7. Lanzarote and Fuerteventura (8 – 16 Feb 2014)

After cruising and exploring Gran Canaria (Blog Page 6) we sailed back the 140 miles to Arrecife in Lanzarote to pick up Max and Sue Walker who joined us for a week’s cruising. 

Gran Canaria back to Lanzarote

As the owner of a yacht delivery business for nearly 25 years, Max had obviously been to the Canaries before – but never to the eastern islands of Lanzarote or Fuerteventura.  This was not a problem from our point of view since the weather is better here than in the other islands and one of our principal objectives was always to get away from the British winter. 

  Max and Sue Walker enjoying the sun

To optimise our coverage of the islands, we sailed on three separate days, hired a car for three and travelled by bus the rest of the time.

Sailing route with Max and Sue         

By so doing we were able to cover much of the islands’ coastlines and interiors; in particular Max and Sue were able to see the three main attractions (in our opinion) on the two islands (see previous Blogs for detail):

La Graciosa (Lanzarote) – the jewel of the Canary Islands

 The Fire Mountains (Lanzarote) 

– showing some of the 300 volcanoes

 Jandía peninsula, Fuerteventura 

– showing the Saharan sand beaches

On our way back to Arrecife we called into Puerto Calero marina (Lanzarote) to refuel and allow Max to inspect a yacht that one of his skippers is due to pick up and bring back to the UK in April.

 Fuelling in Puerto Calero’s upmarket marina

One of Puerto Calero’s famous brass bollards!

 Max inspecting a Rustler yacht in Puerto Calero marina, prior to its delivery back to the UK in April

During our travels inland we visited a number of sights in Fuerteventura which we had not had the opportunity to see before. In particular:

 Betancuría, the former capital of Fuerteventura

 Mountains along the island’s barren west coast

 Jandía Isthmus and 30-mile west coast beaches viewed from the north near La Pared

At last we also found two of the island’s more famous statues:

 The “Water Carrier” statue in Puerto Rosario commemorating the importance of such men at a time when water had to be shipped in

 Statues of Ayuze and Guize, the Warrior Leaders of the Maxorata and Jandía Kingdoms who ruled the island prior to the Spanish Conquest in 15th Century

Obviously we continued to test the local cuisine with varying degrees of success! 

 An excellent seafood paella in The Blue Cow in El Cotillo

 Canarian fish “stew” (would you believe?) at the Fire Mountains – a dismal failure! Witness Max’s expression!

We’ve been watching the weather in the UK with some concern since we’re told that the sea reached to within a few feet (if not inches) of our beach chalet at Calshot.  The first time ever, as far as we know.  Will is going down at the weekend to check it out! 

Here we are still in T-shirts and shorts but sometimes need a sweatshirt in the evening.  We’re also getting the seasonal rain.  In Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, where only four or so inches a year are supposed to fall, it has been a bit cloudy and damp on occasions. Dew often condenses overnight on the deck. In the north and central region of Gran Canaria it was often cloudy and rained hard at times – although in the south it was far sunnier and warmer. It was very noticeable how much the vegetation had grown in the three weeks we’ve been away from Lanzarote.  Rows of crops are now sprouting in the cultivated black lava fields and wild flowers are blooming along the verges.

The better weather in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura possibly explains why we’ve been happy to linger in these islands rather than rushing off earlier to explore their western neighbours, which we now know to be cooler and wetter in December and January.

We now plan to have a sort-out and do a bit of boat maintenance before sailing the 170 or so miles to Tenerife – probably to Santa Cruz on the north east corner of the island.

 Canary Islands Archipelago