From the 80’s in the XIX Century the pilgrimage to La Peña has been celebrated every third weekend in September. This is one of the most popular ceremonies for “majorero” people, framed within the festivities of “Virgen de la Peña”, affectionately known as “La Peñita”, patron saint of Fuerteventura since the XVII century.

The image of this Virgin is one of the Virgin Mary, Gothic French style and carved in alabaster by an unknown sculptor. It was brought to the island in the XV century by the Norman Conquerors, when they founded Betancuria.

It’s the oldest image of the Virgin in the Canary Islands after the image of “La Virgen de la Candelaria”, patron saint of The Canary Islands in Tenerife, disappeared in a heavy storm. It was dated from the XIV century.

“La Peñita” gets this name after having been found by San Diego de Alcalá and Fray Juan de San Torcaz, Franciscan monks who inhabited the convent of Betancuria in the XVII century, in a cave that was hidden at the foot of a rock, in the ravine of “Malpaso”. According to the legend, the image may have been hidden there so it wasn’t stolen or destroyed by the “bereber” pirate Xabán, who devastated and destroyed the village of Betancuria in 1593.

The miracle of finding this image made it possible to build a little chapel in the very ravine where the carving of the Virgin was found, and the faithful went on pilgrimage to “El Barranco de Malpaso” for a long time, to present their prayers and offers to their dear Virgin. Until one day they were aware of how difficult it was to access there and also realised that the image of the Virgin was deteriorating in that chapel because of the humidity and they decided to build a new chapel in the neighbour village of La Vega de Río Palmas, which is the chapel of “Nuestra señora de la Virgen de la Peña”, inaugurated in August 1716, a place easy to access where all the devotees have the chance to visit “La Peñita”.

This chapel, with a classicist stone façade, houses the main altar that keeps the Virgin in a niche framed by a silvery sun, with a crescent at her feet. The image is white, maybe due to the bleaching of its pigments over the years, and it presents the Virgin and child on her knees.

The festivities of “La Peña” Virgin started to be celebrated on the 19^th December, since 1599. By then, believers coming from all over the island came to the chapel in “El Barranco de Malpaso” but, due to the rainy season at those times often the attendance wasn’t very massive, as people took advantage of it to sow, and also because the water running down the ravine made it difficult to access the chapel. So, it was suggested changing the celebration to the 5^th August, and later on it was fixed on the third week in September.

Nowadays these festivities are still celebrated on December 18^th, and on August 5^th “La Peña chica”, although at a local level, the festivity of the island being celebrated in September.

The Friday preceding the third Saturday in September (this year it was Friday 19^th) thousands of “majoreros” from different points in the island set off on pilgrimage to the chapel, where they celebrate the different masses on Saturday and the Virgin is taken in a parade around the streets of the village. Some come on foot, some others ridding a donkey or camel to queue if front of the chapel of their dear Virgin, whom they lavish with flowers, prayers and offerings.

The festive atmosphere is provided from the very beginning by local musical groups, pilgrims, folksong associations and bands of musicians that provide their music and lyrics, some of them related to the celebration, as worship of the Virgin, some of them just emotional, like “isas” and “folias”, and even some playful songs such as “polcas”.

In the village they even adapt some spaces as roadhouses where you can taste delicious goat meat, “papas arrugadas”, nougat candy, caramel-coated almonds, pineapples of almonds or peanuts. Here you have the program of activities and a map of the area together with the bus schedule for those special days.

FuerteCharter’s Team

Corralejo es el principal centro turístico del Norte de Fuerteventura, localidad desde cuyo muelle parten nuestras excursiones al islote de Lobos, y el lugar ideal para disfrutar de unas vacaciones, no solo de sol y playa; así que aquí te proponemos una serie de actividades de ocio que puedes realizar, para sacarle el mayor partido a tus días de descanso; planes ideales para realizar en tu semana de vacaciones que hagan de ellas una experiencia inolvidable.

