Sailing to Puerto de Pasito Blanco Gran Canaria

After refuelling on the 10^th we moved back into the Las Palmas anchorage to come up with a plan. We’d been in Las Palmas far longer than we had expected and wanted to get on to exploring the rest of the Canary Islands. Checking the forecast, the logical way to move on was clockwise around Gran Canaria, leaving in the morning.

Leaving the Las Palmas anchorage   

So, at 0845 on 11 Nov we finally left Las Palmas having been there 17 days. It was good to be sailing BV again but we had been in port for so long that we both felt a little rusty, especially as we were almost immediately subjected to a 2½metre+ swell. Las Palmas had certainly provided good shelter!

Catedral de Santa Ana   

Our route out took us right past the old part of the city with the dark bell towers of Catedral de Santa Ana standing out very clearly.

It also took us right though the big ship anchorage which was fun and interesting in equal measure: the ships were heaving up and down in the swell far more than we had expected.

Essentially, we retraced the route that we had taken on the bus from Las Palmas to Puerto de Pasito Blanco, just a mile or so out to sea.

Sailing in the acceleration zone   

For the first couple of hours the wind was light to non-existent, despite the forecast 10-15 knots from the northeast. However, by 1100 we had the mainsail up and the genoa unrolled and poled out to starboard and were making good progress past the airport. A little further to the south we started to enter the acceleration zone and the wind increased to around 25 knots. Despite reducing sail, we still screamed along. I managed to photograph Nicky sailing at 9.2 knots SOG (Speed over the Ground) but our best speed was 10.7 knots surfing down a wave. Exhilarating stuff, especially after having been languishing in port for so long [Ed: and with BV’s underwater hull being covered in slime!]

Approaching Maspaloma    

The brisk acceleration zone wind followed the coastline down to the southern tip of the island at Maspalomas and, as we turned to start heading west, the wind continued to curve, following the coast, so that it stayed almost directly behind us.

The coastline view changed at Maspalomas, which is a major tourist resort. The attraction here is the long sandy beach and sand dunes (which are a protected reserve). There are several large hotels just back from the dunes and behind them, further inland, holiday villa complexes. Standing out clearly on the shallow headland was the lighthouse on Punta de Maspalomas.

Looking back at the lighthouse on Punta de Maspalomas   

This was effectively our turning point although we couldn’t get very close inshore because of the shallows. Once past the shallow area we turned to head directly for Puerto de Pasito Blanco.

Puerto de Pasito Blanco ahead   

SY Sea Wind   

Looking ahead we could clearly see the yachts anchored outside Puerto de Pasito Blanco but they seemed to be pointing west not east. It was very strange, we were sailing along with a brisk almost easterly wind which had curved around the coastline and the yachts were 180 degrees out for that wind. The answer came when we were just a mile out from Puerto de Pasito Blanco when the wind abruptly flipped through 180 degrees. And it happened just as we were preparing to lower our mainsail so we could carry out that evolution without even having to turn away from our destination!

The anchorage seemed to be much more settled than when we had visited by bus the previous weekend and so we dropped anchor close to Lars and Susanne on Sea Wind. We waved but they were busy with guests on board which was probably a good thing because we had a telephone call to make and some serious scrubbing to do of BV’s bottom which had slimed up badly whilst we were static in Las Palmas.

The telephone call was to Agustin Buenafuente, the Ocean Cruising Club Port Officer for Gran Canaria, to confirm that we were anchored off and could definitely make his party the following day. As we were last minute attendees we also agreed what food and drink we’d bring to complement what he was providing. Party admin done, we dived over the side and set about scrubbing BV’s bottom. In Las Palmas we had bought a small compressor with 2 air lines so, instead of snorkelling or diving and constantly coming up for air, we were able to work much more efficiently. We spent an hour and a half working on the hull and the result was a totally clean bottom as well as a very shiny, clean propeller. That should get us moving even faster when we eventually move on!

By the time we had finished rinsing our wetsuits and other gear we had been joined by another couple of yachts in the anchorage and the sun was setting over Punta de Maspalomas. It had been both a good sailing day and a successful one getting BV all clean again.

Puerto de Pasito Blanco, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands