Gran Canaria
These notes cover the following anchorages – click the name to jump to the relevant section. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Máspalomas et alia Arguineguín Cement Factory Bay (Bahía de Santa Agueda) Puerto Mogán
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Welkom Aan Boord! •
¡Bienvenido Abordo!
Latest Articles
Corralejo, Fuerteventura
A one-time fishing village on the northern end of Fuerteventura, Corralejo is now a busy little tourist trap, with scores of restaurants, a street full of shops selling ticky-tacky, and a small fleet of glass-bottomed boats and charter yachts. It is also the port for the ferries which run between Fuerteventura and its sister island, Lanzarote. This makes it easy for an approaching vessel to find the place: you just follow the big boats! Although it is easy to find,…
La Graciosa
The island of La Graciosa sits at the northern end of Lanzarote and is divided from the mother island by a narrow channel, or “rio” (as the locals term it). The high cliffs off Lanzarote seem almost to overhang the islet and they have a tremendous influence over the weather down here. When the wind is in the south they cause mighty gusts, or williwaws, to go hurtling down onto the channel. At such times, the anchorage on the southern…
Decathlon Oilskins / Guy Cotten Oilskins
Oilies have come a long way since I was a kid. Way back then, we wore either heavy-duty canvas smocks or stiff, plastic-coated cotton ones. I guess the plastic-coated cloth must have been the hip new thing. Next to come along were thin nylon jackets more suited to trekking in a light drizzle than to fending off buckets of seawater, but the quality of these garments rapidly improved – the nylon cloth became thicker and more waterproof, and the design…
Some Canary Islands Anchorages
These brief notes cover a mere handful of anchorages. UPDATE: These cruising notes have been split into different pages for each island. Please see the list below.
The Search for a Suitable Sailing Tender
One of the all time favourite pursuits of a sea-going child is messing about in a boat. But not the big boat. No, if your seafaring youngster is under the age of twelve then handling the mothership will probably hold little allure for him; he (or she) simply won’t have the strength to manage the genoa or the patience to helm for more than half an hour on the same heading. Big boat sailing is actually quite boring for little…
Racing Passage to Cape Verde
There were three ships went sailing out, went sailing out, went sailing out, There were three ships went sailing out on Christmas day in the evening. It was almost four months ago that our aged sails fell apart and our engine parted company with the gear box. We still haven’t solved the first of these problems; the salvaged pieces of the roller furler were straightened and reassembled, and the old rotten sails were cobbled back together, but our efforts to…
Fish of the Rocky Shore
Beneath the waters of La Gomera there are not only large stretches of sand, but also a plentiful supply of rocky areas. For me, this makes the place very interesting. After reading Outdoor Empire rangefinder reviews I learned that I can use my rangefinders to watch the marine life underwater. This was great news for me because now I can watch both habitats at the same time and see the very different fish which live in each of them. The…
Cruising in the Canary Islands
Herewith, some general notes for the benefit of other visitors. The information is arranged in the traditional form, beginning with a few paragraphs concerning such matters as history and flora. If you deem these things to be irrelevant to your needs as a yachtsman, just scroll down the page. Eventually you will find the nitty-gritty: an appraisal of the local winds, and a few words regarding local customs… (as in Customs and Excise).
Xmas Lynx
To celebrate the Christmas season and greet our friends and readers Roxanne has made a watercolour painting of an Iberian lynx padding through the snow.