Corralejo Grandes Playas y Parque Natural de las Dunas de Corralejo
Si has elegido Corralejo como destino para tus vacaciones probablemente lo has hecho por la calidad de sus paradisiacas playas, de fina arena y aguas turquesas, cuyo máximo exponente lo verás a escasos metros de la localidad, en el famoso Parque Natural de las Dunas de Corralejo. Se trata de las dunas más grandes del archipiélago canario, espacio protegido desde el año 94, y formadas por una finísima arena blanca que con la luz del sol te despertará infinidad de sensaciones; son además hábitat de una gran variedad de aves y de especies endémicas. Un lugar de gran belleza, del que podrás disfrutar con niños, de muy fácil acceso e ideal para fotografiar. Desde estas dunas, que comprenden 9km de costa, podrás descubrir las grandes playas de Corralejo que, como una extensión de las dunas —ocupando 3,5 km de longitud, pero al otro lado de la carretera— son, para muchos, las mejores playas del norte de Fuerteventura. Comienzan en el Hotel Riu y son espectaculares playas de aguas turquesas con vistas a Isla de Lobos y la vecina Isla de Lanzatote, la costa este de Fuerteventura, a tan solo 5 km de Corralejo. Muchas de estas playas cuentan con servicios de vigilancia, chiringuito y parada de guaguas. Son muy tranquilas, con una baja ocupación, ya que son muy extensas; de fina arena dorada y con aguas normalmente tranquilas. Visita obligada, algo que no puedes perderte en Corralejo.

Excursión a Isla de Lobos
A poco más de 3 km de Corralejo, con salida desde el mismo muelle, contratas la excursión a este pequeño islote, también protegido por la variedad de especies de aves y por la calidad de sus aguas; un lugar donde el tiempo se detiene, en el que zambullirte en cristalinas aguas turquesas en cualquiera de sus dos playas, ya sea saltando desde su muellito o en la bonita playa de la Concha, donde serás espectador de lujo de las Dunas de Corralejo que te quedan en frente, disfrutando también de las vistas del volcán de morro Francisco. Las aguas que separan esta isla de Corralejo son de una riqueza excepcional, por eso es recomendable que contrates una excursión en catamaran con nosotros, ya que nuestros expertos marineros te contarán todos los secretos de este río de mar, te mostrarán las fomosas pardelas, habitantes aves excepcionales del islote, y los más afortunados podrán disfrutar de las tortugas boba, que reposan sobre el mar tomando el sol e incluso de delfines juguetones que te acompañarán unos minutos de trayecto. Y por supuesto, contamos con una zodiac para acercarte el puertito de Lobos, para muchos el paraíso, de origen totalmente volcánico. Esta isla es visita obligada, así que no seguimos explicando, tienes que descubrirlo por ti mismo.

La localidad de Corralejo y su gastronomía
Te proponemos conocer la parte vieja de Corralejo, pasear por su Paseo marítimo con las vistas ya mencionadas a la Isla de Lanzarote y al islote de Lobos, lleno de bonitas terrazas para tu disfrute. Aún quedan vestigios de la época en que este pueblito vivía de la pesca, lo descubrirás al llegar al muelle chico y ver sus pequeños barquitos de pescadores. En la calle de la Iglesia, peatonal, cuya vida se activa a partir de las 6 de la tarde, cuando ya te has cansado de la playa, podrás tomar desde una rica cerveza hasta cualquier elaborado cóctel, escuchar música en vivo en la misma calle, disfrutar de un rico aperitivo o de una exquisita cena ya sea a base de pescado local, queso majorero, tomates de la tierra… Son muchos los extranjeros que asentados en esta isla ofrecen lo mejor de su gastronomía con lo mejor de la gastronomía de Fuertventura, por lo que la oferta culinaria es amplia, rica y económica. También podrás disfrutar comprando tus regalos en el casco viejo, en pequeñas tiendas artesanales, o acudir a la concurrida calle principal, centro neurálgico de la localidad y por la que pasarás infinidad de veces, llena de locales, tiendas, supermercados…

