Malua is at 28:58.31N 13:31.84W at Arrecife on 7/11/2012

We left Graciosa and headed down the coast to a new anchorage.  This time the recommendation was right deep in the inner harbour of Puerto Naos.  It required some skilful navigation to follow the red and green channel markers as we moved cautiously up the harbour with all the fishing boats and moors vessels.  We had just found a good spot and dropped the anchor along with a tripping line when I saw on the dock a policeman waving his arm at us.  We have to move out of this protected spot.  We pulled up the anchor and moved back down the harbour towards the entrance where we had seen some other yachts anchored. Oh well better than out in the open.  We found a spot and anchored just before a strong wind sprang up along with some heavy rain.  Off to bed early.

The following day we lowered the RIB with the big motor into the water and plained up the harbour towards the town.  We secured to a local boat and walked into town to add more credit to my Vodafone phone and USB dongle.  We stopped in the supermarket and resolved to return to add to our provisions.

Two large cruise ships had just entered the big outer harbour so the town was alive and bussing.  We got a trolley and filled it with the penultimate provisioning list.  Five bags of food etc which we had to carry back to the RIB.  It was so overloaded it would not plain back to Malua. 

My watch had stopped at 2:30 so I suggested we leave this harbour and head on down the coast to a good anchorage.  Piers asked if I knew the time – yes 2:30 No it is 4:00 and the  trip would at 5 knots take two hours.  We set off with the wind behind us, the sails up and the motor on and were soon doing our hull speed of 8.2 knots.  We would arrive just as the sun set.  Unfortunatly the sun set behind a dark cloud and darkness fell as we dropped the anchor, narrowly missing a group of plastic containers floating on the surface.  We had to pull up the anchor at which point the windlass deceided that it was time to stop.  It jammed with a link at right angles due to the poor quality of the French chain.  Reset the trip switch, undo the jam but this time the sprocket had lifted off the ratchet so I had to dismantle the windlass to get it working.  By this time it was dark.  We tried to anchor again with more difficulty but chose to let the chain run free through the windlass.  Before Piers knew it all the chain had gone out and we where onto the nylon line.  75 meters of anchor out in a bay full of rocks.  Fix the windlass and then take in some chain. 

Back to the cockpit for a cold beer and into the freezer for a prepared stew.  We will spend a day here then move into the Rubicon Marina to hire a car and visit the national park and volcanoes on the island.

A magical moment on Malua