28 Aug 06 - 31 Aug 06 - Spain

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Firstly... Congratulations with your birthday Jesper! Jesper is one of my stepsons, who on the 28. had his 21 year birthday. I hope you have had a good day despite having to shovel dirt and clean guns in the army :)

We have a brand new 12V Tecmar toilet pump for sale! We tried constantly to get in touch with Noel Dyne who was the guy on Mallorca providing us with the pump, and who was to fix our electro hydraulic gangway by replacing the solenoid. Unfortunately we werent able to get hold of him even though we was told to call him at specific times. On Monday we decided that we had wasted enough time waiting there and departed.

We originally planned on a relatively short jump to Ibiza (some 60-70nm), but on the way decided to go all the way to Spain and anchor up there. Reaching the Spanish east coast, we made a bold decision... why not push it a bit further and get to the south coast before we stop.

There was enough fuel and food/drinking water on board, but we hadnt had the posibility to refill our water tanks as the refill station in Porto Nous was out of operation. So we had to drop some showers and other cleaning until we got it refilled. Estimated we had around 200l of freshwater (+ plenty bottled drinking water) so it wasnt really critical.

Until the Spanish east coast, we had to go by engine as there was near to null wind. Along the coast, we got some luck with us, and got some wind from North, giving us a nice comfortable trip by sails with the wind in from stern holding a steady 6-8 knots.

When cornering towards the Spanish southcoast, the wind picked up considerable. There is a mountain there, and some of what we saw was most likely the effect the mountain had on the winds. We got some hard bursts of wind, and some rough sea.

This only lasted a few nautical miles. We did go about 9kn with the genoa and the main sail, but the sailing wasnt exactly comfortable. After that the wind stabilized on a lower level with less bursts. We still got the waves from the sea in stern slightly off angle, which is quite uncomfortable as it moves the boat around, and requires constantly correction of the rudder to keep on course. We have used the autopilot for quite much of the time, and it generally works very well. But in this situation, manual control had to be made, not to go zigzag on the waves with all the consequences of the wellbeing of the people and stuff in the cabins :)

Our fuel level had come down to about 1/4 and thus wasnt as such critical yet, but we did want to refuel as soon as possible.

On the 30. Aug, we reached Alimera, which had a small marina which we couldnt fit in. They however have a nice refueling pier where we could also refill with water, so we did. 447 liters of diesel in total with 67 liters of them for the generator. And waterwise, I expect we filled about 1/2 ton or more.

The assistent there was quite helpful, and directed us to visit Aquadulce which on our maps didnt show much of a harbour at all. But we were told that they have a nice quite big marina with space for us. We departed and called Aquadulce on VHF channel 9 and got an english speaking lady online immediately. Yes... there were room for us. We told them that we would call them again when we were outside the marina and got told that they would wait for us.

Arriving at Aquadulce (36N48.85, 2W33.7) we were received by 2 marina assistants and was given space on the waiting quay. Although the two men didnt speak anything but Spanish at all, they were very helpful, and we somehow anyway got to understand eachother. Paperwork done and mooring for 2 days arranged. The marina is sheltered quite well, but the mountains on the back and by a dike on the front. Even though the wind was howling, we didnt feel anything in the boat when moored.

The price for mooring isnt cheap, but I would guess in the average of the southern coast of Spain.

The marina is full of restaurants of all kinds. It isnt really designed to 61 or bigger ships, and the waiting quay seems to be the best place to be with that size vessel.

On the 31. Aug, we went shopping and touristing around. Aquadulce is definitely a tourist city, but its really one of the more pleasent ones. I for one wouldnt mind live here and can easily recommend people to come and visit here. It got most things, and the life in the marina is quite pleasent. Smiling people and good vibes is what one finds here along with all a quite complete city with most shops placed around the citys main road a couple of hundred meters from the marina.

It however isnt a good place for repairs as far as I can tell. We havnt seen much reg. marine equipment shops or marine repair companies while going around the city. To be fair, we didnt cover the western part of the city, and for the rest, mostly we walked in the part south of the main road, so there could easily be shops we havnt seen.

Our plan is now to have another 3 day trip, skipping Gibraltar, and going directly to the south western part of Portugal before our next harbour visit.

We have been getting some interest in crewing with us, but still nothing have really come out of it. As we are currently doing quite ok Esmeralda and I, and we feel that the security is ok, we dont feel too bad about continuing as is if needed. As we are sailing both day and night, we obviously have had to make some watch arrangement between us. Just after dinner time, I take an approx. 2 hour sleep, and then when the sun has gone down, my 8-10 hour watch starts. During day time, Esmeralda keeps out watch while I get some sleep until I feel fresh again. In the situations where we have met for example fleets of trawlers with their nets deployed (we must have met the complete Spanish fishing armada by now) she wakes me up and I take charge until its safe for me to sleep again. It works ok for 3 day legs, and will probably also work for 5-6 days legs, as long as we are out of the major traffic lanes.