View at Puerto Calero
We were up relatively early and swapped around the remaining items to be charged before toping off the water tanks, re-fuelling and paying up. We had to wait for the yellow submarine based at the marina to pass before we left at about midday, which I admit is a new navigational hazard for me, it descended immediately after leaving the breakwater displaying just the traditional but small A / Diving flag which is familiar but just not that close to the water with no cover boat, it would certainly be easy to miss in a swell, but then I guess they probably choose their conditions carefully.
We had only 10 miles to sail yesterday and no timetable to do so, which was great we decided to sail just under genoa for the passage making only a leisurely 3-4 knots. It was very relaxing sail and being closer to land than usual, it was great to just watch the world go by. We’d planned to anchor in the bay to the west of Marina Rubicon, however, it was blowing 20 knots plus off the beach, so didn’t seem very inviting. We decided to double back on ourselves to the much more sheltered Papagayo beach area. On closer inspection there were 2-3 days boats and 2-3 cruisers already anchored, we picked a spot a reasonable distance from those already present which happened to be in front of the edge of the nudist beach. However, we decided as there appeared to be plenty of people on the beach fully clothed and we kept a respectful distance off, it was fair game and frankly we were not prepared to try an untested anchor in front of rocks rather than a nice sandy beach for the sake of modesty, besides which at least Kevin’s naked wandering round the boat in the morning would be more welcomed than in marinas!
We deployed the anchor successfully and Kevin put on the snorkel gear to check it, it hadn’t quite set, so I engaged a small amount of astern and Kevin watched it dig in nicely. The water is quite refreshing at 19-20 degrees, so there was a bit of deep breathing when he got in, but he got his chance to try our new solar shower when he got out (black bag with a hose which is surprising hot after hanging in the sun). However, he got his revenge when he accidentally dropped one of our big fenders over board when clearing the cockpit for us to sit out that evening when he was now changed and I was still in my bikini, so it was my turn to get in, guess I should have been more sympathetic earlier!
I’m not sure a couple of the nudists were desperately pleased with our choice of mooring spot, but the protestation appeared to consist of gathering on the shoreline naked, which surely increased their exposure, so we just settled down to cook our evening meal and have a cool beer to display we weren’t there to gawp (after confiscating the binoculars!). I guess we need not have worried though because within 30 minutes of anchoring a 50 ft Spanish yacht decided to anchor within 2 boat lengths astern of us on a 2-3 mile stretch of coast for no discernable reason other than perhaps to gawp. Luckily they moved off later that evening, it was something I had read about in other blogs people anchoring practically on top of you even in deserted bay, perhaps it is something about safety in numbers.
We decided as this was our first night at anchor we’d rather keep a watch and get good sleep in turns than neither of us sleep well. So we passed a very pleasant night reading by lamp light listening to the waves on the beach in the moonlight. We have had a leisurely start this morning, but plan to do a bit more sailing today, to pass the 10 miles to Fuerteventura to look at either Corralejo or Isla de Lobos for tonight.
View of Papagayo beach
No comments:
Post a Comment