None of the Líneas Romero boats between Órzola and La Graciosa will depart this Wednesday. Neither have those of the other company that covers this route, Biosfera Express, this Wednesday morning, which assures that "the forecast is that all afternoon departures will also be canceled." The storm thus leaves the Eighth Island without connections to Lanzarote.
Líneas Romero has been forced to suspend the 7 departures it had scheduled for this Wednesday due to difficult maritime conditions. Both the route from Órzola to La Graciosa and from La Graciosa to Órzola will not be covered. "We knew it was very likely to happen due to the alert," they explain from the company, which upon opening its doors in the morning has confirmed that the strong waves prevented them from leaving.
Biosfera Express, for its part, has canceled the departures at 8:00, 9:00, 10:30, 11:30 and 13:00 hours. An employee of the company has explained that they keep their offices open "in case the forecast changes", although she adds that the forecast is that "everything will be canceled", including the boats that were scheduled for the afternoon.
"Our main fear is evacuations"
The impossibility of the ferries setting sail leaves the island in a situation of isolation, cut off from Lanzarote. Faced with this situation, the councilor of La Graciosa, Alicia Páez, has explained that "the main problem" in these cases "is evacuations." "Being cut off, that is always our main fear, that someone gets sick and an evacuation has to be carried out," she explains.
In La Graciosa, the protocol sent by the Security and Emergency Consortium is also being applied when this type of alert occurs. Among these precautions, the beaches in the north of the island have "all red flags", indicates the councilor.
Páez has indicated that they hope that this situation of isolation does not last long. "It is expected that the forecast will improve tomorrow and connections will resume," she said. However, the Aemet forecasts maintain the orange alert situation for Thursday.
The cancellations of boat trips, however, are currently limited to the north of the island of Lanzarote and La Graciosa. Both Naviera Armas and Fred Olsen have confirmed that all their departures from Playa Blanca and the port of Los Mármoles are carried out normally.