La Graciosa - 29 13.69N 013 30.19W

OOJAH's AWESOME ODYSSEY
Peter & Christene Tanner
Wed 26 Sep 2012 16:27
We arrived in the dark & sneaked into an empty berth well aware that we were 3 days early & they have a reputation for turning you away if you have not got prior permission, regardless of whether there's space! When the security guard approached we switched off all the lights, closed the curtains & lay low. In the morning we had to laugh when Oojah's presence was already correctly recorded on their system & the extra 3 days were no problem. The island & it's little harbour are delightful. There's a handful of small white flat roofed mosly single story houses & a couple of bar/restaurants clustered round the harbour with a beach adjacent. The streets are unpaved & mostly sand covered. The landscape is scrub & desert with three 750ft high extinct volcanos sticking out. After a day of cleaning off the filth we'd acquired in Morocco we set off to walk round the southern end of the island but were defeated by steep lava covered slopes & very hot sun with absolutely no shelter. A German man came to help as C was sliding down the scree on her back. She was in such a state that she failed to notice that her was naked apart from his ruck sack and boots!! We were rescued by a delightfull group of Spaniards from Teneriffe in a very small Land Rover who gave us a lift back & then asked us in for drinks - only 3 spoke English but we now have 16 Spanniards for happy hour tomorrow!

Peter & Christene