36:41.8N 02:47.46W

Well not quite the reels bit.

Sunday 13^th July 2008

Got under way around 07.30am and motored into a gentle force 2 which was bang on the nose. Gradually this wind built up which again had us nosing through our weather books to try to fathom out what the odd early morning formations had really meant. We had not bothered to find an internet connection last night so we had no up to date grib files (web based weather files that you download and run in special software to give you very good weather maps, sourced from the US Navy!) so we were rather running on old information.

However there was no need for panic as the headwinds rose no higher than 18 knots before dying away for a while around midday, leaving us with a very Greek glassy flat sea.

At was at this point, as Sarah sat in the cockpit sewing a repair to one of our fender covers, that a fully grown swordfish leapt clear into the air, barely 2 metres from us in the typical pose that you only see on postcards and adverts. I of course missed this spectacle, but it induced a feverish scramble to dig out the fishing rod and start trailing (trolling) our lure. Last time we tried our hand at this fishing lark near Cadiz, we had to abandon the exercise after an hour or so, because the shearwaters were completely fooled (unlike any fish) and 15 of them wheeled and dived on the lure as it broke the surface. The chances of hooking a shearwater were very real. Today of course, being July 13^th meant that nothing at all happened and even the odd stray shearwater ignored the lure completely.

We arrived at Almeria around 4.30pm and made our way into a very spacious port and marina. Big reception pontoon and fuel dock and VERY helpful staff who managed all the usual paperwork and ushered us into a very nice space close to a set of showers and toilets. It is fairly central in the town, so doubtless we will get to see lots of traffic and spectators, but first impressions have been OK.

The bad news is that all the signs are that there is a spell of bad weather due tonight, giving force 7 + winds from the North East (yes, we are trying to sail towards the North East) until Friday.