Arrecife
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Wed 5 Sep 2012 14:46
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28:58.31N 13:31.86W Tuesday 4 and Wednesday 5 September
2012
Distance Run 24 Miles
We left the anchorage in Graciosa at about 10am,
waving goodbye to Dave and Jane on the yacht 'Greta May'. They arrived
here about a week before us and were staying a couple of days longer. We
recognised eachothers boats from when we were both anchored off Culatra earlier
this year. They had been refurbishing their Greta May over 4 or 5 years in
Faro and she now was looking pristine. Steel boats take a lot
of looking after!
Waving Goodbye:-
 We ran the watermaker as we motored along as the
scheduled time for doing this was long overdue. The wind was light so we
only sailed 6.5 miles, the rest being under engine but this did help to
charge our batteries. Our destination was Arrecife where there is an
anchorage within the main harbour. Arrecife means 'reef' in Spanish which
describes perfectly the hazards in the approaches. All the dangers are
well marked on our charts and in the pilot book so everything was
straightforward.
The anchorage was well sheltered off a small beach
inside the harbour walls. Two other boats were at anchor and it was a
peaceful place if not pretty.
Just to show that not all spots are picturesque,
here is the view in our anchorage:-
 On Wednesday we launched the dinghy and set off for
the far south of the harbour about a mile away. Access to the shore was
limited but we found a pontoon but everything looked a bit unofficial so I
walked ashore to the nearest buildings to see if it was OK to land there.
There was a fishing school and what appeared to be the back of a hospital or
clinic. If the gate at the head of the pontoon became padlocked we could
see it was easy to climb around and although the fishing school buildings
might close the hospital wasn't likely to so we marched into town. All in
all quite a good location as we were as close to Arrecife as we could get by
dinghy.
We found the pedestrian shopping area after making
enquiries and browsed around. We managed to get 'Movistar' sim cards for
the Canary Islands for the 'smart phone' and normal phone. This meant we
could at least see if any important emails had arrived.
One of my 'Crocs' had been blown off the
aft deck at anchor the other day so we tried a few shoe shops to get
replacements and found suitable substitutes. After a simple lunch we
walked back to the dinghy.
The gates around the fishing school were now locked
which was not the end of the world so we walked on to the
hospital/clinic............ which was also closed! Some workmen were
horrified when we checked to see if we could climb over the gates, but they were
too high. They told us to relax as the buildings would be open again in
the morning. Hmm.
We walked away to another part of the harbour and
concluded that one of us would have to swim to the dinghy. Lin was much
clearer about who this should be than I was but then she noticed another dinghy
placed in a position where, if one of us clambered down some rocks, it might be
possible to reach a ramp, duck under some fencing and get to back of the
closed buildings and then to the pontoon where our dinghy was resting. It
wouldn't strictly be breaking and entering because we wouldn't have to break
anything. It would only be trespass. So that would be alright.
An adventure!
Anyway, I did as I was told,
reached our dinghy and motored over to another part of the harbour
where Lin was waiting patiently following a gentle stroll.
The return trip to the boat was
uneventful.
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