Another two weeks have passed and, looking at the map, we don’t seem to have travelled very far! We waited another few days at Motril for the winds to turn from strong Westerlies to more favourable Easterlies, enjoying another evening with Frank and Rosi, our fellow Vikings. We headed off west along the Costa Del Sol, ticking off a 1970s travel agents’ catalogue – Malaga, Torremolinos, Marbella – all very welcoming to landlubbers sunning themselves on the beach, but very hard for a yacht to find a safe harbour. Anchoring is difficult as there are no sheltered coves, the swell can be very unpleasant and all the marinas were full. Eventually we found a space in Benalmadena and felt as though we had been transported to Disneyland on Sea. A vast purpose built marina with islands of apartment blocks stacked like tiered wedding cakes, twinkling lights and moored boats fanning out around them like doilies. We went ashore to find every walkway heaving with families taking their evening promenade among restaurants, street vendors, ice cream and candyfloss machines. We only stayed one night.
Next stop was another purpose built marina, Estepona, nowhere near as busy, beside a lovely beach and beautiful old town. We stayed for a couple of nights enjoying mooching around attractive, flower clad buildings in the old town. We both had haircuts at the local barber. We even found a brilliant toy shop with a lovely owner who guided us through the most popular fun toys (the Vikings will be making donations to a children’s charity in Gran Canaria when we are preparing our boats in December).
Then on to our last stop in the Med, Gibraltar, where we picked up cheap fuel before anchoring just over the border in La Linea. We had heard that it is easy to hop over the border from here into Gibraltar and indeed you do just walk across the border showing ID cards at both Spanish and UK checkpoints. You then walk across the airport runway which just seemed incredibly surreal. We did a little sightseeing, finding that there isn’t a great deal to see and then excelled ourselves on the shopping front – fishing lines and net for the Atlantic, all the emergency drugs we might need for the crossing and, a spur of the moment decision, new wet weather gear.
We had to wait at anchor for another three days until we had favourable tides and winds to take us around Tarifa. We had plenty to keep us occupied as we prepared the boat for the first part of our Atlantic crossing. We have also been keeping a close eye on Orcas.pt checking for more reports of sightings and unpleasant interactions. Fortunately for us some of the Orcas have moved north with recently reported interactions around Lisbon and Finisterre. It has been very hard for the boats that have been targeted by the Orcas with many losing their rudders, a boat sunk in July and most recently a crew member having to be airlifted to hospital (they were injured whilst trying to set up a tow in rough seas after the Orcas had damaged their rudder). There are still Orcas in the Gibraltar Straits but not the group that have been responsible for doing so much damage. Nonetheless we stuck to the current guidance that is to remain in shallow water less then 20m deep, and followed the coastline with our fingers firmly crossed.
From Gibraltar we sped past Tarifa to Barbate where the highest concentration of Orca attacks have occurred this summer. Then on to Rota on the northern aspect of the bay of Cadiz. We have been here for a few days and taken the opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Seville. The Alcazar, still used by Spanish royals, is a stunning mixture of Moorish architecture surrounded by lovely shady gardens. Close by is the extensive Parque de Maria Luisa with the stunning Plaza de Espana, built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. Clearly there was much more money in the treasury coffers in those days.
We await the arrival from Cornwall of our friend and regular crew, Jon, who joins us this evening. We’ve filled the fridge with delicious meals, stocked the cupboards with tasty treats for night passages, done the weather and passage plan, checked the rigging and safety gear and made sure that all is safely stowed. We’re as ready as we’ll ever be! Based on the current forecast we should be departing mainland Spain on Friday and heading to Madeira on the first leg of our much anticipated Atlantic crossing.
