Fairwinds Goes South . . .

Adventures in a small boat on a big sea

The seas stayed small, and by sheeting the main above the centreline we could hold our course and keep it quiet, so it was pleasant enough.

Just before two o'clock we were abeam the Southern end of Isla Lobos when the wind swung to the West and went light, dropping to less than ten knots. We switched off the engine and enjoyed a very pleasant couple of hours sailing the rest of the way to Marina Rubicon on a fine reach under all plain sail at between four and five knots. Star Swan pulled away from us, and we thought - ah - that's what a 12m racing boat can do in light airs. When we pulled in in front of her on the reception pontoon at Marina Rubicon we discovered she had motor-sailed the whole way.

We checked in and paid until Sunday. With tax it comes to just under E13 a night (charged as up to 10m) which isn't too bad considering the facilities. We were informed that the WiFI (E25 a week) was broken though and as it was Easter it wouldn't be fixed until Monday.

We were allocated a berth and motored round to find ourselves next to the Achillles 9m Spearhead and Ian Wallace from Oban, who we had last seen in Las Palmas. Ian came on board for a couple of beers, then we headed off the pontoon looking for fast food as we were starving. Lani's snack bar had the unlikely choice of chicken, chips and salad on the tapas menu for less than five euros a head, so we splashed out and doubled the price with a bottle of vino tinto de casa. Just as we were finishing the wine Ann and Arthur from Star Swan appeared, and joined us for after dinner drinks - which trebled the price of our chicken and chips, but made a very pleasant end to a very pleasant day. Or not quite the end . . . we finished off with a couple of canas in the bar near the marina office, obviously a late night venue.

Marina Rubicon

Sat 7th April 2007 - Marina Rubicon, Lanzarote

Not an early start after our late night last night. When we did get up we had a leisurely breakfast and ambled over for a look round the Saturday market here. It was just the usual stuff, with perhaps a higher percentage of genuinely hand/home made items, nearly all made or sold by Brits apparently - there seems to be quite a large expat population here.

On the way back to the boat we called in at the marina office to check out the book swap, and the Dutch lassie on the desk told us that the WiFi was now working so I signed up for a day with teh option to extend it to a week. I ot online with no difficulty, and everything worked except SMTP on port 25 - I suspect the ISP only allows SMTP through their own mail servers, but of course the girl in the office has no idea who the ISP is. Never mind, I can manage with webmail for sending in the meantime.

In the afternoon we walked down the promenade to Playa Blanca in search of a supermarket with reasonable prices as the small one in the marina complex (Vivo) is very expensive. We found a Spar, then route marched back along the seafront with full packs. The place is swarming with Easter holidaymakers, and the beach looked very overcrowded. In the evening Kathy made spag bol which we ate with a 75 cent carton of wine, then we had a game of Yahtzee before retiring . . . such are the excitements of the cruising life. Must wash the bedding tomorrow.

Beach, Playa Blanca

Sun 8th April 2007 - Marina Rubicon, Lanzarote

No mast climbing or winch servicing today I fear, although we did get the bedding washed and the blog updated. Otherwise a bit of a lazy day.

We are now booked in here until Saturday, then we would like to spend maybe a couple of days in Puerto Calero before heading for Isla Graciosa, our final Canary.

Ann and Arthur from Star Swan came on board for drinks before supper. They were having what they described as a 'boat moment' - a minor fire caused by a headlining fastening grazing a wire, they think. They need to do quite a bit of rewiring, but at least they didn't have to use the extinguisher and get powder everywhere.

Mon 9th April 2007 - Marina Rubicon, Lanzarote

A very productive day today. We serviced the winches, then I went up the mast and fitted the new LED tricolour bulb. Once again the job was made so much easier with the mast ladder.I had to go up twice though, because after I came down I worried that the Aquasignal unit hadn't clicking positively into place when I turned the locking ring, so I went back up and taped it. After that I relaxed by checked the batteries and topping up the engine start battery.

