Graciosa

Moonbeam
David and Lynn Wilkie
Tue 21 Sep 2010 20:16
 
 
29.13.045N   013.31.773W
 
Playa Francesa
 
We arrived at Playa Francesca about 15.30 on Tuesday afternoon and we were pretty tired as we had not really planned for a 2 night passage. We tidied up, had a nice dinner ( and a drink ) and went to bed and woke up sometime before lunch on Wednesday! A lovely sandy bay with a dozen yachts and the weather was warm but hazy with Sahara dust in the air. On Thursday we summoned up the energy to inflate the dinghy and we walked to the 'town', about a mile and a half away.
 
      
 
      
 
         Marina
 
       
 
There are no proper roads just sand tracks and old land rovers are the favoured form of transport. The town has obviously had a lot of holiday lets built but nothing is more than 2 stories high and all in the local 'moorish' style. The frequent ferries bring holiday makers from Lanzarotte for the day which is obviously the main source of income. At first glance I thought it was a bit of a dump but it does have character and it grew on me!
 
Friday was hectic with boat jobs and several scored off the list but almost as many added on! Two French boats had suggested a beach rendezvous at 18.00hrs so everyone trouped ashore with drink and eats and an enjoyable and sociable evening was had. An Australian crew of 3 from Tasmania chatted mainly with us as French was the main language. Someone observed that over a 4 day period there were 16 nationalities  present including a very young Hungarian crew...we were the only British yacht. 
 
      
 
Saturday/Sunday exploring/swimming and walking
 
       
 
Monday; again a plethora of boat jobs followed by swimming and snorkelling in the late afternoon. If we can remember how to lift the anchor then we will move tomorrow!