{"id":13545,"date":"2010-10-06T15:30:25","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T20:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=13545"},"modified":"2010-10-06T16:36:56","modified_gmt":"2010-10-06T21:36:56","slug":"playa-francesa-the-real-cruising-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/playa-francesa-the-real-cruising-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Playa Francesa-The Real Cruising Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-100.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Playa Francesa is what cruising should be. No crowded marinas, no crowds, just beautiful surroundings and a few like minded friendly cruisers (at the end of this post there\u00a0 is a link to a high res slide show).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-101.jpg\"<\/p>\n

To better set the tone we offer the photo above, taken by the crew of Interlude,<\/em> from the caldera west of the anchorage.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-103.jpg\"<\/p>\n

The anchorage is filled with long term cruisers. The boats for the most part are no nonense set ups, showing the experience of their owners.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-104.jpg\"<\/p>\n

The surrounding terrain is stark, with colors and shadows constantly changing as the sun angle and clouds vary.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-112.jpg\"<\/p>\n

The ideal cruising destination needs a beach, and Francesa has abundant resources in this regard.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-106.jpg\"<\/p>\n

The shore beckons. We’re using our rowing dink, easier to handle if there is any surf, and good exercise (Interlude<\/em> photo).<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-107.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Others have the same idea.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-109.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Which leads to a beach party.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-110.jpg\"<\/p>\n

With music of course.<\/p>\n

\"Francesca-Beach-Party-107-1394.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Mother Nature joins the chorus.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-108.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Sunlight, clouds, high relief terrain, a visual symphony.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-113.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Meanwhile on the point they say the fishing is good.<\/p>\n

\"_Fancesa-1200.jpg\"<\/p>\n

The water is warm, and inviting.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-118.jpg\"<\/p>\n

The next morning intense light illuminates the interior.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-119.jpg\"<\/p>\n

And there is more visual music to take in. First with overcast.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-121.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Then with clear skies.<\/p>\n

\"Francesa-Sunset-100.jpg\"<\/p>\n

And finally at days end.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-125.jpg\"<\/p>\n

You cannot have a group of cruisers in an anchorage like this without having a “pot luck” dinner. There are 60+ years of cruising and untold hundreds of thousands of miles sitting around the table.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Fracesa-Graciosa-Is-Canaries2-130.jpg\"<\/p>\n

With the seas that are headed this way will soon be saying “Adios” to Playa Francesa.<\/p>\n

\"Francesa-Sunset-101.jpg\"<\/p>\n

But we know there are other Playas in our future and sunsets which go on and on. It is what keeps us going.<\/p>\n

\"Francesa-Sunset-102.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Note for photography buffs: this series of sunset photos were shot in RAW format and aside from running them through the NIK noise filter, they have not been touched.<\/p>\n

\"Francesa-Sunset-103.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\"Francesa-Sunset-104.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\"Francesa-Sunset-105.jpg\"<\/p>\n

If you would like to see these and more images in higher res and full screen click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Playa Francesa is what cruising should be. No crowded marinas, no crowds, just beautiful surroundings and a few like minded …Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dashew-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13545"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}