A full 7 hrs of motoring along the coast, which looks like a desert, yet is covered by acres of white “greenhouses”.  I got a closer look later, and they are plastic structures under which grow vast amounts of winter fruit, veg & tomatoes.  It does make the coastline look weird though – a bit like fields of snow.

More dolphins today, leaping around in circles again.  Despite having almost no wind whilst we were travelling, it did build up just as we approached the harbour here – enough to make coming alongside tricky (and embarrassing in front of a local).  The forecast is for a day or two of stronger winds, so we’ll stop here a couple of nights and celebrate our 30^th anniversary on a relatively still boat.

This is one of the best known ports for live-aboards to stay for the winter.  Apart from the price, we can’t see the attraction.  It’s completely artificial, just holiday homes built quite recently (and many suffering from the downturn – not a single one of the hundreds of apartments overlooking us is occupied.

It is good to be back in Spanish shops again though, after the outrageous prices in Gibraltar (£4.80/kg for nectarines which are €1.50 here), although fuel was very cheap there.  We haven’t plucked up the courage to sample local wines at €0.99 a bottle (yet)  but we may come to it yet.

This region of Murcia is one of the driest in Europe and is practically desert behind us.  This is where the “Spaghetti” westerns and “Lawrence of Arabia” were filmed, so you get the picture!