We left our anchorage off Playa de las Mujeras, South Lanzarote, yesterday morning after a lovely swim, cool but surprisingly not cold and very clear.  The anchorage had sand patches with lots of boulders, and whilst the anchor had a good bite, our chain made quite a noise overnight dragging across the tops of rocks as we swung around.  Still, it was a beautiful and well protected anchorage.  We crossed the small channel to Fuerteventura, and as I was putting the preventer on the main we gained another crew member.  At first we thought we may have an illegal immigrant arriving from Africa, but then noticed Percy, as we soon named him, had an electronic tag around his ankle so we knew he was just on his way home (did I mention he was a racing pigeon?).

After a drink of water, some Alpen and corn flakes (I keep mentioning I ought to get some bird seed ‘just in case’), he found his sea legs and had a wander around deck before falling asleep. Then hopping confidently onto the handrail, Percy was back in the race, leaving behind just a few little reminders on the deck which needed a hosing off!

We sailed down the East coast of Fuerteventura with a steady north easterly and we kept up a good speed constantly tweaking sails, and as we rounded the headland towards our intended anchorage the wind picked up, katabatic wind blowing off the cliffs. We sailed towards Las Playitas but thought that the one boat in the anchorage already didn’t look that comfortable, mainly because the wind was creating a short chop, so we continued on to the bay east of Gran Tarajal marina where we dropped anchor as we were beginning to lose light.  Unfortunately this bay was affected by swell rolling in, side on to the wind, so we (and all the other boats anchored) rolled around all night, lurching from side to side.  The first choice anchorage would have been much better infact, as there appeared to be little or no swell coming in.

We left reasonably early for us and sailed, well bobbing at first as the winds were light until 11ish when they picked up to 20 knots, further down the coast to a little bay just west of Punta del Cacarol where we stopped for lunch and a swim, and then decided to stay the night. We have both caught the sun, Jez is now wearing his hat for the first time since purchase a few months ago. There is only slight swell here as the small headland and reef seems to take the brunt of it so we are quite comfortable and the holding is good in 4.5 metres over sand.  The coastline is very black and mountainous, and we have spotted goats on the cliffs and the small black beach we are anchored off.  Monsieur le Tomate is cooking pork curry as we watch the sun go down.