Friday 24 June 2011                 

I flew to Almeria airport with Robbie and his Bristol Uni friends Peter Lawrance and Tom Watters. We arrived at 09.30, so sorted things out a bit, had lunch (yet again) at Guzzi and left for Cabo de Gata in the afternoon. There had been some comments about the Levante (East wind) and sure enough it got rough with the strong wind on the nose. Water which was coming over the bow was getting into the bilges, I normally assume this is via the anchor locker which does not have a good seal, but should drain into the sea. I now wonder whether, when the boat is pitching heavily, water is coming up the locker drain and then down the hawse pipe. At any rate, the bilge pumps were partially blocked and did not pump fast enough, so we had a bit of hand bailing (!) which didn’t overly phase Pete out, and Tom was very sick and I believe wanting to die. We turned around, all became calm, and we returned to Almerimar.

Saturday at Almerimar waiting for better weather.