Late afternon sun

We met Ray and Maggie from Blath na Mara, a Nic35 from Carrickfergus, for drinks in Lani's after supper. She is a retired teacher and he a retired teaching union official. They are heading over to Corralejo on Wednesday on the way back to Puerto Mogan, where they have a long term berth. A very pleasant evening was spent chatting - or at least I thought it was, probably to much teaching and politics for Kathy's taste.

Checked the new tricolour when we got back - it looks brighter than the old one.

Tues 10th April 2007 - Marina Rubicon, Lanzarote

Kathy's birthday. I made her coffee in bed and unearthed her present which I had hidden under the boom cover. After a leisurely breakfast we wandered down to Playa Blanca with the intention of hiring bikes for the afternoon, but failed to find anywhere. (Turns out there is a place down at the pier at Playa Blanca, but it is E12 a day). On the way back we booked a hire car for Thursday. Back at the marina we went for a swim in the pool, which is open to all bertholders. It's shallow but big, with sun loungers and sunshades - an ideal place to spend a lazy hour or so. There are showers and changing facilities beside it and the water is a pleasant temperature.

Marina Rubicon

In the evening we went to an Andalusian retaurant in the marina complex that specialises in rice dishes and had a sort of paella featuring rabbit, clams and broad beans. I let slip it was Kathy's birthday and they wheeled out a very large slice of cake with candle and a small bottle of bubbly on the house. It was all delicious, made even more so by the fact that a friend back home had offered to pay for it as a birthday present! (Thanks Eddie).

Weds 11th April 2007 - Marina Rubicon, Lanzarote

The two British boats beside us have just left - Ray and Maggie from Carrickfergus on their Nic35 Blath na Mara are heading over to Coralejo and planning to be back in Puerto Mogan by the end of the month, while Ian Wallace from Oban is off North to Graciosa on Spearhead, his Achilles 9m, to wait for weather to head for Portugal. (You can follow Ian's progress on his website at http://homepages.rya-online.net/spearhead/ We went for sundowners on Star Swan before supper. Arthur and Ann have finished their unexpected rewiring job and plan to head up to Puerto Calero tomorrow. It is only a few miles up the coast, but makes the next leg to Isla Graciosa that bit shorter.

Blath na Mara leaving

Ann and Arthur are hoping to leave Star Swan in Madeira and fly back to the UK in May, but may be coming back to take the boat back to England later, so perhaps we will see then again on our way home. It is good to be back among British boats again . . . the Western Canaries may be cheaper, prettier and more interesting but there don't seem to be many British cruisers around for some reason.

Thurs 12th Apr 2007 - Tourists in Lanzarote

We hired a car today and did some of the regular tourist sights. The roads are straight and fast and an hour after leaving Marina Rubicon we were up at the far North-West of the island at the Mirador Del Rio, a creation of the Lanzarotean artist Cesar Mannrique. It is a series of viewing galleries and a restaurant built into the cliff looking across to Isla Graciosa. It cost us five euros each to get in, but this included a cup of coffee and was well worth it. Cesar Manrique's influence has permeated Lanzarotean culture and tourism with its unique fusion of art and landscape, and hte Mirador makes a good introduction. Look out also for the wind sculptures on several roundabouts, huge mobiles moving restlessly in the trade winds.

From the Mirador we headed down to the little village of Orzola, where the ferry to Graciosa leaves from what looks like a very dangerous harbour. Continuing South we decided to visit the Jameos de Agua, a volcanic tube complete with underground lake and its own species of albino crab. This extraordinary cavity has received the full Cesar Manrique treatment, but the 600-seat underground auditoriumn was closed for refurbishment and there were too many tourists to enjoy the ambience. We felt that it was not really worth the E8 per head to get in, and although the volcano interpretation centre is interesting you can see much the same thing at the National Park information centre, entrance to which is free. From here we headed for the Timanfaya National Park. You pay E8 each to drive up to the Islote de Hilaroio where the ground is still hot and you can have your steak cooked over a volcanic vent in the El Diablo restaurant. The views are stunning, and the entrance ticket includes a bus ride with English commentary through the most spectacular features of this devastated landscape. This is a 'must do' and was the highlight of the day.		Mirador Del Rio		Jameos Del Agua
		Timanfaya National Park		Lava Flows
		Vinyard, Lanzarote-style		El Golfo

