We love Fuertaventura

We have now been here for over 3 weeks and both Scruffbag and I love it. The landscape is stunning, though many people would disagree. It is very arid and barren - a bit High Plains Drifter. The west side is particularly stunning and we have been enjoying our walks here.

It is the biggest island but is very sparsely populated, due to its aridity. It also lives up to its designation of the windiest island. The beaches in the south are some of the best I have seen anywhere, all white sand and clear turquoise seas.

This does lead to some tourist anywhere resorts but the far north is wild and deserted.

We stayed in a tourist resort for a week when we rented an apartment with our daughter, Heather, and 8 month old granddaughter Freya. It was dullsville but just what one needed with a young baby and we had a great time. Heather hired a car, so we got about a bit and Freya is just a delight. She sleeps all night and every night and smiles all the time from morning till night. We were very sad when they left.

So we are back on our own and continue to enjoy our time here. There are not many people in the marina but the security guards (who take the place of marineros here and have no clue as to how to help sailors to moor up) seem to want to cram everyone together. There are loads of empty spaces but they have put a 45 foot catamaran next to us for no apparent reason.

There is a hairdresser in town  where a wash and cut costs 5 euros and they do an excellent job so I will return there later this week. We hope to leave on Saturday but this depends on the winds staying light as they prevail on the nose. We hope to anchor for a couple of nights at a small island at the north astern tip of Fuertaventura before moving on to Lanzarote.

Meanwhile we keep on walking and swimming and enjoying life. I have also invested in a Spanish course in an attempt to exercise the mind as well as the body.

Full marina at Gran Tarajal

We set off for Gran Tarajal at 14.00 hours with a forecast 15 to 20 knots of wind on the beam set to go down to next to nothing by the early hours of the next day. What we got was light winds on the beam on leaving Puerto Mogan - winds of the "sail up - sail down " variety. However, things hanged once we reached the corner of the island and we got the forecast winds, although not  quite the forecast direction as they were on the nose and the seas were short and choppy. We should have sailed and tacked but my stomach decided to rebel and I'm afraid we kept the engine on to lessen the distance we needed to cover.

I managed to stand all but an hour of my overnight watches, albeit with a bowl in my hands. By the early hours, the wind did indeed drop and my stomach ceased its rebellion and we arrived outside Gran Tarajal around 14-00  hours.

The pilot book said just go in - no need to call up, so, wondering what we might find after storm Emma, we entered the harbour. What we did find was plenty of empty spaces and an undamaged marina (though the main port is cordoned off and they are in the process of raising the two sunken ships.

There was a security guard on the pontoon and he guided us into a spot and we tied up very relieved to be there as we had not been sure all was well in the marina. Later a second security guard came along and asked us if we had a radio and why we had not called up. We told him that a security guard had already allocated us this berth and he went away seeming satisfied with this. We then went to the harbour office with documents and filled out the required forms. We were told that they could not take payment and that we must register online with Puertos Canarios, who manage this marina,

Easier said than done. There is no wifi in the marina (and only cold showers and no launderette). So, several visits to internet cafes later complete with uploaded photos of documents already copied by the harbour office and after finally navigating the appallingly designed and confusing website, we awaited a response.

Said response arrived 3 days later - in essence it said," You cannot come to this marina as it is full." Er... we are here - have been for 5 days and it is the emptiest marina we have seen this year - we want to pay!! I sent an e mail to this effect and also discovered that the boat next to us had been given the same response and had sent off a similar reply.

We  awaited a response. Then, the next day we wandered up to the office and were invited by a maritime policeman to pay  as he had received an invoice. Strange but true and now fully paid up and bemused, we remain in Gran Tarajal until the end of the month.

It is a real Canarian town as opposed to a tourist trap and it has real Canarian prices too. We look forward to the month here and to the arrival of our daughter Heather and granddaughter Freya with whom we will spend a week on dry land in an apartment.

Puerto Mogan and onwards

Scruffbag and I enjoyed our fortnight in Puerto Mogan. It was fantastic to see our old friends Bernie and Gerda for a few days. We meet a lot of people sailing around as we do - most of them great company, but now and again you bump into people you really "click" with and for us Bernie and Gerda definitely fall into that  category so it was great to spend a couple of days with them and hopefully we will meet again before too long.

We did manage to get out of Puerto Mogan and do a couple of walks despite the tourist information office having no information on anything other than expensive organised trips.The scenery was stunning and made us want to return to the island later in the year en route for El Hierro and the Cape Verde Islands.

 We also met lots of  very sociable people here and St Patrick's night was celebrated with the Irish contingent with lots of singing of Irish songs (even by me)

Another place of note in the north of Gran Cansaia was the dunes of Maspalomas. The town itself is just another in a string of tourist resorts without a trace of Canarian culture (or prices) but the dunes are a Unesco heritage site and are certainly worth a visit. Maspalomas is a gay holiday destination and, to reach the dues involves a walk along a long stretch of nudist beach. I have never seen so many todges in such a short space of time and yes they do get suntanned.

And now it's time to move on. On Saturday 31st March we set sail for Fuertaventura. We hoped to stay in Gran Tarajal but since we had had no luck in contacting them and were aware that 2 ships had sunk in the harbour during storm Emma, spilling diesel and causing environmental problems, we had contingency pans for a nearby anchorage.