8th July 2008 - Marina del Este to Almerimar (Rolly night and a flat night)
Bali Hai
Neal Stow
Tue 8 Jul 2008 23:41
|
Last night we took the tender into the marina for a
meal. At first I thought it was going to be breakfast as Thin Pete and
Mike went off on a short trip to find us somewhere to eat but got
themselves distracted by a local hostellery, when they had not returned
after several hours we had to called them come and collect the
rest of us.
Marina del Este is a complete contrast to
Benalmedina, a small upmarket marina in beautiful surroundings. And, as
Thin Pete remarked, a place where you can go to the WC without finding
someone peeing in the sink. We sat outside and had a nice meal overlooking
the boats as the sun went down.
Although the marina is small it can take some quite
large boats and there were quite a few places available. Despite this we
had decided it would be pleasanter to anchor off the beach but
unfortunately this turned out to be a big mistake. Although the swell had
died in the afternoon it came back that evening with a vengeance. It was
pretty tricky getting back on the boat from the tender and the night was
extremely uncomfortable as the boat rolled around the whole time. To make
matters worse another large yacht had anchored near us while we were at
dinner and during the night it started to drag its anchor. I was up all
night keeping an eye on the other yacht and at four in the morning I was
about to wake the others thinking we had to move out of its way
when the other yacht eventually raised its anchor and
left.
Because no-one could sleep we left at the
unprecedented hour of 7:15 in the morning (all except Mike who claimed not to
sleep but still slumbered away despite the noise of the anchor being lifted
right next to him). We had 15 or so knots of wind straight on the
nose. We tacked out to sea for a while but were making such slow
progress towards out destination that at midday we turned the engine on and
motored into the wind. The only highlight
of the trip was that Thin Pete prepared gourmet sandwiches for lunch which
matched any of those prepared by previous crews.
We arrived at Almerimar at four in the
afternoon. It is a large purpose built marina and pleasant for what it
is. The surrounding area is not so attractive and looks like it is covered
by a huge sheet of polythene, as this is where the greater proportion if
Europe's winter vegetables are grown. The marina staff were very helpful
and although I was again nervous about the berthing, particularly as we had
quite a wind blowing, it all went smoothly. It is a shame that the
formalities make the whole arrival process take so long.
It was pretty hot in the afternoon and Tracy and I
were sweltering down below while the boys washed down the boat. I turned
on the aircon only for it to shut itself down. After half an hour of
frustrated removing of hoses and hitting things with a spanner, a call to "Good
Old Dan" back at Moody's got it fixed.
We ate locally in the marina and retired to
bed. With the wind having died and the water flat calm it was a very
comfortable night.
|