Graciosa (Part 2)

Moving into the marina on Graciosa was an interesting game. Our booking gave us a berth number and warned that there would be no staff present over the weekend. So, we loitered around in the harbour for several minutes peering intently through binoculars looking for some sort of indication of the berth numbers. There was actually a security guard on duty and he had probably been waving at us frantically for 5 minutes before we looked further afield and spotted him.

BV alongside in Puerto de Caleta del Sebo marina   

He waved us into a vacant berth and we later discovered that none of them are numbered. The visitors berths in the marina are excellent with really long, sturdy finger pontoons and water available, though the electricity supply was broken when we were there. A Dutchman also helped us with our lines and was surprised to hear that we had come up from Arrecife having arrived in the Canaries from Madeira. The Canary Islands are outside the EU and, whilst people can move freely in the Schengen area, our understanding is that you should arrive on your yacht into a port of entry before exploring the islands, no matter where you have come from. Certainly, in the Madeiran archipelago the Portuguese had been very strict, even insisting that yachts check into and out of each island even if staying in the archipelago, but perhaps the Spanish are a little more relaxed about the Canary Islands.

The village by the port reminded us hugely of a wild west movie set. There are no surfaced roads on the island and we explored the sand back streets of the village, half expecting a bandanna-clad Mexican brandishing a 6-shooter to leap out at us at any moment.

The village’s seafront was delightfully peaceful with a good sandy beach and rock pools to explore at low water. The majority of visitors come by day-tripper ferry from Orzola and the restaurants were heaving with those who had ventured little further than the village. We wanted to explore more widely and tried to hire some mountain bikes but our timing was wrong and the hire shops had shut up shop for the day. Instead, we set off on foot.

The island has 4 distinctive volcanic cones, the highest of which is 265 metres and overlooks the village. For us it was the most interesting one because of the colourful swirls of different coloured rock.

Much of the island is a national park and so we had to stick to paths or roads. There aren’t many of them and so it was easy to navigate our way to the northeastern side of the island.

The southern end of Playa de las Conchas   

Here we saw what we thought was the wild and remote Playa de las Conchas but in hindsight we realise that we probably didn’t quite make it around to the area with the shells. As we watched the swell rolling onto the rocky shoreline, kicking up some surprisingly high waves, it was easy to see why the beach is so popular with surfers.

It would have been nice to have spent some more time on Graciosa and to have explored the island properly but we needed to head south to Fuerteventura on the Monday morning. So, we hatched a plan to collar the harbourmaster first thing in the morning to get a refund for the unused nights we’d booked and paid for before, once again, making our way down the east side of Lanzarote.

Graciosa, Canary Islands, Spain