36:09.49N 05:21.87W

Tuesday 8^th and Wednesday 9^th September

We decided that we could head for Madeira despite the blow that seems to be coming. Since this is some 600 miles Sarah went off with Chris from Scott Free to do a big pre-trip shop at Morrisons.

Various small technical hitches blighted the final stages of getting the Fleet Broadband sending emails, but eventually all was resolved with much help from the very resourceful Ed Wildgoose at Mailasail in London.

In the evening we went out with Chris and Steve for dinner at the Waterfront Cafe which was very good indeed, but the evening was rather spoilt at the end when poor Chris bit hard on a cherry stone and broke a tooth. Not the ideal way to prepare for 6 days at sea.

Wednesday was a bit of a rush as we had to vacate our berth before midday or incur another full day’s charges. We crept out with a few minutes to spare and headed round to the duty free fuel berth next to the airport runway. From there we motored to the anchorage at La Linea which is the Spanish side of the border. There is a brand new marina just opened here, but as we are leaving around 6.00 am tomorrow to catch the tide through the straits of Gibraltar, we have opted to anchor in the bay.

Nice spot with a good view of the Rock although rather close to the end of the runway too. Scott Free arrived a few hours later after Chris had seen a dentist (temporary repair done which should be fine until she can see a dentist with a bit more time to spare!) and we found out that Apparition and Wind Machine are both in the marina behind us, but they are not leaving until Sunday.

Glorious evening in a pretty sheltered spot and we just have to hope that the forecast headwinds tomorrow morning are as light as they say!