Our dear neighbour, Lobos islet, main spot in our daily boat trips towards its coast, is taking part in a remodelling project which aims to meet the needs of tens of visitors who get to its quay every day.

Last summer they launched some restoration works in Lobos islet, in the area of the old restaurant. This area has become a resting area with W.C, benches and shadow to provide service to the masses of visitors who go to the islet every day.

The old restaurant in Lobos islet, dating back to the 60’s, was an abandoned project in the 80’s, with a quite peculiar architecture, irregular plant combining cubic and curvy spaces, very different from the local architecture and that has now become, thanks to a project by the Technical office of Fuerteventura Council, a resting area —160m²— for visitors, whose finish is perfectly integrated in this natural site where pine wood has been used, following the environmental friendly line which is promoted, especially in such an important an area of environmental awareness as Lobos islet.

The works in these facilities were finished one month ago, but the outside surrounding area remains to be laid out, so as to make it available to the visitors. There is no concrete date to inaugurate them, although it can’t take a long time.

And together with this refurbishing process, The environmental department has also approved the project “Acondicionamiento y mejora del muelle de Lobos”, which is being dealt with by the Port authority in Las Palmas, in order to improve the conditions of Lobos quay, due to the fact that companies devoted to the transport of passengers to Lobos islet had been complaining for a long time about the poor state of such quay and about the difficulty to access it in days of rough sea.

So, this project aims to improve the state of the quay and extend it, to make it safer when facing adverse weather conditions, and to ensure safe berthing regardless of the tide.

The works they are trying to carry out imply:

• The building of stone filling banks (stones thrown to the bottom so they can be used as foundations for the quay), that will take up around 25m long at the sea bottom.
• The building of a 1,6m wide berm on each side of the quay.
• The building of a 14,58m long and 8,1m wide quay.
• The restoration of the side slots.
• The building of an access stairway.

We’ll keep you informed about the development of this refurbishment project, which is being studied in detail to minimise the environmental impact and provide a better service to the visitors without damaging the natural site which this islet, Biosphere Reserve, represents.

FuerteCharter’s team

It’s many those who ask us what are those fenced in excavations we find in Lobos islet, so we will leave this article for those who want to know a little about the history of our neighbour islet.

At the beginning of 2012 it was found out, in the islet of Lobos, a site with archaeological remains dating back to the I century B.C and the I century A.D.

In November 2013 the diggings in the islet started, by means of a project called “Poblamiento y Colonización en las Islas del Atlántico”, aimed to study and research of these remains, and framed within the existing institutional agreement between the OACM in Tenerife (Autonomous Organization of Centres and Museums) and the Regional Office of culture and historical patronage of the Council of Fuerteventura.

As studies and diggings have been developing, hypotheses have been made, and nowadays it is quite validated the one which states that the site belongs to Roman settlements, maybe just seasonal, looking for sea snails in the islet— Stramonita haemastoma or thais, known in the Canary Island as “carnadilla”—, from which they got the purple dye they used for the noblemen’s outfits at those times. What has allowed us to validate this hypotheses is the discovery of more than 70.000 specimens of these molluscs. This kind of site is the only discovery in the Canary Islands, and other similar sites have appeared in the island of Mogador and other points in the Atlantic African coastline, which proves that this route was already used by these great empires (Punic, Greek and Roman) to stock up not just on “carnadilla” for dyes but also on fish, as the area was really rich in tunidae.

In the old times, purple on fabrics was the only sign of social distinction, from the Phoenicians to the Romans, as getting this dye was very expensive. From each snail just a few drops of the coveted dye could be extracted, used to dye the capes and garments of the highest offices; so this dye was an indicator of luxury and social distinction. Even the State itself was in control of its monopoly and organized trade and military expeditions to find the necessary products for the elaboration of this dye, which they then brought for its trade in the Mediterranean.

Lobos Islet’s site has 108m² (18 x 6), and excavations are making it deeper and deeper, as the remains which appear are on slopes and even part of the found walls are still under the earth, some 2m deeper. The hypotheses point out that the structures that are being dug up belonged to the rooms where they stored these molluscs. Some remains of pottery are also appearing, surely containers where they stored the molluscs, as well as remains of household and kitchen utensils, pieces of iron and bronze, fish hooks and nails, remains of amphoras, pans, lids… even bone remains from the animals of the time (sheep and goats).

Excavations are expected to take place until the end of 2016 and they are being carried out by a team of eight professionals coming from the council of Fuerteventura, from the OAMC in Tenerife and the ULL, who keep shedding light on the history of the ancient settlers and colonists of these lands.

Fuertecharter’s Team

Just 2km away from Corralejo, the islet of Lobos —which we visit daily in our boat trips—, presents a series of attractions well worth to bear in mind in our holidays.

To make it easy, in Fuertecharter we show you this short guide with the main spots to visit in the islet.

If you have a look at the presented diagram, number 1 is “el Puertito”, no doubt, for many, the most spectacular site in the islet, due to its full of life turquoise water — letting us see a sandy bottom typical of heavenly beaches— and to the big amount of big and small rocks that are shown by the low tide, making the landscape change considerably.

In “El Puertito” we find the only human settlements in the islet, crowded in summer but almost uninhabited in winter, and we also find the only restaurant in this islet, where you can eat fresh fish and “paella” every day.

The next tourist attraction is the “Centro de Interpretación”, a wooden building where the visitors can find big informative panels about the history of Lobos islet, its landscapes, flora and fauna… and where we can also see a scale model of the islet, which will allow you to get an overall idea of the islet’s orography.