Practicar Surf o Kitesurf en las playas de Flag beach, el Moro o El Burro
Fuerteventura es un paraíso para la práctica de estos deportes. Para el surf, por ofrecer playas con fondos de arena sin riesgo para iniciarte y por la variedad de sus olas, muchos días con el tamaño ideal para que sea una iniciación segura y divertida. Para el kite, porque muchos días contamos con el viento ideal para disfrutar de este deporte. Estos deportes se pueden practicar en familia y a pocos kilómetros de Corralejo, en las playas que limitan las dunas. Te recomendamos contratarlo con alguna escuela para que te inicie, explicándote los secretos del deporte, dotándote del material necesario y con experimentados instructores. Además que estas tres playas son como las antes mencionadas, de una arena fina que brilla con la luz del sol y una belleza espectacular…

El volcán de Morro Francisco
Y para disfrutar de la visión de Corralejo, en conjunto con la Isla de Lobos y Lanzarote, te proponemos una pequeña excursión de senderismo que te llevará a lo más alto de la localidad y que te hará sentir el origen volcánico de estas islas; se trata de lo que un día fue un gran volcán responsable de la formación de este zona de la isla de Fuertreventura. Una excursión de dificultad baja que no te llevará más de 1,5 horas y que te ofrece también una visión del resto de la isla a tus espaldas.

Y son muchas más las posibilidades de disfrute de Fuerteventura que dejaremos para otro artículo, hasta aquí esperamos haberte ofrecido planes que, sin salir de los alrededores de Corralejo, hagan de tus vacaciones una experiencia inolvidable. Te esperamos en el muelle de Corralejo para llevarte a esa excursión a Isla de Lobos que te hemos recomendado, porque esa sí que no te la puedes perder.

El Equipo de FuerteCharter.

Our boat trips from Corralejo towards the islet of Lobos is characterised by the breathtaking views of its landscape behind us: The Dune Natural Parc in Corralejo.

This is a huge expanse of golden sand taking up 2668,7 yellowish hectares in stark contrast with the deep blue of our sky and the turquoise shades of the water in the Eastern coast of Fuerteventura.

The Dune Natural Park, where the islet of Lobos belongs too, was designated as such on the 15^th October 1982, and it was definitely reclassified as Natural Park on the 19^th December 1994 by the Law on Natural Sites in the Canary Islands.

The formation of the Dunes making up this park is completely organic, that is, they have originated due to the build-up, in the North of the island, of remains of shells of thousands of molluscs and other marine organisms with an external skeleton which has been disaggregated and pulverised. These remains are deposited there by the sea and once they get dry they are heaped by wind currents. The wind creates different shapes in dunes, as for example ripples, which are small waves, and the strength of the wind makes dunes not be fixed but move slowly, either independently or in strings that move crosswise the wind direction.

Dunes are a very fragile system, as any within-range obstacles in the dunes field will cause a change in its dynamics. Usually, in front of the dune fields some pre-dunes are formed beside the coastline, and being closer to the sea and wetter they don’t move, so some vegetation grows there which prevents them from moving even more. This pre-dune acts as a barrier, greatly stopping the erosive strength of the sea wind, mainly in stormy periods.

Under the several meters of deposited thin white sand you can sometimes make out the “malpaís” foundations (rocks with very sharp cutting edges), characteristic of this volcanic area.

The dunes border to the North with the village of Corralejo, and to the South with the “malpaís” in Montaña Roja, the Eastern border being this huge Ocean of heavenly turquoise waters where a dive can become the most idyllic entertainment.

The scientific value of these dunes is very important and they are inhabited by several protected and threatened endemic species, which is why they have been designated special protection area for birds (ZEPA) and, from the 13^th July 1990, area of biological sensitivity, according to the Environmental impact prevention law. Among the birds we can find in the area we have the Houbara bustard (really scarce) Cursorius cursor, pteroclidae, ash-grey eaglet, the kestrel, anthus and calandrella rufescens or saxicola dacotiae.

And in what seems a true desert we find out the existence of some brave plants, able to stand the harsh weather in this area, the absence of sweet water, and the great salinity of the area. This is the case of the Androcymbium gramineum psammophilum, threatened and protected endemic species. We also find allium christophii, aeonium, narcissus jonquilla and hawthorns.

The Dune Natural park in Corralejo is one of the main tourist attractions in the island of Fuerteventura, and its dunes are the biggest in the Canary Archipelago, though the ones in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria) are also of great importance. In ancient times other sand dunes were also important like the ones in El Jable (Lanzarote), Jandia (Fuerteventura) or Guanarteme (Gran Canaria).

