Articles Tagged ‘Canaries’

Gran Canaria

These notes cover the following anchorages – click the name to jump to the relevant section. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Máspalomas et alia Arguineguín Cement Factory Bay (Bahía de Santa Agueda) Puerto Mogán

Corralejo, Fuerteventura

A one-time fishing village on the northern end of Fuerteventura, Corralejo is now a busy little tourist trap, with scores of restaurants, a street full of shops selling ticky-tacky, and a small fleet of glass-bottomed boats and charter yachts. It is also the port for the ferries which run between Fuerteventura and its sister island, Lanzarote. This makes it easy for an approaching vessel to find the place: you just follow the big boats! Although it is easy to find,…

La Graciosa

The island of La Graciosa sits at the northern end of Lanzarote and is divided from the mother island by a narrow channel, or “rio” (as the locals term it). The high cliffs off Lanzarote seem almost to overhang the islet and they have a tremendous influence over the weather down here. When the wind is in the south they cause mighty gusts, or williwaws, to go hurtling down onto the channel. At such times, the anchorage on the southern…

Some Canary Islands Anchorages

These brief notes cover a mere handful of anchorages. UPDATE: These cruising notes have been split into different pages for each island. Please see the list below.

Racing Passage to Cape Verde

There were three ships went sailing out, went sailing out, went sailing out, There were three ships went sailing out on Christmas day in the evening. It was almost four months ago that our aged sails fell apart and our engine parted company with the gear box. We still haven’t solved the first of these problems; the salvaged pieces of the roller furler were straightened and reassembled, and the old rotten sails were cobbled back together, but our efforts to…

Fish of the Rocky Shore

Beneath the waters of La Gomera there are not only large stretches of sand, but also a plentiful supply of rocky areas. For me, this makes the place very interesting. After reading Outdoor Empire rangefinder reviews I learned that I can use my rangefinders to watch the marine life underwater. This was great news for me because now I can watch both habitats at the same time and see the very different fish which live in each of them. The…

Cruising in the Canary Islands

Herewith, some general notes for the benefit of other visitors. The information is arranged in the traditional form, beginning with a few paragraphs concerning such matters as history and flora. If you deem these things to be irrelevant to your needs as a yachtsman, just scroll down the page. Eventually you will find the nitty-gritty: an appraisal of the local winds, and a few words regarding local customs… (as in Customs and Excise).

Who lives on the sandy bottom under our boat?

The Ship’s Naturalist is a kind-hearted girl who wouldn’t hurt a fly. She might catch it and feed it to a toad, of course, but she wouldn’t swat one. Nor does she eat dead pigs, cows, rabbits, sheep, or chickens – but she does have a weakness: she loves fish. At the age of four, when asked to make a list of her favourite things, Roxanne wrote, “Fish, Mummy, Chocolate.” Over the course of the past eight years the list…

Stingrays

If you visit the local tourist office then they’ll tell you that Valle Gran Rey was named after the Big King who once lived in this valley – but we know better. We reckon it was named by a Frenchman who was seriously impressed with the local sealife.

Birdlife in the Canary Islands

Which bird would you reckon is the most common in the Canary Islands? Go on, have a guess.