Leaving Timanfaya we headed for Golfo on the West coast to see the strange green pool there - referred to in the tourist brochures as the 'Azul Lagoon' but by Kathy as 'some slimy green water', then drove back to Uga and up through Geria, the main wine producing district. The vines are grown in holes in the black volcanic soil protected by low curved walls, giving the whole landscape a unique and very pleasing appearance. Over the whole island there is a surprising amount of cultivation, with endless black stone walls contrasting with the whitewashed houses to make a most attractive landscape giving the impression of man and nature in harmony. Although it hardly rains here either this island is by no means the arid desert we saw on Fuertaventura, and the recent showers had brought out wild flowers and patches of green here and there.

From Geria we doubled back into Arrecife hoping to get some tapas down by the harbour, but parking was almost impossible and we ended up having a quick look at Puerto de Arrecife and Puerto Naos - where the anchorage described in the pilot seemed to be full of moorings - then headed out of the city and down to Puerto Carmen for a bite to eat before heading back to Playa Blanca and Marina Rubicon, stopping for one last photo opportunity at Salinas, a natural lake where salt for the Lanzarotean fishing industry is evaporated.

Fri 13th April 2007 - Marina Rubicon, Lanzarote

Wrote up the blog and did the Marina Rubicon page for BlueMoment. We had originally intended to move on to Calero today, but look at the date . . . Went for a walk after lunch down to just above the first beach at Papagayo. We didn;t have the energy or inclination to walk as far as the nudist beaches Ian had told us about. Off in the morning if WIndguru is telling the truth - it looks relatively quiet around the middle part of the day, with light headwinds.

Punta Papagayo

Sat 14th April 2007 - Marina Rubicon - Puerto Calero (14nm)

Kathy switched on the GPS before we left and it went beepity beepity beep and said 'ALL DATA HAS BEEN LOST'. (This, you will remember, was the GPS which we paid Garmin E60 for to upgrade the software and replace the battery a month ago). We then had the usual carry-on trying to back out into a narrow channel against the propwalk, but eventually got onto the fuel berth to buy diesel and gas. We were now informed that there was no gas, although it is advertised as available in Rubicon's blurb. They say they have difficulty getting it delivered. Ho hum.

We had to tack round Punta Papagayo in light airs - never more than about eight knots of wind - but it was pleasant sailing and we were not in a hurry. Eventually we ran out of wind at Punta Gorda, 3 miles from Puerto Calero, and motored in.

We tied up to the fuel berth cum reception pontoon and wandered up to the office. The sign on the door said it was closed from two to six. I tried the handle and a swarthy, sleepy looking character came to the door and indicated that we should go away, wait on he fuel berth and come back at six. As it was only three thirty and the fuel berth is miles from anywhere we were not best pleased, but went for a wander round the marina. Everything was hideously expensive and the 'supermarket' was useless. No meat, no fish, no decent veg or fruit and they had put a euro on a sixty cent carton of wine for goodness' sake!

Returning to El Capitano's office at six we discovered that we were going to pay eighteen euros a night for the privilege of staying in a marina with brass bollards and stainless steel manhole covers . . . the Cesar Manrique factor was in operation again. We are rapidly coming to the conclusion that Lanzarote is the most expensive and least convenient of the Canaries from a cruising sailor's perspective. We are not entirely sure what we are going to do now as we need gas and you can't get it here either. Our options are either to take a taxi to the filling station 7km away tomorrow or move the boat up to Puerto Naos tomorrow or Monday and go ashore for gas there. We will decide after consulting the guru tomorrow.

Waiting, Puerto Calero

The anchorage in Puerto Naos looked difficult when we reccied it by car, infested with moorings and definitely requiring a tripline assuming one found a space. However . . . this morning I spoke to the Danish lady we first met in Morro Jable who said they had spent two nights there on a spare mooring that they had been directed to by a Brit liveaboard, so we may try that.

