We've been in Almerimar for 3 days now after spending 5 nights in Cartegena. Whilst in Cartegena we explored some of the Roman artefacts the most notable of which was a well preserved Roman Theater which remarkably remained undiscovered for centuries in the poor central district of Cartegena.  The voyage of 109 miles to Almerimar went smoothly and we even managed to sail for 36 miles.  I did finally start reading to occupy time instead of just watching the sea for hour upon hour and the journey did go quicker.
 
Almerimar is a pure tourist place but the marina is very pleasant and relatively cheap; 28 Euros a night versus the 100 Euros per night we were paying in Palma de Mallorca.  The marina is full of large fish 15 to 18 inches long and one of the tourist sports is to throw large lumps of bread into the water and watch the ducks and fish compete for it, generally the fish win.
 
We had another oil change done on the engine today our second since leaving Corfu, 100 hours of use comes round quickly when we are having to do so much motoring.
 
We went to Almeria yesterday and walked around the old district and the fort/palace of Alcazaba which overlooks the city.  It must of been a pleasant place to live if you were royalty in the middle ages. At the foot of the fort we saw our largest concentration of prickly pears some of which were almost ripe.
 
The next and final stop in our Mediterranean odyssey is Gibraltar and we hope to leave tomorrow although it has been windy today and if the wind and/or sea state looks unpleasant we will delay.  We have time to wait for a better chance of a smooth crossing, the journey will take us a day as it is about 130 miles.