Gran Canaria Vic & Dave visit 17 to 24 April 2011

17 April Easyjet brought Vic & Dave on time to Las Palmas , Gran Canaria, to join us on Dutch Link. We were very fortunate as bad weather (high winds and flooding) in the other Canary islands had resulted in flight cancellations on 17th.

After lunch we had a stroll along the sea front of Playa de las Canteras to the north of the city

Due to the unusual southern winds, most of the Las Palmas population seemed to have flocked to the sheltered north facing beach


The dinasaur sand sculpture had been further enhanced since our lst visit.
The next day we had a walk around the old city,


and visited the Cuatro Puertos archeological site in the afternoon



and the Guayadeque Barranco
with its cave church, restaurants and dwellings
The almonds were almost ripe
Tuesday 19 April we drove into the mountainous centre of the island and hiked past the "hooded Monk" to Roque Nublo.
and had an adreneline kick scrambling around its base

Visited the cave village of Cuevas de Acusa Seca
Prickly pears with Roque Bentaiga in the distance
Passed another , more elaborate troglodite community


Some of the many banana plantation Canary style "greenhouses".
The impressive North east coastline
At daybreak on 21st April Dutch Link became a sailing boat again and we left Las Palmas heading south.
After the first hour the wind picked up to a 4 Bft from the northwest allowing us to turn off the engine and sail on a broad reach
The wind steadily strengthened peaking at 6 Bft as we entered the wind acceleration zone half way down the east coast. During the passage we were briefly entertained by a school of playful dolphins around the bow and several sightings of spoutings from a surfacing whale in the distance.
After rounding the SE tip of the island, we lost the wind and motored.

The route took us past the famous Maspalomas sand dunes

By 1700 hrs we were moored in the pretty marina of Puerto de Mogan in the south west of Gran Canaria.
Puerte de Mogan taken from the north
Had an enjoyable hike to Playa Veneguera over the hills to the west of Puerte de Mogan
Decided not to make the descent to the beach, instead enjoyed our bocadillos sitting on a wall overlooking it

Sadly, at 0800 24 April it was time to leave us and Vic and Dave were taken by car by a friend of our friendly boat neighbour, Maxime, to the airport in Las Palmas.