We are spending the last few days before our Atlantic crossing in the Marina Las Palmas on Gran Canaria.

A few things to note:

• On the plus side, there is cheap fuel, good berthing fees, flat fee rates for water and electricity. Several chandleries with a good variety of stuff, many marine services around.

But other than that, the marina has not much to offer.

• The marina staff is a bit “special”. The Marineros are pretty unfriendly, nervous and shout loudly if you do not moor exactly as they tell you. But it’s my boat and I decide which docking line to use and in which order we handle the lines. Many sailors here have had some sort of incident with the Marineros.
• The office staff is on the arrogant side. If they feel like answering questions they do, if not they don’t. Several E-mails to get info. /prices/reservations were ignored (not only mine but also those sent by other sailors).
• After spending 6 months cruising around Spain this is the first marina to collect a “T-0” tax for navigational aids & lights (tasa de ayudas a la navegacion). For the first month, this is 0,80 EUR per square meter or 70 EUR for our 41ft catamaran. This tax is due on the first night in this marina for all boats over 12m length. Berthing fees are reasonable, so this tax is not an issue if you stay longer, but beware if you just want to stay for a night.
• The marina itself is quite large. It’s part of a large freight/oil harbor and as such not expected to be super clean, but the marina itself is really OK. The water is obviously not inviting, with oil and dirt present everywhere.
• There are security problems visible, with burglaries and petty theft every few days. Security gates are not working properly and where the gates do work there are often people trying to get in whenever someone passes with a key. There are many non-sailors around the pontoons. Most of them are hippie style young men looking for a free ride to the Caribbean. Most of them are camping on the beach north of the marina.

NOTE:

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.

Overall, this is a marina that makes the farewell much easier than most others we have been to in Spain.

Rainer

SY jaja

For another cruiser’s report on Las, Palmas Marina sent January 2010 see here.