Howdy,
We anchored our boat in front of the small local marina in Feb 2019. The second time we succeeded in having our anchor grip. There is some flat stone on the bottom of the sea, but if you are patient, you will get the anchor to get a good grip. There was some swell for the first 2 nights, but then it was quite OK.

We were able to leave our dinghy at the short pontoon in the so-called marina (the place to leave it was mentioned here in noonsite, so we left it according to previous information). Arguineguin is full of Norwegian tourists, so if you are Norwegian, you surely will feel at home here.

There was a Norwegian yacht at anchor and the custom´s boat had visited them. They ended up taking a bus ride to Las Palmas to get stamps on some of their official papers and had to make sure they sail out of the island before they reach the 190 day period (luckily they had already planned to sail out anyway….).

They had 183 (this was told to us by the Norwegian themselves)! If they had been “caught” overstaying the 190 days period, they would have ended up paying <20% tax on the value of their boat. (this too told buy the Norwegians). At anchor, there was also a Swedish and Finnish boat but the officials did not visit them.

So I’ve been in Arguineguin awhile now, and it’s possibly my least favourite anchorage in the Canaries so far. Firstly, do not expect to get much sailing done on the south coast – the wind is shielded by the island here, and currents create further problems. Next, if you want to anchor here, the only area with good holding is to the south-west. Space is limited, so anchoring is stem and stern, facing WNW.

However, in Arguineguin these are only the start of your problems, the marina drydock has no water or electricity readily available, and they will attempt to squeeze extra money out of you by informing you while your boat is in the crane sling that supports cost extra- €150/months.

The worst problem is with the employees of the jet ski company (run and owned by the marina) they constantly wake boats at anchor, maliciously, and laugh if you get angry about it. Neither management or the police care about the issue, and the same company operates in Anfi del Mare, so nowhere is safe in this bay. On top of all this, the coast guard has made it their mission to let cruising boats know they are not welcome here, they patrol the south coast a couple of times a month, boarding and searching cruising yachts.

They will issue you a paper, saying that it is to make future inspections quicker- the reality is that in a months time they will come to find you and impound your vessel if you do not pay 20% import tax on your vessel. This is in accordance with Spanish law, there is no fighting it, no ‘clock reset’ by leaving the country, but only here on the south coast of Gran Canaria is this law enforced in such a draconian manner.

To summarize, stop here if you have to, but don’t stay.