Las Palmas de Gran Canaria : Profile

Location

Puerto de la Luz y Las Palmas, to give its official name, is a busy commercial port. It lies on the NE corner of the island.

This is the home of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) which departs from Las Palmas for St. Lucia in the Caribbean every November. See Docking for further information.

Note: There is no longer any boatyard facilities in Las Palmas. See boatyards for further information.

The movement of all vessels is monitored from a control tower in the Port Authority building. If in any doubt one should contact Port Control on channel 16 or 10, who will then advise to switch to a working channel. Yachts entering or leaving should look out for commercial traffic, particularly the fast ferries.

The yacht harbour, Muelle Deportivo, lies at the southern end of the main harbour. It is administered by the Port Authority.

Entrance: the entrance into the marina is hard to detect and the situation is made more confusing by the entrance being marked by two red flashing lights, the one to be left to starboard being located at the eastern end of the northern breakewater, the other (port side) at the northern end of the main (southern) breakwater. Vessels should favour the startboard side of the narrow entrance as the port side is fouled and shallow.

Arriving yachts should go the new marina reception berth where a port official will meet them and assign a berth. Do not go to a pontoon unless instructed to do so by a port official.

Formalities are completed in the port office in a new building at the entrance to the marina, next to the Texaco fuel station.

The captain should report during office hours (0700 -1400 daily) with the ship's papers and passports. No other formalities are normally necessary for EU boats having only EU nationals on board.

Crew members who are leaving the Canaries by air must take their passports to the immigration office (Policia de Frontera, Tel 0034 928 264 431) located at the eastern end of the main Port Authority building (Edificio Autoridad Portuaria) in the port compound. This can be reached by taxi or bus no.1.

Docking

Anchoring
It used to be possible to anchor in the area north of the marina (with a number of dinghy docks located around the marina). However, as of July 2010 the authorities are moving yachts at anchor in an effort to clean up the port beaches and reach blue flag status.

Report in January 2012: It is possible to anchor north of the marina. Right now there are maybe 15 yachts anchored, many with stern lines to the marina breakwater. The port charges for this anchorage, although rumors say they only charge above 12m length. The T-0 tax is also applied if you just anchor outside the marina.

Marina Information
The reception dock is located on the port side immediately past the marina entrance. The marina office is also located here. The Texaco fuel dock is just beyond the reception dock further into the marina on the port side.

A floating pontoon along the main quay makes docking easier. Larger yachts normally come stern-to the main quay after picking up a mooring buoy or dropping their own anchor.

Yachts under 12 metres tie up to one of visitors' pontoons along the northern breakwater. There is water and electricity to all berths.

There are shower blocks close to all pontoons, keys for these and the pontoon gates can be obtained from the port office for a small deposit.

For stays longer than a month there is a discount, if port fees are paid in advance.

Berthing in October/November and the ARC

The marina has informed Noonsite that during October until the first week of November, yachts in transit are allowed to stay in the marina for 3-5 days (space permitting). Longer stays are not permitted as the marina can not risk yachts being left in the marina and the owners vacating their boats (which has happened in the past). All available marina space is needed in the last 3 weeks of November for the ARC. Permanent berth holders (more than 6 months) do not have to leave the marina.
Note however that yachts requesting berthing in advance by e-mail in October 2011 were refused, although turning up on spec. may result in a few days being given.

Security
A magnetic card system for the pontoon gates/showers has been installed, however as of October 2011 this was not yet functioning. In addition, 22 CCTV cameras have now been installed and are operational, which should hopefully improve the security situation in the marina.

However, it is important to remember that this is a public marina and non-sailors are frequently around the pontoons. Although all pontoon gates have locks, the gates are often left open by crew. There have been reports of burglaries at night while crew are sleeping and therefore it is best to adopt the policy of locking your front door at night and not leaving anything of value visible on deck or in the cockpit. It is hoped this will improve with the new security measures put in place during 2011.

Last updated February 2012.

Muelle Deportivo de Las Palmas
Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
Tel:+34 928 234 960, Fax:+34 928 232 378, VHF Channel 11
www.palmasport.es, marina@palmasport.es
Marina (with visitors pontoon) conveniently close to repair facilities, provisioning and good chandlers. Requires special water tap connections, only some electicity connections working. Some staff reported as not very friendly.
This is a public marina and charges the "T-0" tax (tasa de ayudas a la navegacion) for each visit. Tax covers 1 month and is, therefore expensive if only staying a few nights.

Port Authority
Tel:0034 922 416274 / 922 412536, Fax:0034 922 420 732

Yacht Clubs

Club Maritimo Varadero de Gran Canaria
(in front of Pontoon 12)
Tel:0034 928 24 99 19, 928 24 99 20
cmaritimo@terra.es
Small friendly Club with excellent facilities which offers ARC participants ‘temporary’ membership during the ARC. Simply go to the Club office (open 0900-1600), with passports for all the crew wanting to join, and arrange temporary membership. Facilities include outdoor pool with terrace; gym; sauna; changing rooms; showers; bar; satellite tv room; WiFi. The Club also runs aerobic/spinning classes & salsa/sevilliana classes for an extra charge.

Real Club Nautico de Gran Canaria
Avenida Maritima
Tel:0034 928 243581, Fax:0034 928 2463 24
rcngc@rcngc.com
Visiting membership is given to members of reciprocal yacht clubs on production of their cards. The secretary or commodore should be contacted if wishing to use the club facilities which include a large outdoor swimming pool; sauna; turkish bath; showers; small gym; library; balcony bar and restaurant; computer room; WiFi.