Sand dunes, apart from being a tourist attraction by themselves, gathering every day a great deal of tourists, are a clear indicator of beaches of quality and no doubt in the East of the Majorera coast the most heavenly beaches in our island of Fuerteventura are found, wrapped in this blanket of dunes of imponderable beauty.

El equipo de FuerteCharter

From July 24th 2014, Fuerteventura has a Monographic Museum of majorero cheese. This cheese got its designation of origin on February 16^th 1996, and since then it has become one attraction in Fuerteventura due to its first rate quality.

The inauguration of the museum took place in the Visitors’ centre, in the mill of Antigua, where the premises of this museum are.

The aim of the Majorero cheese Museum is to show the value of the livestock culture in Fuerteventura, associated with the goat and cheese, and its promotion as a tourist attraction.

The Majorero cheese Museum has a true didactic purpose where several rooms are distributed along the 515m² they take up. They are classified into different topics and functional areas where they tell the two-thousand-year history this island has devoted to raise goats.

In the different units, information panels can be found, of course in different languages, as well as reproductions of natural areas that guide us in a tour of the cheese world culture:

– In one of the information areas they speak just about Fuerteventura, characteristics of the island, its weather, fauna and flora, its orography and geology.

– Another one deals with the majorera goat, as a representative icon of Fuerteventura, since one of the hallmarks of our island, often surprising the tourist, is to see free-running goats throughout the landscape in the island. In this section of the museum there is some information about the majorera goat and its relationship to its surrounding area, the different kinds of goats and the majorera race, its morphology, milking, shepherding…

– A third section of this museum tells us about the history and culture of the Majorero cheese, a fatty cheese with a strong smell, which has been elaborated throughout history in an artisan way, and nowadays also in an industrial way, having received important awards due to its quality both at home and abroad, getting the designation of origin on February 16^th 1996. This is a hard-pressed cheese, and it’s made of majorera goat milk, although up to a 15% of Sheep milk from the Canary Islands can be added if the cheese is to be cured. The main secret for the success of the majorero cheese is owed to the excellent quality of its thick, aromatic, full fat majorera goat milk, the goats being able to produce up to 2 and a half litres per day, free of impurities, medicaments, preservatives and colostrum. In this museum area further information about the characteristics of this cheese, its elaboration and perfect pairings can be found, as well as majorero cheese recipes, its nutritional aspects, data about its designation of origin, the different cheeses in the Canary Islands…

– And lastly, there is a tasting room and Fuerteventura cheese shop so the visitor can, apart from knowing the history of this product, taste it and make a personal evaluation.

In the surroundings of the museum we also find the mill of Antigua, declared an asset of cultural interest in the monument category in 1994, and the restaurant, which will shortly be out to tender.
In our private boat trips or two-day charters Fuertecharter never forgets the Majorero cheese, as an added value, to offer our clients the tasting of one of the best products in our land.

FuerteCharter’s Team

Un año más la entrada del mes de julio da paso a las ansiadas Fiestas en honor a Nuestra Señora del Carmen, patrona de Corralejo y protectora de los marineros.

Vecinos, asociaciones y empresas de la localidad llevan semanas preparándose para festejar a su patrona, con amor y devoción, dando lo mejor de cada uno para que el pueblo luzca engalanado en estos días especiales.

Desde la Edad Media, el nombre de María estaba asociado a “estrella del mar” (stella maris en latín), y muchos monjes carmelitas aclamaban a María como “La Flor del Carmelo” (el Monte Carmelo, en el actual Israel, ha sido un lugar de devoción desde la antigüedad) y la “Estrella del Mar”, de ahí los inicios de la relación del nombre del Carmen y el mar. Y fue hacia el siglo XVIII, cuando el almirante mallorquín Antonio Barceló Pont de la Terra, comenzó a celebrar esta festividad con su marinería, sustituyendo al por entonces patrón de los marineros que era San Telmo.

