The Gara Itsasoa, a 22-metre catamaran designed as a floating laboratory, has arrived at Marina Lanzarote. The project, promoted by Captain Eduardo Pérez, combines science, environmental education, and sustainable tourism.
Marina Lanzarote has welcomed the Gara Itsasoa this week, a 22-metre long catamaran conceived as a floating laboratory, marine classroom, and platform for ocean exploration. The vessel, built from aluminium at a family shipyard in Harlingen (Netherlands), has reached the island after undergoing a design and manufacturing process that lasted nearly three years.
The promoter and captain of the project, Eduardo Pérez, explained that the idea emerged almost spontaneously. “We all dream of a utopia. I had mine. The surprise was that when I presented it to the investor partner, the project was accepted in all its terms,” he recalled. Pérez, who trained at the Maritime Fishing Vocational Training Institute in Arrecife and has a long history in tourist charters, decided to change his career after feeling that conventional nautical activities generated “a lot of waste and overcrowding.”
Together with his partner Lenka Klikarová and investor Juan, Pérez designed a boat that could balance scientific research with onboard comfort. “We were looking for a strong working boat, without much embellishment and with good materials, also thought of in terms of comfort,” he noted. After six failed attempts at shipyards in Spain and France, they found a small family business in northern Holland that understood the idea perfectly and offered a practically artisanal result.
The Gara Itsasoa, whose name means “we are sea” in Basque, is equipped with two 270-horsepower Volvo engines and a sail plan that allows it to navigate autonomously even with winds of just seven knots. During its construction, the team received advice from the Basque technology centre AZTI, specialised in marine studies and blue economy, as well as from various universities.
The company Gara Proyect Prime was founded in December 2021, and the contract with the shipyard was signed in January 2022. The first aluminium arrived at the workshop in October of that year, and the boat was completed in July 2025. After a test sail between Harlingen and Lanzarote to test the equipment, the company has organised open days in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and Arrecife to showcase its potential.
Additionally, the catamaran has already participated in the fifth edition of EcoAction Week, an environmental awareness initiative linked to the Blue Flag, which took place in Puerto Calero on the occasion of World Environment Day and World Oceans Day. The project plans to develop research activities, environmental education, and informative charters focused on ocean knowledge and conservation.
Eduardo Pérez, who began his relationship with the sea at 18 on a longline fishing boat in Euskadi, hopes that the Gara Itsasoa will help transform luxury nautical tourism into a more environmentally sensitive activity. “A lot of waste was generated, the coves were overcrowded, and in general, there was little respect,” he lamented about his previous stage. Now, with his new boat, he hopes to contribute to a more sustainable “blue economy” in the Canary Islands.
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