Lanzarote

After leaving ‘the best anchorage in the world’ at Graciosa, we sailed around the north of Lanzarote and made land fall at Arrecife and the anchorage at Port de Naos. This was not a particularly nice anchorage with filthy water, poor holding and not a lot of space to swing – many of the local boats were on moorings with not a lot of chain out. After a couple of goes at anchoring we did manage to get a reasonable hold and went ashore for a walk into the town. We had a meal out and decided to move on the following day.

The following day we moved down the coast to the beautiful marina at Puerto de Calero. We had a great mooring with brilliant facilities, toilets showers, shops bars etc. We even managed to find an Irish Pub so Chris could have Steak and Ale pie with chips!

It was an ideal place to leave the boat, hire a car for a couple of days and explore some of the island.

The first day we headed to the south of the island and visited the small tourist town of Rubicon. Needless to say the ladies managed to find a market and made a couple of ‘must have’ purchases!

After a somewhat disappointing lunch at one of the marina restaurants we motored around the coast to El Golfo, a wild and desolate coastal village with some of the largest crashing waves we have seen so far! We hope to try and avoid those if possible!

The final stop of the day was up in the mountains where we visited a couple of the local wineries.

As if having to pay for a taste of their wine wasn’t bad enough – the wine was disgusting!

The following day we drove up North to a small town where we visited a large tourist Sunday market. There was a great atmosphere with loads of buskers, local arts and crafts etc.

We managed to find a lovely cafe with coffee, cake and a brandy for a fiver – excellent!

On our way back to the boat we stopped in Arrecife to call in on a couple of our friends from Marmaris, Phil and Monica, who are also travelling to the Caribbean aboard their catamaran ‘Our Molly’. It was just like old times with the beer and banter flowing – great fun. Just as we were leaving more friends from Marmaris arrived – Stew and Steph off ‘Matador’.

Phil giving us a tune on his new  5 euro pan pipes – they need a bit of a tune….

The following day we left Puerto de Calero and sailed to the south of the island where we anchored for the night off the marina at Rubicon before leaving for the next island – Fuertoventura…

Chris making a mockery out of Justin’s newly purchased fishing lure – still no luck……

Irene removing a splinter from Chris’ foot – was he brave? No. Did he need a rum and coke? Yes!

Helen cheating at cards again….

Irene checking the bilges for a leak…. Oh dear…..

Probably Justin’s last swim in the sea before we get to Barbados…