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Bjarke from Kayak del Mar couldn’t have picked a better weekend weather wise for the trip from Famara over to La Graciosa and back. The group that were going on this trip had decided that 28km was too much along this coast of the island was to do in one day, so we took our tents with us and decided to camp overnight and return the following day. Peter was joining the group for his first kayak excursion, Mick the more experienced of us was on his third trip, Mike was on the support boat and Linda was taking the Órzola ferry over after work, so we could all chill out and relax overnight.

It’s not often the sea is calm along this coast but setting out from Famara there were some swells, but very little breeze so it was really pleasant kayaking along the length of the beach, quite a distance off shore, towards the risco and being waved at by small fishing boats as they passed us.

I love this area of the island, we’ve walked the risco, from the Mirador del Río to Famara, along the goat path clinging to the side of the cliffs, but this was the first time for me to see it from the sea and not from the beach. I really enjoyed this section of the kayaking, the risco is awesome to see from the bottom up and the water was really clear, it was so quiet and peaceful.

As we rounded the risco from the bay of Famara into the straights of the Río, the noise of the seagulls nesting on the cliffs hit you, there were hundreds, probably thousands of them. Whilst kayaking here we were looking in the water to see if we could spot any hammer head sharks, apparently its quite common to see them here – I didn’t know that on the several occasions I have done the swim between these two islands! We followed the coast of Lanzarote up to the beautiful, remote Playa del Risco and then the home stretch over the 2km gap to La Graciosa harbour. It was lovely to see Mike swimming towards me and jump out of the kayak to join him to cool off in the 34 degree heat. Once we’d secured the kayaks, lunch was in order and we decided on the menu del día at the Meson de La Tierra on the harbour front.

After lunch it was back in the kayaks and a short distance around to the campsite, we set up camp and spent the rest of the day chilling with a snorkel / swim to cool off when required. The evening meal was at La Pizzeria Korrikkia, the food was fantastic, the pizza bases just how I like them, thin and crispy round the edges with a good dribble of picante oil.

We had planned breakfast and had taken a feast of bacon, sausage, mushrooms, eggs, tomatoes and beans to be cooked on disposable BBQ’s and gas burners! We de-camped and were ready to tackle the trip back. It was harder on the return as it was the first time we had kayaked again the following day and we set off with some bits already aching!

I had to laugh when Marco took out a parasol and let the wind carry him – he’s the youngest and fittest of us! We were soon along the straights and still hadn’t seen any sharks. Following the risco back towards Famara was harder, the wind was picking up and there were some big swells, if you timed it right, you could paddle hard and catch a wave which was a great feeling. As we got closer to Famara our fellow kayakers were disappearing from sight in between the swells and getting in to the shore was going to be a bit tricky. Bjarke told us to go past the harbour until the waves were smaller, then 180 degree turn and surf in – these were big waves and this was at the end of a 3 hour crossing but we all got the gist of it and were in on the beach in no time.

Once the kayaks were all loaded on to the trailer there was time for a quick cold beer, a reflection on the weekend and we all headed home.