Friends and explorations

Two days after our arrival in Garachico we met up with  friends. Monica and Walter. We  had first met  them on board their boat, Alunga. in Cherbourg, then in Camaret, then in La Coruna. Now they were in Santa Cruz and they drove down in a hire car.

It was great to catch up and, as Garrachico has only a small and somewhat limited supermarket, they drove us to the next town, Icod, to stock up, before we all went for a great lunch followed by a swim in the natural pools.

On Sunday we went into the town to watch the festival of the fisherman. The beach was packed with people and, at 12 o'clock a priest and several alter boys arrived with a statue of the virgin which was carried into the water and placed on one of the waiting boats. A procession of small boats then set off to deliver the virgin to the next port,

Later that week we met up with Tim Holmes, a good friend, who we worked with for many years and with his wife, Rachel and grandson, Josh, all of whom were holidaying further down the coast.

They were all looking very well and we enjoyed drinking, chatting and once again swimming in the natural pools.

We had time to visit the town of Puerto de la Cruz and the capital, Santa Cruz, before our trip to the UK. Puerto de la Cruz is a tourist resort  north of Garachico but it retains its character as a Spanish town. Santa Cruz has an attractive old town and an amazing modern auditorium on the waterfront, as well as a palm garden and an outdoor swimming area designed by the brilliant Cesar Manrique.

We only had time for one walk, but it was certainly worth the effort. We took a bus to the next town to the south, Buenavista, and from there we walked 10km through the mountains to Masca, a pictureque village at the head of a ravine. It was a hard walk in the hot weather, 8km uphill the a stertch along the top ridge followed by a descent to Masca, The walk along the ridge was the divide between the green and verdant north and the hotter, drier south and it was very clear to see the difference. The views were stunning.

Hopefully we will be able to undertake at least one more walk in this fantastic scenery on our return from the UK.

Not Gran Canaria

We had originally planned to sail from Lanzarote to La Palma de Gran Canaria since, although we had spent time in Puerto Mogan in the south west, we had not been to north or central Gran Canaria. However, we would only have around a week and we had been told that La Palma was one of the few places in the Canaries where there was some theft from boats reported. In addition, there was a cockroach risk there.

After Gran Canaria we had planned to go to San Miguel in Tenerife for a few days  a place we disliked but which was close to the airport and handy for our planned trip to the UK in August for family 90th and 1st birthdays. We had been told by a Norwegian couple whom we met on the island of La Palma, that we should go to Garachico on the north west coast of Tenerife one day. They said that it was a complete contrast to San Miguel and the south coast and they felt we should experience another face of the island. so that is what we settled on - sail from Puerto Calero to Garachico. It is a Puertos Canarios run marina and, given our previous experience of this organisation in Gran Tarajal, Fuertaventura, we decided not to frustrate ourselves trying to book in. Rather, we would just turn up, Indeed the official at Puerto Calero actually said, " You do know they are crazy at Puertos Canarios so just turn up. "We knew it would be cheap. We doubted it would have wifi and we wondered about the shower facilities and we had been told it was a small Spanish town set in the mountains

We left Puerto Calero under engine with very light winds but by the time we had rounded the bottom of the island we were sailing in around 20 knots of wind on the beam. This remained fairly constant throughout the sail. At first the windvane was not settling down but once we put a reef in the main she steered us brilliantly all the way. It was a great sail with speeds of over 7 knots for a long time Top speed noted was 7.6 knots. The wind did drop a little later that night and Scruffbag wanted to take the reef out as I came on watch but I persuaded him to leave it in for my watch. I was glad I did because half way through the watch, a moonless night became even darker as a huge dark cloud covered the sky and the wind increased, albeit for only an hour or so.

The wind did drop right down after Scruffbag came on watch early in the morning and we motored the last few miles. Our pilot book is 2015 and the marina at Garachico is only a couple of years old so we had to rely on the plotter. We usually find a picture helpful but in the event the entrance was relatively easy and I was glad of my smattering of Spanish in talking to the security guard who took our lines.

Thank you to the Norwegian couple for telling us about this place. We could have been in a very unattractive holiday resort watching overweight British tourists washing down full English breakfasts with pints of lager at 10 am. Instead we  wake up to a beautiful view each morning.

We are a few minutes walk from a beautiful Spanish town

Ok so there is no wifi ,but there are wifi cafes. OK so neither marina nor town has a launderette,  but we have big laundry buckets and ideal drying weather. OK so the shower blocks are portacabins with rickety floors, but they are clean and the showers are hot.

The town is also well situated for walking in the mountains and for visits to the island's natural attractions. The town also has amazing natural seawater pools, which we have tried and enjoyed.

Some sailing friends from Cherbourg and some friends from Ipswich are currently on the island so we look forward to meeting friends and to exploring further.

Naked men and final walks.

Before leaving for Puerto Calero there was time for two more walks; an 18km coastal walk that Scruffbag wanted to do and a walk over to the west coast for me.

The coastal walk began in Arietta, a small coastal town popular with surfers. The walk was reasonably scenic with flat and easy terrain. It passed by quite a few disused saltpans and their associated water pumping machinery.

It also passed by a purpose built naturist resort. Before we reached the resort we were stopped by a couple, the woman fully clothed and the man naked. except for shoes and a hat. They engaged us in conversation about the walk for about 10 minutes before continuing along their way. It was extremely bizarre - and would have been far less so had the woman not been fully clothed.  The resort itself was very small and the  naked tourists were engaged in all the usual tourist activities.

The walk ended at Costa Teguise, which is the usual, could be anywhere large resort, quite a shock after 18km of unspoilt coast.

The next walk was from Haria, in the centre of the island, to  Famara, on the west coast. This was probably the steepest climb we had done on Lanzarote, though by no means a difficult climb. The descent was a little challenging in parts due to the scree but this was more than made up for by the stunning views.

The town of Famara is small, attractive, popular with surfers and, on the day of our visit, so windy that as we walked beside the long, golden beach, the sand whipped painfully against our legs.

We had originally intended to anchor at the small island of Graciosa off the north coast. However, with the prevailing winds on the nose and time pressing , we decided against this. We did, however, take a trip to the Mirador del Ria, a spectacular mirador cut into the cliff 475 metres high overlooking Graciosa and designed by Cesar Manrique.

Followed by a visit to the volcanic caldera, around 4km away just outside the town of Maguez, this made for a great last trip on Lanzarote.

We then left Arrecife for 3 nights in the marina at Puerto Calero, 11km down the coast. This was a swish, purpose built tourist town complete with tourist prices. It held little attraction for Scruffbag and myself but its sheltered location enabled the rigger to replace the cap shroud so we were ready for departure.