Desde aquel momento, en el día 16 de julio se conmemora el día de Nuestra Señora del Carmen —fecha en la que, según la tradición, en 1251, la Virgen se apareció a San Simón Stock, entregándole sus hábitos y un escapulario, signo principal de la orden de los Carmelitas, para que constituyera dicha orden, prometiendo liberar del Purgatorio a todas las almas que en vida hubieran portado dicho escapulario—, y en muchas localidades españolas se celebran grandes procesiones marítimas donde los marineros sacan a su querida Virgen en paseo por las aguas que debe bendecir.

Sin lugar a dudas, en nuestro pueblo de Corralejo, el día 16 de julio es el más importante de estas fiestas que se prolongan hasta el día 20, con multitud de actos y celebraciones. El día 16 comenzará con una diana floreada por las calles del pueblo, a las 6:30 de la mañana, que continuará a las 12 con la función religiosa marítimo-terrestre en honor a Nuestra Señora del Carmen: procesión que sacará la imagen de la Virgen en un paseo por el mar, seguida de multitud de embarcaciones del puerto, entre las que se encontrarán nuestras embarcaciones de FuerteCarter.

Entre otros actos destacados, este año, tendrá lugar la primera edición del Festival de la Canción, iniciativa que espera contar con gran éxito en el primer año de su celebración. También se intentarán recuperar juegos tradicionales, se dará voz al IX Encuentro de Improvisadores por el Casco Antiguo de Corralejo (19 de julio), se retomará el gran asadero popular, gracias a la iniciativa de la Cofradía de Pescadores (20 de julio a partir de las 19h.), y se realizarán torneos de baloncesto, voleibol, pádel, tiro al plato, cartas, dominó, bolas, fútbol sala; tendremos proyecciones de cine, concursos fotográficos, fiestas infantiles y para la tercera edad, actuación de corales, misas, procesiones, espectáculos pirotécnicos y por supuesto la gala de elección de Mister Corralejo y de la Reina de las Fiestas.

Dentro del programa de las fiesta, este año también se ha incluido la ceremonia de clausura de la Ruta de la Tapa, que tendrá lugar el sábado 12, a partir de las 11h. de la mañana, en el hotel Barceló Corralejo Bay.

Aquí os dejamos el programa de las fiestas, para que podáis seguirlas paso a paso, sin perderos ninguno de los eventos que están preparados para disfrute del pueblo.

El Equipo de FuerteCharter

Fuerteventura is the oldest volcanic island in the Canary Archipelago, where volcanoes stopped being active 10.000 years ago (La Arena mountain). The fact of being the oldest island also explains why it is the most eroded one, the buildings and volcanic cones being erected on its almost flat surface which was a fire park in the past.

A great representation of the volcanic landscape is located in the north of the island, around Corralejo. This is known as the alignment of El Bayuyo, which are several volcanoes aligned between La Caldera in the islet of Lobos and Lajares (La Caldera de Lobos, La Montaña de Bayuyo, Las Calderas, La Caldera encantada, Caldera de Rebanada, Montaña Colorada and Calderón Hondo), with NE-SW orientation and being active at the same period (recent eruptions), which made Fuerteventura grow northwards around 112 kms², and the neighbour islet of Lobos also appeared then, as well as “el malpaís”, so characteristic in the North of this majorera island.

The volcanoes in this alignment feature a round layout and their craters are shaped like calderas. In some of them, like La Caldera de Lobos, half of the crater broke off and slid, so nowadays it has a semicircular cone.

The tour of these volcanoes is highly recommended, either on foot or by bike or car, and they are much more attractive when walking from Lajares to Corralejo, as the wonders of the landscape join the immensity of the background sea.

The first volcanic structure, which gives its name to the alignment, is La Montaña de Bayuyo (279m), located on the village of Corralejo. It’s the first mountain you can see from Lanzarote and from the islet of Lobos, where we go everyday on our boat trips from Corraejo. In La Montaña de Bayuyo, like in Calderón Hondo, there is a pathway leading to the summit to watch the crater, and it’s an area where pre-Hispanic remains of round buildings made of dry stone are kept. They are supposed to have been used as dwellings and also as a shelter for the ancient inhabitants’ cattle.

