papagayo

I’ve spent the last week or so anchored off a beach on the south coast of Lanzarote. After a long time being a slave to the boat task list, it’s been nice to spend some time doing nothing but lying around, swimming, reading and being lazy; all things which come pretty naturally to me. Here are some photos:

I met a nice couple in Arrecife, Rich and Trish. They bought a ferro cement boat in the UK and completely rebuilt her before sailing to the Med and down here. She’s very cool. Here is their blog. They briefly put in an appearance in the anchorage, although I didn’t end up saying hello or goodbye (Hello! Goodbye!). They are heading to the Gambia, and probably the Caribbean. Here’s a photo of them leaving:

Anchoring by the beach was fun. The water was really clear, and there were tons of fish, including a big stingray and a two foot giant mackerel on the last day that cruised in and terrified all the little fish. But it was exposed and quite rolly at times, and there was basically nothing but desert on shore. The weather forecast said that the wind would be picking up quite a bit, so I decided to move to Marina Rubicon before leaving for Tenerife next week. This will give me a few days to fix a few bits without being chucked around too much, and catch up on sleep. I will also watch the Sunday football matches in the pub.

Based on my limited experience, marinas in the UK seem to mainly be places to keep a boat, with some chandlery on the side. Marinas in Lanzarote charge a lot less, but are much keener to sell you stuff, particularly clothes. This one is pretty extreme. It’s like mooring in a Westfield.

The marina staff, as always, are very nice. Thankfully they took one look at Suzerain and decided to hide me with the local boats, as happened in Marina Lanzarote. This means that I shouldn’t wake too many people up if I need to make a late night or early morning getaway in order to reach Santa Cruz at a godly hour.

My Spanish is still sadly weak. However I did manage a conversation of sorts earlier tonight with the chap next door, who turned up to do some maintenance. He said something heartfelt that I didn’t entirely follow, involving ‘barco’ and ‘problemas’. I was on the point of responding with my standard line of ‘no hablo espanol’. But his general meaning was clear, and mindful of Ted Heath’s (I think) line about yachting being akin to standing under a cold shower ripping up fivers (fifties in today’s money, at least), I responded with an equally heartfelt ‘Si!’

At some point in the next few days I’m planning to catch up with my record of spending on Suzerain, which will no doubt be sobering. I’ll be parting company with a fair bit more cash in this marina, which seems to have a well-stocked chandlery, and in Santa Cruz, which I fully expect to be a block and tackle Mecca.

My 130 mile journey to Tenerife will either be a one-nighter or a two-nighter, depending on the wind. My friends Mattis and Mo went for a two-nighter, although there are two of them, which makes that easier to manage. Forecasts are pretty variable at the moment, so we will see. In any case, my next update should be from Santa Cruz. Love to all.