Fuerteventura, part six - the south.

Today, we were going to explore the south of Fuerteventura. We drove down the main F2 road, and our first port of call was a little bay called Giniginamar

We parked up in the tiny street and walked down to the sea. We saw this beautiful sundial on the side of one of the houses.

Looking inland, this impressive volcanic ridge looks back at you.

After spending about an hour or so just meandering around and looking at Ginaginamar, we left. Our next stop was a bigger place called Gran Tarajal. It felt too big for us, so we weren't that keen on it.

It did, however, have one of the most beautiful fountains I've seen, based on sea horses.

Harbour at Gran Tarajal.

Gran Tarajal bay.

We walked along the paved prom', where we found another piece of sculpture.

We were looking forward to exploring the lighthouse at Faro de Entallada, as we'd read about it. When we got there (up a very long, twisty and at times, narrow road), we were greeted by this beautiful building. Not so much a lighthouse, more a work of art!

They had taken the trouble to build this clifftop viewing platform, just for the edification of tourists. It stretched out to the edge of the cliff opposite the lighthouse.

Next stop, Africa!
This is the closest point (about 100KM) that Fuerteventura is to Africa.

This is looking back at the road we drove along, through lava field, to arrive at Faro de Entallada..

The lighthouse, from the end of the platform.

Looking back, we spotted this couple perched on rocks. It looked romantic, but both had to have a good head for heights, as their chosen perch was precarious to say the least! There were signs warning you NOT to climb the walls, but hey - love is blind :-)

Couple, from lighthouse.

This couple preferred the safety of the wooden fence!

Sue, leaning on the immaculately painted wall.

Time to get back in the car, and press on.

From the lighthouse, it was on to Las Playitas, and a pleasant walk along yet another prom. At the far end of that pier was a blue cube of rock called 'wet paint'?? It turned out to be a sculpture. We spotted another one 'mother earth', but were not impressed. Too arty-farty for our taste.

Lots of cloud in the sky, but the sun never seemed to go behind any of them.

Having a word with the locals. I have to say, they weren't very chatty.

Lovely coffee cups at Playitas cafe.

Las Playitas bay, and a lone fisherman. Again, no evidence of a catch while we were there.

People wading in shadows at Playa de Sotovento. There is a huge lagoon here, created by an almost unbroken sand bar, which you can see the right of in this picture. The one on the left is JUST parted from this one by a short, shallow inlet. The inlet, like the lagoon, is barely knee deep so people use the lagoon to practice and hone their skills on sail boards.

Playa de Sotovento left sand bar.
You can see a panoramic video of the beach by
clicking HERE

We had a sit and a paddle here for a while, ate our packed lunch, then went onwards to a little 'hidden gem' some friends had told us about - Mal Nombre. It was a devil to find, with (as usual) no signs to it. We eventually got down to the car park area, and went onto the beach.

Amazingly, someone owns and sets out parasols and sun beds. Not many takers today though. Also, there was a beach cafe, so this place MUST get busy sometimes. They were even in the process of extending the patio area of the cafe.

The beach stretched on for about half a mile. We walked all the way along it, enjoying a paddle here and there.
Me, enjoying paddling, click HERE

Another little place we'd been told we must visit was La Pared. The road to this place is so nondescript, that we passed it! I realised we had gone too far, and drove back. We saw the sign, but the road was just a dirt track.

 I turned up it anyway, and within a minute or so, it turned into a sort of duel carriageway, with a huge section in the middle, with seating and palm trees??? This really IS a strange island. Anyway, we again just headed, signless, towards the sea. When we reached it, we were gobsmacked by the beauty once more.

La Pared beach

A woman feeding ground squirrel. These are considered a pest on the island, but with being so cute, people do seem to 'take' to them. This woman was feeding one monkey nuts.

The squirrel was greedily taking them, going and burying them, then coming back for more!

To see a video of the squirrels, click HERE

Just for fun, I kept going and digging the nuts up and re-feeding them to him, but when he realised what I was up to, he started going over the cliff edge to bury them on inaccessible ledges - clever squirrel!

We spent some time on the beach, before deciding to walk over the cliff tops. Again, with it being the Atlantic, there were some impressive rollers.

You can see a video of the spindrift off the huge waves HERE

Clifftop walk to rock arch at La Pared

Sue looks over to the rock arch, where we could see some great wave action. The sea was SMASHING into the rocks under the arch - we HAD to go and get closer to have a look.

Volcanic rock face on the cliff walk.

Looking over to the housing development at La Pared. This was even weirder than stuff we'd seen elsewhere. It was like a little walled community. It looked fairly new. It just looked 'plonked' there??

Messages written in stones were everywhere, usually professing the love of one person for another. A quaint idea, like the hearts we were to see later.

Sue on La Pared beach.

Surfers, brave the rollers on La Pared beach.

Breaking waves.

Footprints in the sand.

View inland, again cloudy, but we were bathed in sunshine all day.

Sunbeams over the Atlantic.
The day was getting on now, and the light would be fading soon.

We got to the rock arch, and I positioned myself with the camera and waited.......

Under the arch before wavebreak.

Minor break.

Huge wavebreak under arch, which ALMOST wet me! It did make me wobble the camera, as I thought I was in for a soaking.

See wavebreak video HERE

After that, we decided to investigate a building we could see, standing alone on the top of the cliffs. We returned to the car and tried to find it. No signs, rough dirt tracks that turned into Tarmac roads. It was a restaurant, but you wouldn't know it! Once more we were amazed by how they do things here.
Apparantly, it was a shack affair that they razed to the ground about 6 years ago, and built this fantastic place, complete with TWO pools and a WATER SLIDE - I kid you not.

The terrace was dream. We only had a drink, but vowed to return (IF we could find it again) to eat another day. The food going out looked mouth-wateringly good.

Like fish, do you? Well, this must be THE most comprehensive fish menu we'd ever seen!! THIRTY TWO different choices, many of which I'd never even heard of. The waiter was great, though, and would patiently advise and describe the flavour and texture of the fish of your choice.

I asked him why there were no signs to the place, and believe it or not, his answer was this;

"Oh no, if we put signs up, we'd be packed all the time! We're busy enough without signs"

On our way back, we witnessed another great sunset over Pajara.

....to be continued......