Spirit of Discovery blog

The town of Arrecife on Lanzarote’s north-east coast has a fairly basic harbour in comparison to those of Tenerife & Gran Canaria. Which, frankly, I prefer as a ship’s Captain. It makes for smooth, traffic-free entries & exits, with only the odd daily ferry movement, little pleasure boat or fishing boat occasionally pootling around the entrance.

With the island’s ferry moored in the corner of the harbour and nothing else in sight, I swung our ship in the harbour entrance and proceeded backwards in, to park adjacent to it. The skies were almost all entirely blue and with the trade winds blowing just slightly stronger than normal from the northeast, it made for a perfect day here.

Anyone interested in volcanoes is bound again to be delighted by this stop, for an abundance of volcanic activity and associated history remains available to visit and witness. ‘Fire Mountain’ (aka Timanfaya National Park) is one such destination, where the volcano in question spat lava over almost 1/3rd of Lanzarote some 300 years ago.

If volcanoes aren’t your cup of tea – or indeed you’ve had your lava fill in previous ports of call - then travel inland to Teguise, the island’s old capital founded in the 15th century by the Conquistadors. On days when there is no market, you’ll be able to admire the rather well restored houses and picturesque square.

Caleta Famara Beach, which Lanzarote artist César Manrique frequented as a child, is worth a stop for photographs, as are the interestingly named Canarian villages of Soo, La Santa, Tinajo, Tiagua and Mozaga. Puerto del Carmen, the island’s biggest resort, is of course always open for a swim and ice cream.

I decided to take an hour or so on my bicycle at lunchtime, cycling several miles along the pleasant promenade past the city waterfront and south down the eastern coastline. Apart from it being a lovely way to spend a bit of time off the ship, I like to think it also helped work off a few of the pounds put on by my recent overindulgence in Saga food…

Kind Regards
Captain Kim Tanner

Written by Captain Kim Tanner