Puerto de Mogan to Fuerteventura

After 8 days in Puerto de Mogan it was time to leave. We filled up with diesel and left at 09:30 AM.

Leaving Puerto de Mogan

As we feel December is coming closer it's time to make our way towards Playa Blanca on Island of Lanzarote. We have decided to go around the south and up the east coast of the Island of Fuerteventura.

The first strech from P.Mogan was to an anchorage on the south side of Fuerteventura.
The trip took us along the south/southwest coast of Gran Canaria where we passed all
the most popular holiday resorts on the island. Puerto Rico, Anfi del Mar, Argineguin, Maspalomas, Palaya Ingles, San Augustin...

Maspalomas

 We anchored at Giniginamar at sunrise saturday morning - in a nice cove sheltered to W-N-E after 22 hrs on half speed sailing/motoring.  Giniginamar is a small hamlet with a few residents and a couple of small hotels and holiday flats.

Giniginamar

Grete's delicious pizza ! Saturday night snack.

We never made it ashore as the beach looked rocky and we didn't want to mess up the hull of our RIB. (GRP) But we had a relaxing 2 days there. Second night became a bit rolly as the wind increased from the north coming down the valley and out to the anchorage and turned the boat sideways to incoming waves.

So we lifted anchor at 9PM monday morning and motored to the town of Gran Tarajal, where there is a good marina. Long fingerpontoons and not much drag from the ocean outside. The services were OK as we had both shore power and fresh water. But the toilets and showers were out of order.
At least when we arrived.

Mooring at Gran Tarajal

Nice in a calm marina

Ran out of coold beer !

Sea side of Gran Tarajal

 The weather is excellent. 20-25 at daytime and 15-20 during the night.
Wind calms down in the evening and increases around noon.
There are a number of foreign boats here. French, German, UK, Belgian, Swedish and our selves ;)
The town center is nearby. 10 minutes walk and it's very quiet here at night time.
There are a couple of good supermarkets here and many small restaurants along the seaside.

As we are leaving at first light on Friday I went to do the checkout today.
Pleasantly surprised. 4 days stay for just 51 Euro.

Our plan is to leave from here for Puerto Castillo - about 15nm up the coast - on Friday.
Then to Puerto del Rosario and finally to Playa Blanca, Lanzarote.

Our planned trips (Red, green and yellow)

Santa Cruz, Tenerife to Puerto de Mogan, Gran Canaria

We arrived in Santa Cruz, Tenerife Sunday the 3rd Nov.

The wind was blowing at near gale force and without a working bow thruster the approach and entering a narrow berth was difficult. In such cicumstances using speed is the best way to keep you on track. We got in OK and got the thumbs up from the Marinero who was there to meet us.

Marina Santa Cruz

The Marina is on the northern end of the old port and has good draft and solid finger pontoons.
But thats about all good to be said. The area is very noisy.
Immediately to the north of the marina is the ferry terminal in/out of Tenerife and also the cruise terrminal, where up to 5 large cruise ships were moored. As none of them were on shore power the rumble of diesel generators went on all night. At daytime containers and trucks were moved around with a constant beep-beep as they reversed.

Our pontoon was a bit of walk from the Marina office and facilities building. The toilet and shower facilities was poor. Only 2 toilets in the men's room was working. Showers was crampt and dirty.
There was a laundry, but only one of 3 machine was working.
The pontoon had a faulty electricity net and the main fuse for the entire pontoon tripped seval times a day. There was a wifi system, but you had to buy airtime. Problem was, it was very unreliable,
as the accesspoint kept dropping out and the lease time was very short.

The Marina is right in the town center and we went for walks and some shopping.
We also took the tram up to the old town of La Laguna. It was the old provincial capital for many years and it has many houses that dates back to the 1500's. Now, the area and many of those houses sadly had turned to be a tourist trap with high end brand stores on the groundfloor.

La Laguna

From bell tower of local church

During our stay in Santa Cruz the wind was pretty strong as it accelerates down between the islands.
After 11 days the weather finally gave us an oportunity to sail accross to GranCanary island.
We departed at 0530 Thursday the 14th November for a 9 hr crossing to Puerto de Mogan.
The sea was very rolly with waves up to 2 meters and swell 3-4 meters.
It setteled a bit as we reach deeper water an hour off the coast.
Wind was NE 10-15 kts when we left but increased to 25-30 half way accross. As we got close to GC we got in lee from the NE wind and withing one minute the wind dropped from 20 to less than 5 knots.

Puerto de Mogan a busy tourist area

Harbour inlet and port controll building

We arrived Puerto de Mogan at 1500 and was directed to berth space on the pontoon on the inside of the southern break water.

Mooring "med-style" using Lazy lines.

Great to be in a nice marina

It's a good marina. Calm and quiet. Very good to get a good night sleep again.
We will stay here for at least a week.

Mogan is a very popular tourist place and we could here Norwegian and Swedish spoken all the time in the restaurant area. Friday was market day here and lots of stands all along the piers and in town.

Calheta, Madeira to Tenerife

Our sail from Funchal to Calheta took us 4 hours.
Calheta has a nice marina, but the berth we got was a bit on the lively side being hampered by swell that enters the marina.

We moored with strong ropes that was fitted with rubber shock dampers - but even so we were woken up as the boat was struggelig when the swell got too rough.
After the first night 2 of 4 absorbers had snapped in half, next day one more broke.
We got so fed up, we put on some more ropes, left the boat and found refuge at Calheta Beach hotel just 100m from the marina.

The hotel seen from the boat at the marina

 We were lucky and got a nice airconditioned room - all inclusive - for 92 Euros per night through bookings.com. Asking for a room at the reception the wanted 140 Euro a night, and they were very surprised when we showed them the price we paid via bookings.com :)
All inclusive ment 4 meals a day (large buffets) free drinks and free bar. To us this was a holiday away from our holiday.

And the bar WAS FREE !

Grete testing the pool

The morning we checked into the hotell we went on a tour that took us on a 6km walk on one of the islands famous levadas.  The levadas are watering canals that leads rain water from the northern/rainy side of the island down to the south side.
They are built and maintained by the local government and users must pay for the time water is used.

Waiting for the "Levada bus"

It was a great - and easy walk - and a guide with a lot of history to tell.

Nice cool quiet stops

Walks took us behind peoples garden walls.

Nov. 1st we returned to the boat, got all ship-shape for our 265 nautical miles sail to Tenerife.
We filled up with fresh water and diesel and departed at 11:30 AM.

Leaving Madeira for Tenerife.

 Just a light wind and we motored the first 24 hrs. We got a bit of wind the next day and was able to turn of the engine and get som peace and quiet. Had a few radio contacts with Hams in Norway. Contacts is best when out to sea. When in Marinas we get too much local noise to hear weak stations.

We arrived Santa Cruz, Tenerife in the afternoon the 3rd November after 46 hrs sailing.
We are in a large marina - but its calm here (no swell) but in the afternoon the wind picks up.

Marina Santa Cruz

So mooring lines must be securely fastened.

Looks like we might have to stay here a few days, as the weatherforecast predicts high winds.
We want to sail to the south part of Tenerife and anchor at Los Christianos and from there it's a short passage over to the island of La Gomera.