Has anyone been to fuerteventura recently? Me and Al are planning on going somewhere in July and Fuete looks OK. Plenty for Al to do to keep him busy while I have time to relax.

I'm keen to avoid anywhere too touristy and tacky and Al obviously wants plenty of wind and the option to do lots of things, not just windsurfing.

We've had a look at extremeholidays.com who seem to do the whole package but any other windsurfing tour operators anyone knows of or any other advice would be good.

Thanks
Anna

My impression of Fuerteventura is that it hasn't really been overpopulated by tourists yet. The main place to avoid though if you want to avoid tourist tack is Corralejo on the north of the Island. It's the main resort on the island. Sotavento, right on the very south of the Island, has a couple of windsurfing and Kite surfing centres one of them can be found http://www.rene-egli.com/ I'm not sure of the other one....Wes might be able to remember the name. Oh and it's hotter on the south of the island.

There are some entertaining mountain roads to drive around oh and lot of gravel tracks that pass for roads!! Probably good for mountain biking...just remember to head into the wind at the start of your ride!

If you were to stay in the north then there's Flag Beach to windsurf and Kitesurf http://www.flagbeach.com/ />
Hope this is of some help, I don't know any windsurf tour operators for Fuerteventura.

Sneaky

And you always complain about everyone elses holidays.

Well we have got a good excuse and haven't been on holiday for several years....I think we deserve one!

Yeah, I agree you do deserve a holiday.

Hi Guys!
we went to Furete sept 2002 & we loved it.i wouldnt really say any of the island is that touristy compared to the other islands,we stayed at Caleta de Fuste in the center of the island(10 mins from Airport)-because a freind lets use their time share for 2 weeks.But every where was within 1hours drive.Corralejo was quite busy but mainly English with flag beach/glass beach 5 mins away,this is where i sailed,seemed more of a wave location than Sotavento when i was there.I hired kit but would take my own next time as it only costs £40 excess if booked on early.I also liked Cotillo not a lot there other than beaches,this is where the 20 footers come in over the winter,scary. There was lots of unoffical camping going on here,on the back of beaches or in the dunes with big frame tents & camper vans,lots of secret sailing spots there as well!!! DONT go to Morro Jable in the south although a nice resort there never seemed to be any wind & must have been 100000 naked germans on the beach,nasty.-the beach was nice though.
Spence...

[Edited on 3-2-2004 by Spencer]

Cool... keep the info coming. Just to add to it, this will be our honeymoon, so the unofficial camping will be out as we'll be expecting at least a little bit of comfort.

I won't be taking my own kit either as its all a but crap, so I'd like to find a centre that allows me to use windsurfing and kitesurfing kit (and surfboards of theres no wind), and maybe even have the odd bit of tuition... Am I asking for too much???

Al.

Nope - You want to go to Flag Beach. You can hire kit there and take it off around the island to find some other spots. They do windsurf, kitesurf and surfboards with the odd "surf safari" to get to some good spots if that floats your boat and they will do lessons in any sport. The beach there is easy to get to by car, and as long as you dont mind getting a little sand incrusted each time you put on sun cream, not bad for just chilling, saoking up rays and watching the crashes on the water.
I would not go with extreme holidays, I met a couple of guys out there who said that in an entire days kitesurfing they were allowed to do 1 body drag - sounds like expensive tuition! Flag also lets you just hire for the day, which the south resorts in Sotaventa dont, so you can chp and change sports to suit conditions. Oh - both of the southern ones are Rene-egli ones, just at each end of a 4 mile golden beach, one of them doesn't allow kitesurfing........

You have to make sure that you drop into Corkeys bar in Corralejo - the only place we found in the city that had a nice chilled out atmosphere without any pissed up essex house wives singing karoke. It plays windsurf style videos, has pretty good music, Oh, and Guy Crib was hanging around there so we must have chosen well.......

You want to be careful posting details of your Honeymoon; you might have half of F-O-N joining you for the trip.

I´m supposed to be going there for work. I have this from my last trip:

The island does feel very empty, except for Corralejo, full of places like the Underground pub, with union-jacks all around.

