Gran Tarajal Fuerteventura

Cheese purchasing complete, we finally left Puerto Rosario just before midday on Saturday 21 October. It was overcast and a little grey which was a bit of a disappointment for the holiday gang, but it was warm enough for shorts and T-shirts and, most importantly, we had wind!

Lucy watching out for whales (and sharks!!!)   

Our passage was about 24 miles south down the Fuerteventura coastline and we bowled along at a good speed with 15-18 knots of wind from behind us. Alex and Lucy were sharp eyed enough to spot a large flying fish scoot away from us but sadly nothing larger was seen. We had hoped to perhaps see some dolphins or even a whale but not this time. That was through no lack of trying; Lucy took up station on the pulpit seat for the best lookout position but sadly to no avail.

Looking back at Punta Lantailla lighthouse high on the cliffs above us   

About 18 miles south of Puerto del Rosario the coastline curves sharply off towards the west. The cliffs here looked to be a couple of hundred feet high and perched on the top of them is the Punta Lantailla lighthouse. From here we turned to broad reach towards our destination which was hidden from view behind the next headland, Punta de Piedras Caidas.

Punta de Piedras Caidas and behind it Gran Tarajal   

Throughout our passage we almost caught up with several of the yachts which had also been anchored at Puerto del Rosario but which had set off a little before us (no cheese-hunting for them). They elected to anchor in the bay behind Punta de Piedras Caidas just of the beach and so we watched with interest at how much shelter they got from the swell. Gran Tarajal, our destination, appeared and Nicky got on the radio to let them know that we were arriving. She had already received an e-mail confirming that there was a place reserved for us so it would just be a case of working out where the mooring was.

Once inside the harbour we followed the directions given by the security guard and realised that the allocated place was on a very short finger pontoon and that we would be arriving downwind. It’s hard to secure yourself properly on a very short finger pontoon and so we asked if there might be an alternative option. There was and so we manoeuvred to where the guard was pointing for us to go, next to the small motorboat in the picture above. As we crept into the mooring I had one eye firmly on the depth gauge and it quickly became apparent that whilst there was enough water to get into the mooring, we’d be aground by about half a metre at low tide. It somewhat confused the security guard when we backed off at the last minute but one of the ‘meercat heads’, that pop up to watch when something interesting is going on, explained to the guard that the water wasn’t deep enough for us there. The security guard was a bit non-plussed by this, particularly since the space he was trying to allocate us had a working electrical supply unlike the remaining available berths on the pontoon. However, he seemed content enough when we moored 5 places further up the pontoon run and we certainly were! It was still on a short finger but at least it was into wind and had enough depth [Ed: and we have a very long extension cable so we could get electricity too!].

The beach at Gran Tarajal   

Despite being one of the larger towns on the island, Gran Tarajal is well off the foreign tourist track so we took a wander into town to have a look-see. The wide curving sandy beach was surprisingly empty and the town was very quiet.

Statues apparently depicting the 5 elements: earth, wind, fire, water… and the other one!

Along the seafront were a series of wooden statues depicting the 5 elements: earth, wind, fire and water were all clear but we couldn’t twig, or even see, what the 5^th one was supposed to be. A bit like Puerto de Rosario, Gran Tarajal is clearly trying the ‘large communal art-work’ approach to reinventing the town and trying to attract more visitors. We saw a reasonable number of Spanish people in the cafes and bars but, even so, it seemed to us that the art-work initiative has a way to go! The town itself had little to offer us and we even struggled to get fresh bread on Sunday morning.

Having tracked some down at one of the few corner stores that was open we took a look at the unusual whale skeleton on the way back to BV. It belonged to an adult female Cuvier’s, or common beaked whale which had been washed up close to the Punta Lantailla lighthouse. Apparently, they can dive down to 1000 metres where they stay for up to 2 hours hunting squid. Other than that, very little is known about their habits and behaviour, mainly because they are very rarely seen.

Gran Tarajal probably justified not getting an entry in our tourist guide book but it had provided a useful stopping point for breaking up our journey. We left at 1150 on Sunday morning to continue a further 20 miles to Morro Jable. This is a much more significant tourist location and so we expected it to be busy, which was a slight concern because we hadn’t heard any reply to our request for a mooring. There was an anchoring option but it looked to be quite exposed in the prevailing wind. Something to think about on the way there!

Gran Tarajal, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands