Isla Graciosa
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Wed 29 Aug 2012 17:25
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29:13.13N 13:31.79W
Wednesday 29 August 2012 - 9.30am
Total Distance Run 269 Miles
A little over an hour after setting sail again
we turned dead downwind into the narrow channel between Lanzarote and Isla
Graciosa. We put the engine on and furled the sails away. This
was partly so we could recharge the batteries with the alternator before
anchoring as the navigation lights and instruments had given them a hammering
overnight.
It was still cloudy as we approached the
channel. Here Lanzarote is to the left and Isla Graciosa
opposite:-
 Graciosa is only 6.5 km long and 3 km wide and is
flat and sandy with four volcanic cones and no made up roads. There is a
small marina and 3 bays but anchoring is allowed in only one. The coast
between the two islands is a National Park and permission has to be sought 10
days in advance to anchor by completing and submitting a request form. The
maximum permitted time at anchor is 10 days. The objective of protecting
the area is fine and these regulations will seem reasonable to the land based
person who created them. But internet access for sailors obtain the
form is an intermittent thing and few will then have facilities to
print it. Having completed the form, even fewer will have a
scanner to email it back or know how long the post will take.
Furthermore, nobody who sails can know 10 days in advance what the weather
will be like for sailing. The icing on the cake is that the submitted form
is not acknowledged by email or otherwise so you don't know if your application
was successful.
A similar process, with a different form sent to a
different place, applies to access the small marina. Apparently
there are frequently empty spaces reserved for yachts who haven't turned
up creating frustration for those yachts who are here but
aren't allowed to go into them. Bureaucracy is much the same in every
country!
Any road up, we did our best and emailed
a form from Madeira requesting permission from 24 August to 2 September.
Weather conditions dictated a delayed departure which has eaten into our time so
we wait to see how strongly it is policed.
We arrived at the anchorage at 9.30am to see only 3
other yachts! (there can be up to 40 apparently). Perhaps others gave
up or have been moved on.
Isla Graciosa is where people from Lanzarote come
to holiday. Here is the beach by the anchorage with one of those volcanic
cones:-
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