We had an unsettled night last night as firstly we were woken to heavy
rainfall, and had to rush to close the hatches, then the wind swung through
180 degrees and blew up, so Avril & I had to quickly re-rig the mooring
lines, and really tension up the bow line to hold us off the pontoon.
Although we were well fendered up, a fender had popped out, and the transom
scraped under the pontoon in the swell. We now have a resultant scrape on
the transom which will require a gelcoat repair. We learned a valuable
lesson with the mediterranean mooring technique - always have the bow lines
really tight to keep you off the pontoon or quay wall in case the wind
shifts!
Today we ended up motor sailing again as the wind was dead on the nose. The
coast was fascinating, there were mountains just behind a plain that lead to
the sea, and the plain was covered with square mile after square mile of
glasshouses. Apparently a large proportion of the EU winter vegetables are
grown here. I wonder what temperature the glasshouses reach in the blazing
summer days!
We arrived at 4.30pm after a 39 mile trip. The marina is interesting - again
it is a man made development of marina with apartments, hotels and shops.
Unfortunately it does not seem to have taken off - many of the shops and
appartments are unoccupied, and there are a significant number of available
yacht berths, at a reasonable price. I wonder whether part of its lack of
popularity is that it is surrounded for 30 miles in each direction by
glasshouses, and perhaps not much else. We will do some exploring and let
you know.
The temperatures today have been more pleasant - in the high 20's rather
than mid 30's.
We still have no wifi access, so no pictures yet.
Peter.
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