura/Lanzarote
It was so quiet when we woke although there was a bit of a swell. We were the only boat in the anchorage and it felt as if we had the Island to ourselves. The sun was up and the brown of the rocks and volcanic cones contrasted well with the turquoise blue water. We could not see any sign of anyone and no boats in the vicinity. Fuerteventura was slightly hazy to our west with its range of volcanic cones.
The silence did not last long when at about 10.00am we saw three trail of party catamarans and ferries bringing holiday makers to the Island for the day. The ferries came right by us and there was no consideration for us as we had to endure their wake. We decided to go and explore another pool on the Island not far from the anchorage. We had got the dinghy down the day before so that made life easier but getting everyone in with our gear etc with the swell was not easy. Jules was our look out in the front and Mark had the lead line again. We set off to this pool looking at the colours in the water which showed rock/weed versus the sand which was lighter. We crept over the rocky bar with about 1.5m under us and we were then into the pool which was a lovely blue and about 3m deep. We anchored the dinghy and swum, snorkelled and paddle boarded. The water was clear and warm and there was a sandy beach around one area. We saw lots of fish mainly around the rocks. It was a beautiful natural pool in a lovely location and surrounded by the volcanic landscape.
We returned to the dinghy and crept over the rocky reef again to Stormbird. We had been looking at the weather as we needed to get across to Gran Canaria and it was about 95 nm from the southernmost point of Lanzarote. We could have gone to the southern part of Fuerteventura and left from there which would only have been about 55 miles. However, with the wind angle that would have meant more wind toward the nose and a worse angle to the waves. It would also have meant a day’s sail to the south first. We therefore thought it best to cross from Lanzarote as the wind and wave angle would be better.
In the difficult wash we got the outboard and dinghy up and set off for an anchorage on the south side of Lanzarote. The distance was only about 9 nmiles but we were met by some short choppy waves in the channel between Fuerteventura and Lanzarote but within an hour and a half we were approaching some nice sandy beaches off Punta Papagayo. We found a nice spot and relaxed in the sun enjoying the sun going down. It is great that the Spanish like the Portuguese do not leave the beach until it is dark getting every shred of daylight possible. We had enjoyed our time on the Isla de Lobos.
We had a delicious chicken risotto enjoying the view. We will monitor the weather overnight and if possible, will leave tomorrow for Gran Canaria.
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions – do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com