Graciosa
Tamarisk
Thu 27 Oct 2005 12:19
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At last we managed to get away from Madeira. The
south west winds eased and the sea calmed allowing us to slip out of Calheta
Marina at first light on Wednesday 12th October. The passage to the
Canaries is about 280 miles but the forecast was for the winds to fall
considerably so we were expecting to take about three days and two nights to get
to Graciosa, but of course it continued to blow at 20 knots and we realised
pretty quickly we were going too fast. Not usually a problem for us, but
at the rate we were going we would arrive during the second night.
The team decision was to slow down, Lady of Lorien,
our sailing buddies, took as much sail down as they could, and we had two reefs
in the main and bit of jib out. Still trundling along at 4 - 5
knots. And rolling. First lunchtime I had proudly produced fried
bacon and egg sandwiches, not a trace of mal de mer as I hovered over the
cooker. By day two it was dry biscuits all round. We were all pretty
miserable. But as the dawn light spread acoss the ocean on the third
morning we could just make out the peaks of northern Lanzarote and the islands
around. We were a bit lacking on charts and up-to-date info on what to
expect here, our old-edition pilot book suggested diving down to the
concrete held mooring rings on the floor of the harbour - I don't think
so. So imagine out relief when we saw two pontoons with plenty of
spaces, so I spat out the anchor chain and we tied up.
Yet again we are in a little paradise. A
hundred little white, flat roofed buildings wrap round the habour. A
couple of restaurants, bars, supermarkets, and streets made of golden sand. The
beach is fantastic volcanic rock overlayed with sand, half a mile across
Estrecho del Rio Lanzarote proper rises steeply from the sea. There
are no trees, no grass. As the moon rises over the dark cliffs, you
can imagine yourself on Mars looking at the earth.
It's a bit like camping on the boat. The marina has
no fresh water or electricity to plugged into. It means there's no endless
washing down of boats you get in more plush facilities, and at night it's dark.
Gas lamps and candles light the cockpits. We've met so many friends here. At
last Koshlong, a Canadian boat with three girls on board, we we're told to watch
out for them weeks ago, Starlight, an American boat with three boys.
Sarah Grace and Regina, we met both back in La Coruna. Eddie's also
palled up with two Dutch boys, who don't speak English but love to
fish. So the children are having their best
time yet.
We all dinghied over to Lanzarote and swam off a
beautiful, deserted beach. Some of the children took a GPS off to find
a 'geocaching' site hidden in one of the tunnels made by lava flow.
On Trafalgar Day, the children decided to take
on the adults in a "reinactment" of the sea battle. We took the dinghy out
to Wild Alliance in the anchorage, she's a huge Formasa 50 and
looks quite like a pirate ship. By the alloted hour there were sixteen
armed with water pistols, sponges and water balloons on deck. The grown
ups took up position on a nearby boat, Aventura. And then they
came, they swam, they rowed, they canoed. We held them off
for 15 minutes, but we all walked the plank. There's nothing like
pushing in a fully clothed grown-up when you're seven, I guess. You could spot
the experienced family cruisers - they managed to keep their Ray Bans
on. Once the colours had been struck we swam back to Wild Alliance for a
party....it could have been 1805, except we invited Chris and Lynne from the
French boat.
Later that day we had the "Art Show". Liz, an
artist from the Australian boat Amaranth had been taken the children off every
afternoon for lessons. This was the showcase for their work, sketches of
the village, imaginary animals and craft made from sea glass and shells.
An excellent end to one of our most enjoyable days.
We saw a turtle being rescued. Fishermen had
brought her in with a hook in her mouth. She was quite a sad
sight, about a metre long, 12 years old they thought, but already
suffering because she couldn't dive or eat properly. They left her in
a dinghy full of water on the pontoons for the night. Next
morning she was heaved into a wheel barrow by three conservation officers
and taken onto the Lanzarote ferry, the plan was to get her to a vet on
island. We don't know the outcome.
For our last couple of nights in Graciosa we
decided to come out to the anchorage, the water is beautifully clean and it's
great fun buzzing around the boats and the beach.
Tim adds: There is a thing serious cruisers do
called 'diving on the anchor'. And in the anchorage in Bahia del Salado
just South of Caleta Del Sebo I had my first go. As soon as you've
anchored, the skipper dons his mask, snorkel and fins and swims down to
check how well the anchor is embedded. This is not a practical proposition in
Walton Backwaters. The sea-bed here was mainly rock with the odd patch of
thin sand so there wasn't a lot for the anchor to grab and we were planning to
stay a couple of nights so it was important we were well secured. You swim
into the current ahead of the boat looking down on the chain. Despite being
about 8m deep, I could see the bottom clearly. There were odd groups of fish
but, I'm glad to say, none of the pilot whales said to use the straight for
migration. I found the anchor and dived. I got close enough to see that
most of it was well embedded but couldn't quite reach it. The water was
fantastically clear. Like a lot of things you do on a boat, it's a job but fun
too.
According to one of the guides, Graciosa was the
model for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. The complete lack of
trees makes me doubt that but it is exactly the right size - just big
enough to walk round in a day.
The original Canarians, the Guanches, called
Lanzarote the Rose-Coloured Mountain and it is.
Summing up the pace of life on Graciosa was the
sign in the window of the bike hire shop - If you're bringing back a bike,
just leave it outside, if you want to hire one and I'm not here, try the
Restaurant Girasol - but only after 1030.
The shops all shut from 1 to 5. The fishermen dried
their fish on a big net on the harbour's edge next to the internet
cafe.
There was a sign in another shop offering driving
tests - presumably the full EU test!
The Harbour Master was also the Alcalde (mayor).
Our 8-day stay in the harbour cost 33 euro - less than one night in
Lymington.
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