Cruising Info for Isla Graciosa, Canary Islands – October 2011
Playa Francesca
29 13.004N 13 31.755W As far as we are aware a Park Permit is NOT required for this anchorage, we were there 2 weeks and Coast Guard came past several times but never stopped. Some boats moved to the next anchorage north, some even to north of the breakwater when south westerlies came and were not moved on either.
15m sand. We did move in closer as space became available, some of the bottom was rock and in most of the eastern part the bottom is rock. Dinghy landing was best on the far left beach, the far right dries out very rocky but the 2nd from the right wasn’t too bad and closer if walking into town. The path to climb Montana Amarilla (172m) is by the far left beach, it is circuitous and takes around an hour with time out for admiring the view. It is medium difficulty, a little steep in places and slippery shingle. The path /road to Caleta del Sebo is at the far right, follow it around then veer off to the right at some vehicle barriers when you can see the town in the distance and walk along the beach. It’s about a 40 minute walk. In town on the waterfront are a bakery and one small supermarket. In the back streets are a butcher, Pharmacy, ATM machine, Post Office, 2 more supermarkets one of which has a machine in it for topping up any cellphone/datasim supplier and Rosa’s Internet Cafe (not always open but unlocked wifi signal seems to be on all the time so just sit outside). The backstreets are a maze, but it’s not a big place. There was Vodafone signal in the anchorage our our worldwide Gymsim worked fine. Everyone else's Vodafone Spanish dongle worked in the anchorage, but ours didn’t, no surprise there, topped up with €40 from machine in village and it still doesn’t work, more money donated to Vodafone! We hired our bikes from the place on the far left behind the beach in the harbour, 8€ each, same price at other places. We did Route C on the map they give out, it took us 3 hours with lots of stops. There are ferries from Caleta del Sebo to Órzola on Lanzarote. There did not appear to be anywhere to “check in”, so all yachts waited till their next port of call (eg Puerto de Naos or Marina Rubicon on Lanzarote or Las Palmas on Grand Canaria)
Playa Francesca
29 13.004N 13 31.755W As far as we are aware a Park Permit is NOT required for this anchorage, we were there 2 weeks and Coast Guard came past several times but never stopped. Some boats moved to the next anchorage north, some even to north of the breakwater when south westerlies came and were not moved on either.
15m sand. We did move in closer as space became available, some of the bottom was rock and in most of the eastern part the bottom is rock. Dinghy landing was best on the far left beach, the far right dries out very rocky but the 2nd from the right wasn’t too bad and closer if walking into town. The path to climb Montana Amarilla (172m) is by the far left beach, it is circuitous and takes around an hour with time out for admiring the view. It is medium difficulty, a little steep in places and slippery shingle. The path /road to Caleta del Sebo is at the far right, follow it around then veer off to the right at some vehicle barriers when you can see the town in the distance and walk along the beach. It’s about a 40 minute walk. In town on the waterfront are a bakery and one small supermarket. In the back streets are a butcher, Pharmacy, ATM machine, Post Office, 2 more supermarkets one of which has a machine in it for topping up any cellphone/datasim supplier and Rosa’s Internet Cafe (not always open but unlocked wifi signal seems to be on all the time so just sit outside). The backstreets are a maze, but it’s not a big place. There was Vodafone signal in the anchorage our our worldwide Gymsim worked fine. Everyone else's Vodafone Spanish dongle worked in the anchorage, but ours didn’t, no surprise there, topped up with €40 from machine in village and it still doesn’t work, more money donated to Vodafone! We hired our bikes from the place on the far left behind the beach in the harbour, 8€ each, same price at other places. We did Route C on the map they give out, it took us 3 hours with lots of stops. There are ferries from Caleta del Sebo to Órzola on Lanzarote. There did not appear to be anywhere to “check in”, so all yachts waited till their next port of call (eg Puerto de Naos or Marina Rubicon on Lanzarote or Las Palmas on Grand Canaria)
