Ireland day 1246. Tuesday 25 February 2025- Fuerteventura Day 15

Today’s summary	Our last day on Fuerteventura. Spent it on the beach – walked east towards Costa Calma and found a beach cafe for refreshments at lunchtime. Went swimming a couple of times and walked back to the hotel via the lighthouse. Dinner in the hotel then spent the rest of the evening packing.
Today’s weather	Dry sunny and warm. Light north easterly wind. Appx 22c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

It feels like a lifetime ago since we were setting off on our long hike through Fuerteventura but in reality, it’s only two weeks. We seem to have packed a lot in, but today, finally, we reached the last day of our current sojourn in the Canary Islands.

We decided to make the most of the sunshine while we are still here, and soak up enough rays to see us through the rest of the Irish winter once we get back. So rather than spending the day on the sendero, we spent it on the playa.

But despite having a completely free day, we stuck to our new routine of getting up early, and having a breakfast soon after 8am. That left us with a whole day which we could fill with sun, sea and sand.

So after breakfast, we got together our things and walked down to the beach – which is at the bottom of the hill about 500 metres from our room. From there, we headed back east, in the general direction of Costa Calma, retracing our steps from last Thursday. We had to do a bit of deft footwork to get round the rocky headlands in the face of a rapidly advancing tide. But we made it safely onto the broad beaches of Butihondo and beyond, and even managed to pause for a swim as we pottered along. There was, however, a slightly alarming number of Portuguese Man O’War jellyfish stranded on the beach. They can give you a vicious sting, so we bathed with care.

Eventually, by late morning we arrived at the Atilaya beach bar, where we paused for refrescos and crisps while the high water level peaked at around noon. Once the tide had turned, we set off back towards Morro Jable, finding time for another swim along the way.

We took the “long” way way back to the hotel, strolling all the way to the lighthouse before turning back and returning via the promenade.

Once back at the hotel, we downed multiple refreshing cups of tea but resisted the temptations of pre-dinner snacks. Like yesterday, we were early at dinner which gave us the rest of the evening to watch a final film from Vancouver, and to do our packing.

Ah well. ¡Hasta la próxima!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


There’s a hide on the promenade overlooking the salt marsh. To the untrained eye (i.e. us) there wasn’t a lot going on but to the trained eye I’m sure the view would have been teeming with interest	At the beach bar

Last opportunity to stock up on sunshine!	The Morro Jable faro

In the distance – the tree like structure on the traffic roundabout is I thing a wind-powered sculpture by renowned Lanzarote artist Cesar Manrique	Itinerant ibis taking a peck at the cat food which the hotel leaves out for the local feral feline population

Aaargh! Portuguese Man O’War! It’s about 10cm long and although it looks like a jellyfish, it’s actually (according to Britannia.com), “a siphonophore, which is a colonial organism made up of specialized polyps that work together”. Whatever, it can give you a very nasty sting.