Puerto del Castillo to Gran Tarajal
26/11/07 17:58 Filed in: Fuerteventura | Canaries
Yesterday we spent some more time with Daniel and Eva and heard more detail about their rescue 90 mile north of La Coruña. They also had some surplus Caribbean paper and electronic charts which I bought.
Later I went ashore to check e-mails but couldn't find anywhere which allowed the use of one's own computer. In the end I sat in an amusement arcade and picked up a free wi-fi signal.
Puerto del Castillo has little to recommend it. It is a pretty cheap resort with a very expensive marina.
This morning we decided to make an entry in the complaints book. The facilities are a disgrace. Electricity was off for most of one night and their charging structure is byzantine. Tomas had a long chat with the manager who I thought looked a bit dodgy. The gist of the conversation was that they didn't want visiting yachts to stay for short periods but had been told they had to offer places. He tried to favourably compare his charges with Marina Rubicon among others.
At Puerto Castillo the posted charges bore no relation to what we paid. Instead we were charged a special "short term" tariff of €9.50 per day plus a flat fee of €15 to cover water and electricity whatever the length of stay. Payment was demanded on arrival at the dock with no breakdown of the charges. We pointed out that had we been told of these charges we would not have used water or electricity. He said we had to pay whether we used them or not. In the end he gave up trying to defend the indefensible and charged us €35 for three nights. Tomas reckoned the manager didn't want any complaints in his complaint book.
A place to be avoided.
We left Puerto Castillo at 11:40 and sailed rapidly down the bleak east coast of Fuerteventura under main with 2 reefs. The wind was mostly astern with a 2 metre swell. Wind speed varied between 15-27 knots peaking in the acceleration zone just before Gran Tarajal.
Punta Lantailla Lighthouse
2m Swell of Punta Lantailla.
Approaching Gran Tarajal we had some excitement in the wind acceleration zone. The wind would die away to almost nothing and then hit us with 25 knots. This happened several times.
At 16:15 we anchored off Playa Gran Tarajal in 6.5 metres of water with 35m of chain out. The wind was still northerly around 18 knots but it eased to 10-15 knots as night fell. Days run, 17 miles.
The anchorage was a bit bouncy but seemed safe enough. A german yacht was anchored a few cables away.
Later I went ashore to check e-mails but couldn't find anywhere which allowed the use of one's own computer. In the end I sat in an amusement arcade and picked up a free wi-fi signal.
Puerto del Castillo has little to recommend it. It is a pretty cheap resort with a very expensive marina.
This morning we decided to make an entry in the complaints book. The facilities are a disgrace. Electricity was off for most of one night and their charging structure is byzantine. Tomas had a long chat with the manager who I thought looked a bit dodgy. The gist of the conversation was that they didn't want visiting yachts to stay for short periods but had been told they had to offer places. He tried to favourably compare his charges with Marina Rubicon among others.
At Puerto Castillo the posted charges bore no relation to what we paid. Instead we were charged a special "short term" tariff of €9.50 per day plus a flat fee of €15 to cover water and electricity whatever the length of stay. Payment was demanded on arrival at the dock with no breakdown of the charges. We pointed out that had we been told of these charges we would not have used water or electricity. He said we had to pay whether we used them or not. In the end he gave up trying to defend the indefensible and charged us €35 for three nights. Tomas reckoned the manager didn't want any complaints in his complaint book.
A place to be avoided.
We left Puerto Castillo at 11:40 and sailed rapidly down the bleak east coast of Fuerteventura under main with 2 reefs. The wind was mostly astern with a 2 metre swell. Wind speed varied between 15-27 knots peaking in the acceleration zone just before Gran Tarajal.
Punta Lantailla Lighthouse
2m Swell of Punta Lantailla.
Approaching Gran Tarajal we had some excitement in the wind acceleration zone. The wind would die away to almost nothing and then hit us with 25 knots. This happened several times.
At 16:15 we anchored off Playa Gran Tarajal in 6.5 metres of water with 35m of chain out. The wind was still northerly around 18 knots but it eased to 10-15 knots as night fell. Days run, 17 miles.
The anchorage was a bit bouncy but seemed safe enough. A german yacht was anchored a few cables away.