Benalmadena 15th June
Osprey
John Bowering
Tue 15 Jun 2010 05:12
We had hoped to be able to top off our gas bottles whilst in Gibraltar but it proved impossible to transport them across the border to Spain as this is prohibited for some reason. So - we decided to call into Estapona and the way north to meet up with Anita and Kuki and have it done there.
We left Gibraltar's Marina Bay at 0800 on Friday 11th June with no difficulties and were rounding Europa Point an hour later. A good westerly wind soon had us doing 7.5 knots on a broad reach and we were at the Estepona Breakwater at 1200. We parked on the waiting berth for an hour while a berth was allocated and at 1400 we were all secure on berth 279 at pier 6. The gas bottle man was contacted and collected the bottles late that evening and we had them back the following day. We have USA bottles on board which are really good as they are larger than most and fit exactly into our locker on board. One of the vagaries of europe is that there is no such thing as standard gas bottles or even type of gas and this is a major headache. For the time being we have opted to keep our American bottles which last us a long time and gamble on being to find someone with the necessary adaptors to do the filling. We knew that there was one person in Estapone who could do this but the next possibilities is uncertain however the present bottles should last six month or so. We only used one (we have two) crossing the Atlantic when gas was in constant use. John is going to try and make up and adaptor that will allow the US bottles to be refilled from a European connection.
Anita and Kuki were now confirmed as flying to Malaga on Monday 14th so on Sunday we headed out of Estapone for Benalmadena which is close to Malaga Airport. There was little or no wind so it a was a motor sail. We left the berth at 0800 - much before anyone was alive. John walked around the marina looking for someone to tell of our departure but there were only dead bodies of England's Balmy Army asleep (unconscious) on the grass verges and in the gardens. This was after the USA/England match in the world cup and those of the supporters that were still upright were a menace and best avoided.
The motor sail the Benalmadena took five hours and we were on the waiting berth by 1320. This place is massive with over a thousand boats here (most of which don't seem to go anywhere). We would normally avoid Benalmadena as it is one of the epicentres of the worst of British (and others) tourism - a sort of overgrown Butlins with literally thousands of deck chairs in orderly rows along the beach and hundreds of bars which stay open until the sun rises. It is however only 5 miles from Malaga airport and a convenient pick up point. We were allocated a good berth close to the entrance and squeezed ourselves in between two power boats which had to suck in their breath for us to fit! John had a look around - mainly searching for an electrical plug (another variable all around Europe) and was quickly back on the boat. It was late Sunday afternoon and the place was heaving with mostly British having trouble remaining upright. It is difficult to describe just how busy the place was and it was difficult to walk except by going with the flow.
The party's as usual continued until dawn when at about 0700 the place became as quiet as a graveyard - amazing. Anita and Kuki were due with EasyJet and about 1115 so John spent the morning finding the necessary electrical connection and splicing them into the boats wiring system. Eventually we found a helpful shop that understood the problems and they produced the necessary plugs and sockets. We are progressively making up these "pigtails" so that we have a collection that will hopefully cover most eventualities. It fascinating that not only are plugs and sockets different from location to location but so are the wiring and wire colour coding standards. All Europe is supposed to be on one standard but it would appear that any number of countries are either ignoring the standard or taking a very very long time to adapt!
We were expecting the two travellers to arrive at the marine around noon but the flight was a hour late and it was 1300 by the time the dumped there baggage on the boat and declared drinks and lunch were required before any though of unpacking. They had been on the go since 0400 and were having trouble adjusting the Easyjet way of life of which more later. We therefore went to the Yacht Club which looked and was a safer haven than the regular bars and cafe's although it was relatively quiet being a Monday. So it was food then siesta then food and an early night. Shopping for food will have to wait for tomorrow and the girls seem inclined to stay here for one more day before heading for Marina del Este which Miguel at Smir has recommended as a good place to spend a few days (he was married close by)