Marina Rubicon to Los Lobos 28:44.17N 13:49.54W

Hamble Warrior
Jamie Hickman
Thu 21 Oct 2021 17:03

October 16th 2021

 

After a comfortable night in the anchorage outside Rubicon we ended up going into the marina for a week in which time we did all our laundry, filled our water tanks, topped up our diesel, re-provisioned our bilges of tins and jars and also topped up our fresh foods. We trekked the length and breadth of Playa Blanca with backpacks and our trolley; and found a great hardware store a 45 min walk from the marina where we managed to find a lot of things from our massive list of parts and spares that we are still stockpiling for our onward travels. We soaked and scrubbed our staysail, inflated and inspected our kayak and Jamie finished the final touches to his fibreglass Dorade boxes that he has manufactured and are now fitted with cowl vents and ready for installation on deck. Overall it was a brilliant and productive week and each afternoon we made sure we finished our preparations in time to enjoy an hour by the fabulous marina swimming pool that was included in our berthing fees!


After a cracking week in the Marina; and once we had taken a stroll around the Saturday morning market, we set sail for Los Lobos off the top of Fuertevantura. When we left the marina there was absolutely no wind but we decided to head out and anchor if we couldn't get enough wind to take us to Fuerteventura. As it was there was just enough wind and we ended up having a really comfortable, sedate sail; regularly making over 3kts in less than 10kts of wind.


We dropped anchor in the most crystal clear turquoise waters off the volcanic little island. It's some of the most beautiful water we have ever swam in and was perfect for our first actual swim off Hamble Warrior since we set sail again.


Our first night turned out to be quite rolly as the wind blew around the island into the anchorage and created quite a bit of swell. Fortunately as our forepeak is still loaded up with spares and gear for our big trip we are still sleeping in the sea-berths; our little bunks in the aft-cabin which are designed to keep you comfortable in a seaway so even a decent swell couldn't roll us out of bed! We slept well and the second day there was hardly any swell at all.


We launched our dinghy and rowed ashore to explore the little island of Lobos which we learnt was named after the monk seals which once inhabited it. We swam off the lovely sandy beach and walked around the tiny hamlet before heading back to Warrior for an energetic hour or so in the water with scrapers in hand scratching barnacles off her bum! The beauty of clear water is it gave us a chance to have a good look at her below the waterline and assess what we will need to do when she is lifted out in a few weeks time.. and get a head start on the barnacles which are buggers to get off in the water but even worse once they have dried out!