Leaving Gracioza early in the morning, it was an easy day sail down the west coast of Lanzarote to Papagayo beach, at the southern tip of the island. It didn’t look like much from the distance but turned out to be a beautiful anchorage. It is however very popular with local boats and the clothes-optional beach is crowded with people, unlike Gracioza. The only thing is the swell coming in at night, which makes the whole anchorage quite rolly, even we feel it and we’re on a catamaran, imagine the monohulls rocking all night!!

We spend a perfect week end not doing much except swim, snorkel, spend time at the beach and nothing else!

Then it’s time to head to marina Rubicon nearby, mostly to use the internet and the post office as we have a pile of school stuff to return. The marina itself does not impress us much: being part of a huge real estate development including 5- star resorts, condos, shopping centres, the place is taken over by tourists (mostly northern Europeans) and full of bad restaurants! There is a nice pool though and the kids will make it their HQ for the week, where they meet new found friends from SY Imagine. The lovely Adams family hails from Chicago, and are on their way home from a 3 year circumnavigation. We share a lot of common stories, but these guys are up a level in the adventure scale, having sailed thru the pirate infested waters of the Gulf of Aden.

Using the marina as a base mostly for school and boat preparations, we decide to hire a car and tour the island for 2 days. Like Madeira and Gracioza, Lanzarote is of volcanic origin, and its landscape is made of a multitude of round cones and a huge black lava plain. We visited the amazing Timanfaya National Park ( also known as Mountains of fire) which comprises a large expanse of land affected by the recent volcanic activities in 1730s. As the story goes, the eruptions lasted for 6 years and covered the most fertile areas of the islands expanding the coastline another 8 klm westward. The views from the top, over the craters and the sea of lava, are incredible. Marc and Anne who enjoy anything to do with volcanoes (and end of the world scenario in general) loved it even more when they were allowed to ride a camel up the hills! I think this might have been the biggest thrill for them… ahead of the BBQ lunch cooked over a fumarole, the eruption simulation at the visitor’s centre or climbing over volcanic rocks. They certainly enjoyed it more than the cultural excursions I dragged them to.

I wanted to check out the works of artist Cesar Manrique, Lanzarote’s favourite son, whose creative work branched out into painting, sculpture, murals and architecture during the 1960’s to his death in 1992. He created the concept of “spatial interventions”, an integration of public art and landscaping, of which there are many examples on the island. We visited two sites: the Cesar Manrique Foundation (the artist original home built on the site of a lava flow, comprising 5 natural volcanic bubbles and a swimming pool housed in a roofless cave, now converted into a museum) and Jameos del Agua (located inside a volcanic tunnel and designed to be an auditorium, as well as a Volcano centre). Both sites feature a recreational area with exuberant and exotic gardens surrounding a white pool…so inviting, except these are humanised oasis for display only, and no swimming was allowed in the pools. I’m afraid Cesar Manrique will remain known to Marc as the architect who builds pools no one is allowed to swim in! Anyone wanted to know more about his work, check out www.fcmanrique.org.

5 days in the marina was enough, and the kids missed their American friends on Imagine, so we decided to go back to Papagayo for a catch up one last night, before heading down to Las Palmas to prepare for the ARC.