SAILING AROUND THE WORLD WITH SPIRIT OF ARGO

The Canary Islands: Graciosa – No we have not left yet

La Graciosa

Well we are still here in La Graciosa.   Life has been good off our little beach.

Shorts drying after a morning swim

Both the humans and I have enjoyed the ‘leasurely’ pace of life here.

 

Rainbow after a noon shower

 

They have not been ‘completely’ lazy.  While I have my afternoon siesta the humans have continued to get jobs completed on the boat.  All the leaks have been sorted along with an assortment of little repairs and faults.

It never ends with boats!

 

I have not been completely lazy myself.  It has been my job to greet all boats that come to the anchorage.

 

 

We have also found time to do some exploring.

We climbed the local volcano.

Me, at the top of the volcano.
The anchorage below and the opposite shoreline of the next island, Lanzarota

 

It was worth the climb for the great views.

 

There is our little beach anchorage
There is Spirit of Argo with a friends boat, Limbo, anchored right behind her.
Looking down on the pennisula that blocks the waves from hitting our anchorage
The view looking out towards the town.
It takes about 40 minutes to walk into town for groceries.

My humans walked to town once.  After that they motored the dingy around to drop off rubbish and pick of groceries.  It only takes 20 minutes by dingy.

View of the north side of the island.
This is where all the best surfing beaches are.

But all beach holidays must end some time.

A forecast of very strong southwesterly winds meant the anchorage was about to become very ‘uncomfortable’.  The pennisula would not be able to block the waves coming from that direction and Spirit of Argo would bounce around on here anchor uncomfortably.  The humans would probably find it too rough to run me ashore, so I talked them into moving into the town harbour.

Spirit of Argo moored up in the towns harbour

We were low on water anyway.  The harbour does not offer any ‘facilities’ except a protected mooring and unlimited fresh water.  So no microwave popcorn binges here.  But it is cheap at 10 euros.

Besides protection from the coming winds, being in the harbour puts the humans closer to some great cafes and resturants.  And my humans do love their fresh seafood and tapas.

View from our favourite resturant

 

It did not take the humans long to find a little resturant, on the edge of town, that the local use.  The food is great, the view is lovely, the portions too big for them to finish and the price very cheap!

 

Last night the winds suddenly really kicked in.

With the very short pontoons and the strong winds, the humans had to winch the boat back close enough to the dock for me to jump off this morning.  Waves have even managed to build in the narrow channel that separates La Graciosa from Lanzarota.

The harbour wall protecting the boats inside from the waves forming in the channel

The wind is stong enough to make little wavelets even inside the harbour.

Strong winds inside the port

It is good to have a protected port 10 minutes motor away from such a lovely beach anchorage.

 

The winds are meant to die down and turn favourable in a few days and I guess it is time to move on.  Time to explore the south coast of Lanzarota and it’s ‘still active’ volcanic attractions and beach anchorages.

It is a tough life!