36:08.95N 05:21.22W

But first...

Saturday 5th July

Well a quiet night would have been nice but a disco nearby kept up a remorseless and VERY load output of Spanish rock music until 3.00am. Heaven knows how loud it must have been inside!

Ann arrived on foot around 9.30 and was most impressed with our labours. She broke the bad news that she has 'lent' her car to her god-daughter in Madrid and that we needed to get the bus out to her beach house in Zahara. This actually involved a 25 minute walk to the bus station, a 15 minute wait and a very pleasant 10 minute ride in an air conditioned coach to her 'village'. What she has failed to notice over the past 10 years is that they have developed her village into quite a serious Spanish beach resort. We walked along the beach to her house which turned out to be a very nice maisonette with a great roof terrace, from which, with difficulty, you could see the sea. We had a great day with her and finally we caught the last coach back to Barbate at 8.30pm and walked back to the marina.

Sarah & Ann waiting for the bus.

Barbate as a town has become a victim of the demise of the Spanish fishing fleets. By all accounts it was once a thriving fishing port, but with the decline in fish stocks it has become fairly seedy and has something of a reputation for drug trafficking.

Sunday 6th July.

A quiet night, at least until 3.00am which is when the disco started this time. Last song finished playing at 7 am.

Up at 8.00am and set off for Gibraltar around 10.00am, passing Zahara and yet more tuna nets an hour later.

Tuna nets off Barbate

The wind quickly built up to a fresh 15 - 20 knots and we made great progress down the coast to Tarifa. Ahead of us all the way and clearly visible, was the coast of North Africa and Tangiers. As we rounded the southernmost point of Spain, we were a mere 6 miles from Africa and into the Straights of Gibraltar. This was a very important milestone for us in terms of our trip so far and as the wind rose to 30 knots and Serafina flew along, reefed now, at 8 knots plus, the day was made as two huge fin whales very close together, came powering past us heading in the opposite direction towards the Atlantic, blowing massive spouts of water into the air as their backs arched in a series of rolling dives.

Africa!

Gibraltar itself loomed large as did the frightening amount of very large ships heading in all directions, added to which, there were all the ferries heading back and forth to Morocco.

We sailed into Gibraltar harbour and on to Marina Bay where we had booked a berth for two nights. The wind remained very strong and the berth we were given required us to reverse, downwind onto a concrete quay and pick up a lazy line. This we managed without incident and after a quick stroll round the bit of town nearby, we retired to the boat for a celebratory G & T and copy of today's Sunday Telegraph. Yet another really great days sailing.

Gibraltar

The marina seems a bit run down, but this may be because it has been sold to the huge development that is being built around it. Sadly we get the impression that the current financial situation has stopped all of this dead in its tracks, but doubtless we will learn more tomorrow. The one thing we are sure of is that the marina lies directly alongside the airport runway, but so far (it is Sunday) only a couple of planes have landed or taken off. (The EasyJet flight needed every last inch of the runway for its landing and I was sure it was going to drop off the end of the runway into the marina approach. Surely cannot be as bad as last night though? A lot of the boats here look a bit sad, with a very neglected air and quite a few 'For Sale' signs dotted about. However, Sarah tells me there is an M & S here as well as a Morrisons, so it may not be all bad!

The generator saga continued with a phone call from Mastervolt in Holland to say that the Spanish agent was all set to send a dealer to see us in Rota. He had rather missed the point that we had already left Rota at this point! Plan B seems to be for us to discuss a suitable venue with the Spanish agent in Madrid. They did get me to do some more checks and run it up in the marina and sure enough it stopped again after just 3 minutes with the same oil pressure failure message. Might be time to start taking bets as to when this might actually get fixed (or replaced).

Retail therapy day in Gibraltar tomorrow!