A little further to the north-east La Caldera de Lobos (127m) erupted and half of its volcanic cone slid and submerged under the water. Following towards the NE-SW you find Las Calderas (248m), a volcano on whose foot we find several “hornitos”, which are a kind of mini-volcanoes or holes existing on the lava casting through which gases, and sometimes lava, were released. Then we find la Caldera Encantada (235m) and la Caldera de Rebanada (253m).

And finally, already getting to the little village of Lajares, we find Calderón Hondo (278m) and Montaña Colorada (248m). Calderón Hondo is one of the deepest and most perfect volcanic cones in the island (70m deep). The pathway that goes to the summit is prepared for the tourists who want to visit it, cobbled and signposted, it even has a viewpoint built to watch the caldera at leisure and landscape binoculars that offer breathtaking views of the north of the island.

Out of this alignment, a little further to the north-west, we find Montaña de Lomo Blanco and Montaña de la Mancha, whose volcanoes also released lava casting, thus gaining ground to the sea, although later on it would be overlapped by the lava casting from El Bayuyo. The word “Bayuyo” is a “guanche” term, comes from the “amazigh” and is related to spiritual matters: charmed clouds, floating objects or spirits coming from the sea.

From Fuertecharter, we encourage you to discover those wonderful volcanoes on foot or, if you want to venture on our boat trips, to find out their breathtaking views from the sea.

FuerteCharter’s Team

Last June 12th it took place in Corralejo the sixth meeting of working on the Action Plan for the recovery of the Monk seal in the Mediterranean and the Eastern Atlantic, where environmental technicians specialised on the monk seal (Monachus monachus) showed case studies that prove that the Eastern Canary Islands (Fuerteventura and Lanzarote) provide the ideal environment for the reintroduction of this species, which disappeared from our coasts in The Middle Ages.

As we told you in our previous article, the islet of Lobos we visit every day in our boat trips from Corralejo, was in ancient times the habitat of this species, because of the peace and quiet and the quality of its water.

The Monk Seal is one of the most primitive species that exist, dating back to 14 thousand years.

This primitivism can be the cause of their great sensitivity towards the human intrusiveness, much more developed than in other phocidae species. And as they always lived in remote and isolated places, free from the threat by terrestrial aquatic predators, they developed a trusting nature, tame and docile, not feeling the need to run away, which is why they have always been at a disadvantage when the threats of the modern world have triggered.

The number of monk seals throughout history has declined due to different reasons:

– The pollution of their habitat: oil spills, black tides…
– The overbuilding in the coast and the access to almost every corner of the coasts, which has turned the man into an intruder of their peaceful corners.
– The sea traffic and its spills, noise, accidents…
– The aggressions they have suffered straight by the men, in many occasions by fishermen who have seen in this species a threat for their catch and they have chosen to get rid of them.
– The development of the fishing gears, which have turned into true traps for the specimens of this species.

The alert on the possible extinction of this species at a global level has set into motion different projects of recovery, such as the one developed by The General Direction of Nature Conservation in the Ministry of Environment and the Regional Environment Vice-Ministry from the Canary Islands, which is trying to reintroduce this species to the Spanish fauna through the Eastern Canary Islands: Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, locations which enjoy unbeatable characteristics for this purpose.

At present, the biggest representation of monk seals in the Mediterranean is found in the colonies in Madeira and Cabo Blanco (boundary between Mauritania and the Western Sahara). The aim of this reintroducing project is that of moving out the specimens of the colony in Cabo Blanco to our coasts, so as to ensure a natural genetic corridor communicating the depleted population from Madeira with that from Cape Verde, thus trying to stop them from being isolated in space, as one of the biggest dangers they are exposed to is that of being concentrated all of them on the same area and any natural disasters (black tide, virus infections, accidents) could exterminate a great deal of them.

This project is still on feasibility study and has recently been approved by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The Scientific institutions in charge of carrying out these studies are the University of Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Barcelona.

The quality of the water, the wealth in marine biodiversity in the Canary Islands and the amount of protected areas in the island turn our waters into an ideal place to achieve the aims of this project.

At present there are other similar projects of recovery of this colony in Hawaii, Madeira, Mauritania, and Morocco, which are getting very good results as confirmed by Pablo Fernández de Larrinoaga, from the CBD-Habitat Foundation.

FuerteCharter’s Team