Star Swan are here but leaving tomorrow for Graciosa. We bumped into Ann and Arthur on the quayside later on in the evening and they came aboard Fairwinds for a nightcap. We made serious inroads into the Soberano, a curiously named cheap Spanish brandy . . . I was glad it was Arthur and not me who was sailing first thing.

Sun 15th Apr 2007 - Puerto Calero

Not a lot happens in Puerto Calero on a Sunday. It is a purpose built marina and holiday complex, with no original habitation anywhere near. We had a quiet day, with a bit of a walk round the marina and surrounding area - but I can't imagine wanting to spend much time in this immaculate but dull and rather expensive nautical parking lot unless you had a lot of work to do online - in which case it would be ideal.

I started the next module of my Ocean YM course but found it too indigestible to finish in one session, so spent a lot of time on the YBW forums, where I am nearly up to my 3,000th post. Kathy did lots of Sudoku.

Mon 16th Apr 2007 - Puerto Calero - Puerto Naos (12.4nm)

We left the pontoon at ten thirty - without drama for once - and tied up at the reception pontoon to settle our bill. I had a look at the charges - for 8m x 3.25m it is only E10.47, more than six euros cheaper than the 10m charge we had paid - but they were not prepared to be flexible. If the Vega was just 0.25m shorter we could have saved a lot of money at several of the marinas we visited.

We had a very pleasant sail up the coast to Arrecife, close reaching in ten to twelve knots of breeze and gentle seas. The reef running NNE of the Puerto Arrecife breakwater was not easy to see from the seaward side in the low swell, but there was an isolated danger mark which we went to look at and subsequently decided to leave to seaward. Later inspection from the land confirmed that this had been a good idea - the mark is not that far to seaward of the reef.

Another few hundred yards NE of the mark we furled the genoa and fired up the engine to head NW towards the Puerto Naos breakwater head. You pass across the entrance to Puerto Marmoles, the third of Arrecife's harbours, and as we approached the breakwater the wind funnelled out of the little bay betwen Marmoles and Naos in a solid F6 so that I struggled on the coachroof to flake the main neatly.

The channel into Puerto Naos is very clearly marked and needs to be followed - just to the South of the first big port hand buoy birds can be seen standing up to their ankles in the water at low tide, never a good sign. Once past the Isla de las Cruces breakwater and into the inner harbour we began looking for a spot to drop the hook, hoping that perhaps we would also bump into the Brit the Danes had mentioned. A massive Colvic Victor 50 withfour anchors out sat near a small red buoy, and as we circled we spotted a hard dinghy being expertly rowed towards us from the root of the harbour. This turned out to be Trevor, who suggested we pick up the mooring as the owner had just taken his boat out of the water. We did so, and were soon securely fastened to what Trevor assured us was a sizeable mooring. There is room to anchor between the moorings in the harbour, but you need to choose your spot carefully and use a tripping line, remembering that the boats on moorings won't swing with you. If staying for more than a day it would probably be worth putting out two anchors in a fork moor to reduce swinging.

We tidied up the boat and blew up the dinghy, then got directions from Trevor to the HiperDino and enquired about gas. He thought you might be able to get it from a filling station near a blue building he pointed out in the distance, otherwise a trip to the DISA gas plant to get the bottles filled was in order. (More on this tomorrow). I invited Trevor over for a drink later then we went ashore and walked up to the HiperDino for a couple of rucksacks full of shopping.

Back on Fairwinds Trevor arrived and we drank a few cans of Cruzcampo while he told us about himself . . . as with most of the long term singlehanders we have met the lack of regular English-speaking company meant he had a lot to say and this first encounter, though interesting, was a bit one-sided with yours truly being unable to get a word in edgeways for once. He told us about his various careers, as a copper in the Flying Squad and as a salesman for Rank Xerox. Trevor had been in Puerto Naos for nearly three years, but was getting the boat ready for a departure sometime in the next few months on a non-stop passage round the Cape of Good Hope to Malaysia. Someone was coming out to crew for him some time in the next few weeks, and in the meantime he was fitting a Windpilot, a wind generator and various other major bits of kit. Nergal had obviously been in a scrape or two, and one of the things Trevor was looking forward to in Malaysia was cheap teak for a new rubbing strake on the starboard side - it's a lot of teak on a 50 footer.

