La Graciosa (reloaded)

Last December I was in La Graciosa in the Canary Islands and thought it would be nice to stop off again on our way south. As you could read in my last post, we were planning on making a big curve to the north and west but … what are plans.

Having anchored off the island, we slept long and deep before a good breakfast. Max was so impressed by the clear, blue water that he jumped over the side and checked the state of our sink drain outlet.

You are not allowed to anchor where we were (in a national park) without a permit – which obviously we didn’t have. You aren’t allowed to anchor at all without permission from the port authority. And you can’t use the marina without booking online three days ahead in a system which you need to register for weeks ahead. Neill was worried how we were going to avoid fines and get to stay anywhere.

We motored the two miles to the marina and tied up on an empty pontoon. A security guard pointed out that we weren’t registered but let us stay and sort it out the next day with the harbourmaster. The harbourmaster was brilliant. He registered us in the system and then booked us in for two nights. It obviously worked as we received an email confirming tne reservation.

La Graciosa is a relaxing backwater. The roads are sand and there are a few laid back bars on the sea front. A few streets back the”city” stops and the desert begins. Near the sea there is sand and above that there is ash. There are tiny stunted plants and the only animals are geckos. The perfect place to stop and recover.

Last year Neill had hired a bike to see the island but this year we had our mountain bikes on board. Max hired a 29 inch MTB and the three of us set out along the sand piste. First stop was a volcano dome that we walked up, then a beach that looks like it was designed extra to be a film backdrop – until you see the signs warning of rogue waves and the memorial to father and daughter dragged out to sea.

The roads are all sand and the only vehicles Land Rovers. They ferry the tourists once around the island for €25 so together we saved €75 🙂

We visited a stone arch hollowed out by the sea and the tiny village we anchored off when we arrived. We then completed the circuit and invested some of the money we had saved in beer. That evening Heidi once again created a great meal still using the provisions we had shipped back in Spain.

Our track is at https://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=bxkxgginasprlqcq

Since Ayamonte our mast has been creaking and we can not see why. We hoisted Heidi to the top of the mast to see if she could spot the problem. While she was up there Max stepped off the boat which rocked it “a little bit”. At the top the “little bit” was a few meters. Heidi was very “not amused”.

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