Then we find “ La playa de La Concha” — called like this after its shape— also known as “La Calera”, as rhodolites were obtained in the past from this beach, calcareous structures of weeds that were used in the lime kiln, near the beach, to get lime to build Martiño lighthouse. This beach seduces all those who tread on its sand with the quietness of its crystal clear waters. This is a little bay closed by a stone and pebble barrier, which acts as a shield against the waves and turns it into a pool which is ideal to have relaxing baths.

Near this beach the visitor will find an unfinished salt mine, an initiative by Andrés B. Zala, neighbour from Corralejo, who tried to obtain salt to preserve fish until they could take it to Corralejo.

“Las Puntas del Marrajo y Saladero” are protrusions that act as breakers for what many consider to be the best waves in Fuerteventura. The wave emerging in “Saladero” is known as “Derecha de Lobos”,an internationally renowned wave which year after year attracts hundreds of tourist to our island. The wave in “Majarro” is also a long and noble right, much easier to reach for less experienced surfers.

The next outstanding point in the map is “La montaña de la Caldera” whose outline is very representative in the islet of Lobos. This mountain is a volcanic cone that belongs to Bayuyo alignment, of which we spoke in a previous article in our blog. It is 127m high (with impressive views of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura from its summit) and it’s half submerged, housing within it a black sand beach: La Caleta. Towards the wind direction, on the inner side of the caldera, there is a colony of yellow-legged seagulls, and on its most unreachable slopes shearwaters and petrels nest.

The next spot is “La playa del Sobrao”, and following the path we get to “El Faro de Martiño”, emblematic sea building to which we have also devoted an article you can also read by clicking on the following link. Under this building the traveller can find a small salt marsh called “La lagunita del faro” , created by the interaction of rain and sea water, and it’s characterized by a striking salt crust caused by quick evaporation, on which you can watch numerous birds like herons, curlews and turnstones.

And finally, the end of the track is marked by “Las Lagunitas”, with a very special ecosystem. It’s a hollow separated from the sea by a small sandbar whose bottom is relatively waterproofed by clay deposits. When the tide rises the sea water seeps through and creates lots of little ponds. Three species of plants define this ecosystem botanically: Limonium papilatum, Limonium tuberculatum (which have in Lobos their best populations) and Limonium ovalifolium canariense, a unique endemic species in Lobos islet. This species is able to survive under the water, even in case of large tides.

Near “Las Lagunitas” we also find the biggest lime kiln in the islet, whose fuel was extracted from nearby fossil marine deposits which are rich in limestone.

In our boat trips from Corralejo we surround the whole Lobos islet, offering sights of all the track we have told you about, but from the sea. We invite you to discover this wonderful islet, both from the water and walking through it.

FuerteCharter Team.

The lighthouse has always been an essential element for men’s life, has allowed them to develop and make progress towards new discoveries, even nowadays it keeps being a great reference point for sailors.

If many people know Alexandria Lighthouse, The Colossus or The Tower of Hercules, here in The Canary Islands there is one lighthouse which stands out particularly: Martiño’s Lighthouse, also known as Lobo’s lighthouse, which we can see everyday in our boat trips from Corralejo.

It stands out for many reasons: how long it took to build it, five years, due to several difficulties that arose, such as the transport of building materials carried first by camels, then by ships and in the third place by indigenous donkeys found in the very islet of Lobos; or maybe because of the nature of the islet, totally uninhabited, reason why they also had to build houses, underground cisterns, paths and yards so that the engineers, builders and the rest of workers could live for as long as the lighthouse works lasted.

Martiño’s Lighthouse started to be built in 1860, after the General Lighting Plan for the Canary Island was passed, and up to now this is the only Official building existing in Lobos. It very much looks like the lighthouses in Pechiguera and the island of Alegranza, in Lanzarote, because the three of them were planned by the same engineer, the renowned Juan León y Castillo, born in Gran Canaria.

The final outcome was a lighthouse with neoclassical style, white and yellow, 29m above sea-level. Besides the cylindrical-conical tower of the lighthouse, which is 6m. high, there is a one-storey building attached, which at the beginning was Juan León y Castillo’s occasional residence, when he visited the islet to supervise the project and later on it would be the lighthouse-keeper and his family’s residence. A cistern for the lighthouse itself was also built, located under the lighthouse, and it stored rainwater coming from the rooftop terrace to ensure water supply.

The lighthouse was first lit in 1865, a sixth class lighthouse registered in nautical charts with the international number D-2786. The main function it fulfils is that of

lighting with beacons the passage of vessels through the Bocaina Strait separating Fuerteventura from Lanzarote, and forming a triangle with Tostón Lighthouse in El Cotillo and Pechiguera lighthouse in Lanzarote.

With Lobos and its Martiño’s Lighthouse more specifically several personalities are related, among them writers like Josefina Plá, daughter of the lighthouse keeper Leopoldo Plá, who was born in 1903 and was brought up in the very lighthouse although later on she would develop her career in Paraguay. Or José Rial, who was a lighthouse keeper in Lobos since 1913 and thirteen years later he would write a novel about the island and his experiences there. Another renowned person was Antonio Hernández Páez, also known as Antoñito “the lighthouse keeper”, who actually was the last one to develop this task from the year 1936 until 1968, and also the last one to inhabit this islet. Antoñito also set up a typical restaurant there, at present run by his descendants and where you can taste fresh fish and delicious “paella” as an extra activity to be added to our trips from Corralejo.

So, it’s highly recommendable to visit Lobos and its lighthouse because of its history and the natural charm of the islet. Moreover, the visitor who climbs up Martiño’s lighthouse will enjoy breathtaking views.

FuerteCharter’s Team