When Trevor left we had a delicious chicken curry Kathy had prepared earlier and an early night.

Tues 17th Apr 2007 - Puerto Naos, Arrecife

First item on the agenda after breakfast was gas. We put the two cylinders in the dinghy and set off towards Marmoles to land on the beach at the head of the small bay there. The wind was blowing F6 gusting 7 and kicking up quite a chop in the harbour, so it was obvious we were going to get wet. We headed across to the landward side of the harbour and hugged the shore as much as we could, but on the final stretch into the beach the wind was right in our fces with a longish fetch and we were soaked by the time we got ashore.

In the hot wind we dried off in the first couple of minutes of our gritty industrial hike up to the DISA plant. When we got there they declined to fill our Camping Gaz cylinders, saying we could exchange them at a filling station opposite Ikea, which was pointed out to us in the distance - in the opposite direction from the beach where we had left the dinghy. Another kilometer or so of hot, dusty trudging along Arrecife's busy ringroad eventually got us our gas, and it was a relatively short walk back to the dinghy across some rocky terrain. (To anyone reading this who may need Camping Gaz, take the dinghy to Castillo de San Jose and go dirctly inland about 500m from there. Anything other than Camping Gaz you should get filled at the DISA plant though)

We dropped the gas off on board Fairwinds and headed for the HiperDino. I left Kathy to fill the trolley while I went in search of the internet cafe Trevor had mentioned to check emails and put a quick report of our whereabouts up on the forum. I got back to the supermarket just in time to pack the rucksacks, and we staggered back to Fairwinds with two very heavy packs and an assortment of carrier bags. We are now very well provisioned, and except for topping up with fresh meat, fruit and veg we should be OK until we get to the supermarkets of Madeira.

After a late lunch we went ashore and I went for a look round the big chandlery. (There are three excellent chandleries come ferreterias right on the quayside here). I got a couple of monster stainless shackles for attaching the series drogue to the cleats for about a quarter the price they would have cost at a swindlery back home, then we went for a brief wander round Arrecife. Just about in the middle of the city there is an inland lagoon accessible by small boats under a low road bridge. It makes a magnificent Venetian centrepiece for Lanzarote's capital city, with new pavement all round it and quite a few of the buildings smartly renovated, though still with a few run down spots awaiting rfurbishment. We picked a small restaurant for a meal later as it was our wedding anniversary, then after circumnavigating the lagoon we walked up to the seafront and out to the restored Castillo de San Gabriel overlooking Puerto de Arrecife and the anchorage beyond. This is another very picturesque spot, with lovely views back towards the buildings and palm trees along the seafront. We were very impressed with Arrecife during our brief visit, and if we come back down this way we will probably stop longer in Puerto de Naos to get to know the city a little better.

The Lagoon, Arrecife Castillo San Gabriel

Back on Fairwinds Trevor came over with a couple of bottles of plonk for a pre-dinner drink. Trevor was more chilled out tonight and we had a good craik for an hour or so then, a little the worse the wear for the wine, dinghied across to the rocks to go ashore for a meal. I managed to cut my foot getting ashore on the slimy limpet-encrusted low tide foreshore, but barely noticed it at the time. We walked down to our restaurant and had a very pleasant meal overlooking the lagoon. Kathy had a steak and I had grilled langoustines - which were delicious, but with nothing but five huge langoustines on a bed of lettuce left me needing a pudding. A coffee and Magno finished the meal off, and we wandered back towards the harbour feeling very mellow indeed. A cana in a handy bar and an uneventful dinghy ride back completed our 31st anniversary celebration.