Gran Tarajal
Off again
Mark+Barbara
Fri 7 Mar 2008 12:03
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28:12.374N 14:01.573W
Wind on the nose again so mainly motored to Gran
Tarajal.Mark tried out his new fishing rod on the way but no takers.Saw dolphins
and turtles which is always a wonderful sight.We did have an unexpected visit
from a very worn out pigeon who like us was sailing against the wind and was
absolutely exhausted.He landed on our coach roof and spent about a hour with us
re fortifying himself.Lucky for him Lily spends most of her time buried under
covers when we are under way so she was not prowling around and he was safe for
the duration!
 We had decided to anchor at the next port as the,
"pilot book", had suggested it would be a better option for our craft so we
prepared the anchor on approach into the harbour only to find that once inside
the harbour walls the whole of the anchoring area had been taken up by several
pontoons.We again had to quickly sort out the fendering etc. and were
helped onto a pontoon by another sailor who had seen us in Gran Canaria, which
was great.
Our relief on tying off was short lived as the
security guard, who obviously didn't have a clue, said we were to big to use the
pontoon and we would have to tie up along side the rescue boat ,against the
harbour wall.
 This was going to be another new experience for us
as we had never done this before.We had to adapt boards that we had kept
from Gib to fashion into fender boards to protect us from chafing and damage to
the side of our boat from the rough harbour wall and its deep overhang.The tidal
drop was around 2 meters so it was going to be fun getting on and off at low
tide! Glen the sailor that had helped earlier volunteered to cycle to the other
side of the harbour to help us tie off which was a great help and we managed to
safely come along side with no mishaps.We were though absolutely worn out from
all the 'palaver'.
4th March
As we had electricity and water spent the day
cleaning the boat.
5th March
Weather very windy blowing northerly force
6-7 so not able to leave as planned.Decided to take the local bus to Las
Playatas a small fishing village to check out the anchoring area.The
village is unfortunately being swallowed up by a golfing complex which looks
quite out of place as the general topography of the area is very arid and barren
in contrast to this oasis of greenery. We did not stay very long and
decided that the anchoring area although nice was best used in settled
weather.
Fiesta time is late here in Fuertoventura and the
festivities have only just begun.They have here the crowning of the drag queen
and the big extravaganza is on Saturday night so we will probably be here to see
that which should be humorous!
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