I finally got away from Playa Blanca on wednesday 21st. I had gone into the Marina with Paul to give him a hand putting on diesel and water. Paul sailed off to the west. He was headed for Gran Canaria and I went across the strait that separates Lanzarote from Fuerteventura. Just off Fuerteventura is the little Isla dos Lobos. I had been told that if you like Gracosa you will love Lobos. The pilot suggested that the lagoon on the south side could be a good place for boats that could dry out. The chart supported that so I went in thereon a 2.1 metre tide, which should have given about 3 metres under the keel as we crossed the bar. In fact it was nearer 0.3m. It was not until the tide went out that I realised how shallow it is. At low tide springs, you can walk from one side to the other without getting your feet wet.
Views of the mountain from the boat, and of he boat in the lagoon from up the mountain. You can see how the boats outside were being rolled around in the swell whilst Scallywag was lying still inside.
The next morning I went ashore and saw the sign indicating no boating in the lagoon. From the top of the mountian the full extent of my folly was obvious. Clearly the chart and pilot can both be wrong. I walked around the whole island including the mountain and lighthouse and popped into the restaurant for lunch. There was a very limited choice and I had the fish. It was nice enough, but much more expensive than anything I had come across so far. Most of the trade is package deals with the excursion boats. The tide that day might have been enough to get out, but there was a big swell running and surf was breaking right across the entrance. Mike turned up on Gypsy Blue and anchored outside the lagoon with a number of other yachts. I would have paid him a visit but would have been turned over in the breakers. I had a small list of jobs to attack, and added to it quickly.
The next day the swell was still running, and the tides were too low anyway. I had a visit from the Park Ranger. It was quite obvious that my presence in the lagoon was unwelcome. I waded ashore and explained the situation and showed how the tides would change each day. He went away quite happy, but I am sure that I had not conveyed the story well. In the afternoon, I took the pilot and the tide tables I had copied over to the visitor centre, hoping that someone there might have a bit more English. The ranger from the morning was there with a lady who didn’t have much English either, but she could interpret my attempts at Spanish better. With the glossary from Reeds Almanac and the phrase book, I think they understood the situation a bit better and he assured me there was "No problem". He gave me the two leaflets in English and invited me to look around the place while I was there.
In the morning the swell had gone down, so I payed Mike a visit, and we caught up with what each had been doing for the last two weeks. His steering had been attended to again by the engineer, but Mike was still not convinced that it is OK. I took him a solar panel to try out while I was in the lagoon, as I had more power than I needed.
I spent the next few days catching up with some of the jobs on the list, eventually crossing them all off, so it was a productive time. Every day I had a swim. The lagoon was lovely and warm, and it is an excellent place for snorkelling. I had wanted to walk around more, but my left foot was quite tender. The old skin had come off before the new lot was quite ready. When I remembered that I had some foot cream aboard, it soon improved, but new shoes were called for. The deck shoes are fine for wearing on deck, but ashore they fill with sand and the sand removes the outer layer of skin.
Thursday was the first day when it would have been feasible to go. On Wednesday at low tide I walked the bar and marked the best channel with empty bottles tied to rocks. In the morning, there was too much swell, so I called it off. Also one of the markers had disappeared. I went to the visitor centre. There was a different guy there, but he seemed to know about us. I had looked up some more Spanish for breakers and swell and he seemed happy enough.
The swell was much lower on Friday, and the replacement marker was still present, so we went for it, without any trouble. I celebrated a successful outcome with a rum on board Gypsy Blue. It was good to get under sail again and I went back to Marina Rubicon, to put on a litttle diesel, all I had space for, and a lot of water, all I had space for. We anchored outside, put a load of washing in the bucket and headed off to the shops. I managed to get everything on my list, food, shoes, a new bucket and heads for the electric tootbrush. I had a two course meal where last time there was very tough octopus. Today it was gazpatcho and roast chicken. On the wayback I stopped at the Irish pub. for the internet. The live music was by a Hungarian guy on fiddle and banjo and much fun was had by all.
Adventures of Scallywag II 