Position           36:34.78N 6:15.30W

Date                Monday 11 October 2010      

Mazagon lies at the entrance to the Ria Huelva which is itself guarded by the Juan Carlos I breakwater, what the Pilot Book describes as one of the longest in Europe.  It certainly is impressive.  Huelva, some 8nm up the Ria, is very busy with merchant shipping so it was convenient to have a good marina for an overnight stop that was close to the sea. It also rained heavily overnight so that we woke to a sparkly clean deck.

Sailing was the usual pattern of two to three hours of light winds and then enough wind to make progress sailing.  Day hops of 40-55nm are easily achievable but motoring is necessary to keep up the average speed as arriving after dark in may of the places that we have been visiting is not a sensible option if it can be avoided. 

Our original destination was Rota, on the north of the Bay of Cadiz.  As the sailing was going well we decided to go a little further into the Bay and use the yacht club marina at Puerto de Santa Maria.  The marineiro (boatman), who caught our line on the third attempt, squeezed us onto a rather rough hammerhead with another boat and we trooped up to the office to go through the usual procedure of filling in forms containing every conceivable detail of boat, equipment and crew.  It might have been sensible to have asked the price first.  €60 per night and no low season rates.  Thank you and good night, we did not like the berth anyway. 

Fortunately there was an alternative; out of the harbour and hang a right was Puerto Sherry, a functioning marina in the middle of a 1985 failed marina village. With barely 45 mins of daylight left we quickly de-camped and entered Puerto Sherry in the gloaming and found an empty and huge hammerhead berth.  A good gin celebrated the application of market forces.

Puerto Sherry- a property developers dream and an investment bankers nightmare – started 1985 and still work (not) in progress.  A useful if soulless marina.