Vila Real De Santa Antonio (Portugal) to Rota (Spain)
Minka of Southampton - Cruising Log
Edmund Wigan
Thu 6 May 2010 08:46
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We left Santa Antonio early at about 0630 as this
journey was over 60 nm and the forecast was for very light winds. It was nice to
see the sun coming up as we motored down the river to the sea.
 As you can see the sea was very flat so no wind. The wind got up a bit later
and we sailed until about 1030 when it went back to bed. The engine went on and
then as it was pretty boring the cabaret started. I have not talked much about
music on this blog but I have two Ipods one of which has all my brother
William's music on it. This plays for 28 days without repetition. I only have
speakers mounted in the ceiling down below so I turn it right up and can
listen in the cockpit.
The first Act on in the cabaret was the Portuguese
Navy. I saw this very large frigatey thing parked about two miles away minding
its own business until it came on the radio telling this large red tanker to
alter course ten degrees or suffer the consequences of a live firing exercise.
The Captain of the tanker decided to argue as he was on course for Hueva a port
about 20nm to the north. I was slightly concerned as the Navy didn't seem to be
bothered about me and the tanker was quite close.
 The Captain eventually altered course and then this
low flying aeroplane turned up and flew around in circles several times as he
could see I was struggling to get him in focus.
 And then...................................nothing
else happened, no explosions, no bombs, no machine gunning. What a let down. The
plane just buzzed off north and the Frigate took off south.
Regular readers may recall that a month or so ago
Minka developed a strange harsh vibration from the engine. Being a technical
genius I diagnosed this as faulty engine mounting blocks which I then replaced
at great cost, financial and in damage to my knuckles. The old ones were
beginning to break up but not too bad. Anyway the vibration came back today much
to my concern. I could feel it through the floor and it was shaking the boat. It
sounded just the same..............so I turned the stereo off so I could hear it
clearly and it disappeared. It was an Elvis Presley track shaking the
boat.........I wish he would stay on the moon where he belongs and leave me
alone.
An hour or so later I had a couple of visitors but
they didn't stay long.
 It was almost as if this dolphin saw the camera and
posed for the shot. It is a lot easier taking photos when the sea is calm. At
about 1600 the wind woke up again and we got to Rota at about 1930. This seems a
nice little place and is quite cheap so I will stay here until tomorrow morning
and have a good look around.
 I took this on the way in. The entrance is just off
to the right. There is an American Naval Base a couple of miles further up the
coast so they keep coming on the radio and talking about Roger. "Roger and stand
by" seems to be their favourite activity. Strange folk these
Americans.
That's enough of that.
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