In The Med and in Wi Fi contact again
Gillyb
Sun 5 Jul 2009 16:54
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Hello Family & Friends, Sorry we have
been off air for a couple of weeks. Lots of marinas promise us
internet connection but then we find it is not working or maybe it works for ten
seconds. The clever ones say it worked yesterday or it will work
tomorrow - when we are leaving!
We have had a fine week or more sailing up the
coast to Bay of Cadiz. We had a choice of marinas and chose initially to go into
Rota. Spent one night there and then went up the river guardia to El
Puerto de Santa Maria. This was a small yacht club with tennis courts and
a lovely swimming pool. Kathy & Bob who joined us in Villamoura
and James, Graham & I went and enjoyed a good swim without the
chance of being surrounded by grey mullet which populate the
marinas.
We were keen to see Cadiz and we went into a third
marina nearer the city so that we could take a short taxi ride into the
beautiful old parts of Cadiz. The streets are very narrow and there
were some lovely old buildings. We found a nice place to sit and eat
lunch, mostly fish dishes and managed to buy post cards and stamps
etc.
The next stop was Barbate, a biggish marina but
only half built? There was a beach nearby and after a hot walk
we got sand blasted on the beach but enjoyed a swim in some big surf and a
green/blue sea.
The trip past cabo trafalgar to Gibralter was
uneventful and the weather was lovely. We arrived in Gibralter and moored
stern to on a high concrete pontoon which meant getting our passerelle rigged up
for the first time. This involved several bits of rope and much
muttering but it worked quite well considering it was made at home in the garage
and was never tried and tested before. We are now on about Mark 4
and it is set to change again very soon.. (see picture)
We had a grand meal at Gauchos in Gib as a final
Goodbye to James who has been an absolute star and we were sorry he had to fly
back home after about a month on our boat, to go dinghy sailing and then
on holiday on his own boat etc. (I think he has webbed feet).
The airport was very close to the marina so we just wheeled his bag on the
bicycle across the runway and saw him into the terminal.
The next day we set off out of Gibralter having
stocked up in Morrisons and filled up the diesel tank. It was
forecast to do 2 - 4 but for some reason it was blowing old boots as we came out
into the straits and we saw several yachts having to hurriedly reef. We
had already decided to just use the jib so we were not too over
canvassed. The swell was quite confused and it was a strange sea as
we came round into the Med. We saw several sun fish as we went
along the coast but otherwise nothing - no fish caught either.
The afternoon became very hot with a warm wind like a hot fan. Then
abruptly it all changed and the wind was colder and had
changed direction.
We are now in Benalmadena. We had one night
in Estepona which was smaller and Kathy & Bob took us out for a meal -
three of us had a lovely fish called Mero. White fish and no bones, no idea
what it is in English.
Benalmadena is near Malaga so it
will be easy for Bob & Kathy to get to their flight tomorrow.
Again we have been to the beach but to our surprise it is much colder in the sea
here. Unlike the sand which was SO HOT it burned naked feet.
Graham did a good impression of a scalded cat geting from the board walk to the
water..(I had my sharks on).
Graham bought a hair clipper in Gib. so I could
trim his hair. Well we had to charge it up and then I timidly
started with a gentle trim. Later he decided that it wasn't short
enough so we had another go. And now it is about 4 mm. all over...
well it would be if I was an expert and could get it a bit more even..
Still it will grow - eventually and it is ideal for all that
swimming.
We are staying here for a couple of days to
re-charge the batteries and generally get sorted. Then we hope to go on
towards Cartagena and then the Balearics.
Hope all is well with you at home. Hear
you have been having your own heatwave!
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