Swim in Gran Canaria

It was another typical day in La Palmas. We had some boat jobs to do namely there was a cracked fitting by the water pump which we were able to resolve and one of the passarelle fittings was leaking. This took some time and we filled our water tanks although the pressure was quite low on the pontoon, so it took some time. 

It was Corinne’s last day and so we thought we would go out to the anchorage La Isleta – which was about an hour and a half away so we could have a swim and hopefully be able to stay the night and have a barbecue and then return the next day.

The anchorage itself looked ok and it was off a rocky beach with not many people on it. There were no other boats which was good in one sense but not in another. Why was no one else here? We found a spot and anchored although it did not bite (anchor into the seabed) initially. The water was warm and we had a nice swim, but the swell came round the headland and there was a bit of a roll. The seabed was flat rock which explained why it did not bite properly. We decided to try and move more into the corner to hopefully avoid/limit the swell. We went as far in as we dare and tried to anchor but it did not bite properly again. Mark dived with mask and snorkel above our anchor and was horrified to find a mooring chain was very close to our anchor and a rock terrace which if our anchor got caught in, may never come free. The swell was no better so we decided to return to Las Palmas marina and hoped our spot on the fuel pontoon would still be free.

When we came to lift our anchor – guess what we pulled up the other mooring line. Luckily, we were able to get this off our anchor and recover it. Lesson learned that if the anchor does not bite quickly, we need to be careful as to why and that you need to think carefully where you anchor as you never know what is on the bottom.  

We returned on the same rolly route to Las Palmas and yes our mooring was free so we took it. We had a nice roast chicken on the barbecue and played a game of golf with lie dice again. It was a shame we could not anchor and enjoy the stars and quiet but in sailing weather is important and ignore it at you peril.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions – do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com