29th June. This is definitely the last blog from Osprey for this cruise. We
are now secured into our berth which the boat will use as its base for the
summer. Although we have not had much chance to look at the hinterland as
yet, all our impressions of Smir and the people here have been really good.
It is definitely off the beaten track and whilst that has some disadvantages
in terms of getting to and from it is a quiet, idyllic place. Although
Moslem there is little outward evidence and non of the minaret's calling the
faithful to prayer that we are used to seeing in the middle east. John asked
one of the local yesterday which weekend they applied here. The answer was
simple - both, so the working week runs from Monday after the European
weekend to Thursday afternoon when the Moslem weekend starts. Its very mutli
cultural with Spanish, French, English and Arabic being used throughout. The
climate so far has been stunning with the temperature hovering around 24 C,
clear blue sky and a gently breeze which sometimes gets up to 15 knots for a
couple of hours in the afternoon. For the first time we can remember we have
all hatches and all scuttles open so the boat is getting a good airing. No
mosquitoes or flying bugs worth talking about. As the country is on the
same time as UK instead of European time it stays light until 2200 and the
small cafe's along the waterfront do a steady trade. Interestingly, although
the cafe's generally do not serve alcohol, it is readily available in the
supermarkets. Smir is obviously a bit of a rich Local's playground and the
collection of upmarket cars was quit stunning yesterday as they came down to
the waterfront to use their jet skis and power boats. Non of these have any
real impact on the marina as they all head out through the breakwater at
slow speed then disappear down the coast to the beaches where no doubt speed
becomes the norm. Miguel has a firm control over the marina and its environs
and is obviously well respected locally. At a guess he is in his late 30's
and very much a family man. Yesterday afternoon he was out in the marina on
his HobyCat with his 5 year old daughter Blanketta, and their dog - Quite a
sight and at 5 she's a pretty good sailor and so is the dog. A cruising club
with 13 - 15 boats from Gibraltar has been here for the weekend - a very
pleasant BBQ last evening along with some party games, including a tug of
war between the sail boats and the power boats - interestingly the weight
(and beer belly's) was very much with the power boats but the strength with
the sailors - the rope broke in the end so a draw was agreed. John flies out
on Tuesday and has had the time to do a pretty good clean up of the boat. It
is surprising how much salt has accumulated on the boat over the past month
at sea and its takes some removing. We have decided not to rig the dinghy
and so the cleaning of the hull is going to be left to the marina - they
will wash it down and give it a couple of coats of wax. Today we hope to
finalise cleaning and packing up the boat so we can have Monday to relax
before heading off to Tangiers for the flight home. We are also going to
test the solar panels today to make sure they will hold the batteries
without a shore connection to the battery charger. That being the case we
will leave the boat without a connection into the shore power as it does
seem to fluctuate somewhat here which can cause some problems in the long
term.