If you want to surf one of the best waves then visit the lobos island a little boat trip from corralejo, it doesn't get as windy as the rest of the island. Its also a natural reserve, so even if it's flat it's interesting for the visit.

There's a windsurf-kitesurfing place on the beach before Corralejo, among the white sand dunes. Can't remember the name, but they do hire and tuition.

Be carefull with the dirt tracks, you'll feel you can push the little rent-a-car into rally moves and end up grounding it on the sand banks either side of the track- or at least I did.

If you're after a self-cattered rural house in one of the inland villages I can put you in touch with a guy who rents them. Could be usefull if you want to stay for more than the usual package holiday stay +2 weeks, however it could get boring after the second week.

Flag beach web site is pretty good with all the usall stuuf like wind stats etc. http://www.flagbeach.com/main.php .

The only thing to watch out for when hiring kit from them si they run a 'you break you pay scheme'
seen someone having to purchase a trashed North Dr x.
Spence...

[Edited on 4-2-2004 by Spencer]

[Edited on 4-2-2004 by Spencer]

Thats true - The hire centre on Wikiki beach in Corralejo does the same - got a little worried when the wind died when I was a mile off shore on a brand spanking new Mistral Switch and Gastra rig - thought I was going to have to pay for the lot!

...that's better, I've figured out this writing lark this time-We went through Flag Beach last year- they can sort you out with self catered accomodation, car hire etc through their own contacts, and won't charge the earth. The German guy doing the kiting bit last year was a total w*nker, but the rest of them are good blokes! - I'd never hired before, but at this place you put your name down for the board you want at the start of the week- then if the conditions aren't quite right it's a dogfight for who gets the rest of the unreserved kit!
I got away with a 74l goya nearly all week, but i may have been lucky......
the conditions are side shore and flattish (but not great for beginners (chop hoppy I suppose) If you're fortunate you may get the odd side-onshore day that can throw up a fair old swell which is great for port tack jumping - just like Rhossy (but warmer and with more naked Germans)

Mmmmmm.....naked Germans! When are we going Al??

Oh yeah....forgot about the nude beach! There are a couple of big hotels in the Dunes just before Corallejo, they kind of mark the boundary. you're allowed to go completely naked on the beach the otherside of the hotels from Corallejo.....
....though sun cream, sand, wind and exposed body parts do not mix well!!

Is that experience you're saying that from then Jen??

Anna, be careful what you wish for.

I was snokling at a nude beach in Lanzaote, when a fat hairy German bloke swam over the top of me. Not a pretty site.

Oh yeah - watchout - as Jen says, there are some tender bits that haven't seen much sun before.

[Edited on 5-2-2004 by Dave]

Should I post the 'tan lines' photo Jen?

Don't worry Anna - there are some fat naked French, English and Spanish people as well as the Germans!

Yeah...post the tan lines photo!!!

I don't like the sound of fat naked people mind, and I don't like the sound of having to pay for broken kit either, can't you get insurance to cover that sort of thing?

Al.

Not at the places I went to. The guys I spoke to said it was pretty standard across the island to not be insured

I suppose you could always abandon the kit and run like hell.......

lets just say the sand seems to find it's way to all sorts of places..and err.....no...the tan lines photo is going to remain in a safe hidden place I think!!

I think they offered insurance to me at flag beach center for a extra few euros! but didnt bother...
it was nice sailing there,1 thing that i wont forget is being about 1.5miles out & being able to the sea bed flying past & it looked about 30ft deep,not something you get here...
sPENCE

I agree...the water there is very clear, only ever seen more clear in Menorca, and it's warm too (well it was at the end of July)....an hour in the water with no wetsuit and I wasn't getting cold, now when can you ever say that about British waters eh!?

One thing about flag beach though, there is a shelf of rocks which are covered at high tide. We saw one guy come hammering in to do a late gybe as close to the beach as he could only for his fin to hit the rock shelf resulting in board going from about 25knts to 0 pretty quickly as you may imagine!! The guy was ok, looked like he'd hurt his back but managed to get his board and rig, didn't look like the fin had much fun either!! and it happened on his first run of the day. DOH!

But saying this, he was the only person we saw hit the shelf, and we saw a lot of people out windsurfing.