Reported by Josh Kegan (US Sailor)
An update to the availability of propane at the DISA plant in Arrecife (Lanzarote, Canary Islands): they appeared willing and able to fill a US-style left handed fitting propane bottle until they found the bottle’s certification date. In Spain bottles are stamped with their expiration date, but in the US they are stamped with the date of manufacture/certification. Ours was just over a year old and stamped 09/23. They refused to fill it because this date was in the past. They understood that it was only a year old and that the stamped date was not the expiration date. But without a future date somewhere on the bottle they said it would be illegal to fill it and turned us away. Might depend on who’s working that day, but something US sailors should be aware of. Thanks very much, noonsite has been very helpful in our travels!

Feedback from a yacht that recently arrived in La Graciosa.

“We came to the island around noon, directly from Lisbon (4 days) and tried to get a place in the harbour. Well inside, we aimed for one of the many vacant spots, but soon became aware of a couple of guys in coveralls shouting at us. They immediately told us that there were no vacancy, but we asked them for permission to do some shopping. That was not possible, but when we told them it was for food, we felt that they understood and gave us the option of rafting up on one of the two boats. We were waved away when we approached the first one and when approaching the second, they started using whistles, shouted at us and basically chased us out of the harbor (they had likely been in contact with a superior in the meantime). It was unpleasant and may be even a bit rude. There were numerous vacant berth’s and at least 50 meters of unoccupied quays that could have been used for putting a person onshore and do the corresponding pick up.”

Editor’s Note: La Graciosa is one of the 15 government-run ports throughout the islands (Puerto Canarios). Berths in these harbors must be pre-booked using the website or App – go to https://solicitudes.puertoscanarios.es/ and click on “Particulares. Formulario de datos.” This takes you to the online booking form. Alternatively, you can download the App to book via your phone. Whichever way you pre-book, it is always recommended to call the port prior to arrival to double-check your booking has been succesful. More on booking berths in the Canaries at https://www.noonsite.com/place/canary-islands/general-info/#yachting-essentials-section

Email received from fossilfreearoundtheworld.org

We are in the Canary Islands at the moment.
It is really, really busy! This season, besides the triple ARC and the Viking Explorers there are Catamaran-races on Tenerife so Tenerife is full and Lanzarote is moaning under all visiting boats, but Fuertaventura, La Gomera and El Hierro seem to be ok for finding berths. The app of Navily gives nice updates on anchoring possibilities, too.

We were happy to find the information by Heinrich Solanas on noonsite https://www.noonsite.com/news/canary-islands-how-to-book-a-berth-in-government-harbors/

An update:

Puertoscanarios: troublesome indeed.

We sent a request on Saturday and they replied Monday before 13:00, with detailed questions on the information provided. So we replied and the answer came on Tuesday, 10:00. Our request had been ‘archived’ because I had filled in the form, not Peter. So please make sure that no one other than the owner fills in the request because otherwise they reject the entire form, which was a lot of work.

We decided to skip Tenerife so we don’t know if it would have been worth going through all the paperwork otherwise.

The e-mail address mentioned for Fuertaventura is not correct. It should be: operacionesfue@palmasport.es

But with this address, they replied promptly: they do not take reservations. But they did say that for a boat of our dimensions there is usually not a problem and they sent us the prices for a 10 x 4 boat: 17 Euros per night excluding taxes.

Kindest regards,
Inge