After the wedding, we returned to Almerimar to get Songster ready for launching and to
await the arrival of Pat and Caitlin who were joining us for some sailing down
the Costa del Sol along the Spanish coast.
Pat and Caitlin arrived in Almerimar full of tales of their
travels from London through France and Spain. After catching up and introducing them to the
boat we headed out bright and early the next day. This was Caitlin’s first
sailing experience and Pat’s first time on Songster
so we were hoping for good conditions. Well
the conditions were certainly benign – no wind, surprise, surprise! But it was a lovely 46 nm motor to Herrudura
Bay and we saw dolphins. We anchored and
had a quick evening swim before the traditional sundowners and a relatively
early night.
The next day we had another no wind motor to Benalmadena and
more dolphins en route. A huge pod
passed by us and a few came to swim in our bow wave. I had never seen so many dolphins all at
once. Dolphins two days in a row –
amazing.
The next day we motored again (no wind, sigh) to the lovely
town of Estepona. About 15 minutes out
of the marina we hit a heavy fog bank.
This was our first encounter with fog in Songster. Pat and I took
turns at the bow to watch for other boats. We turned on the radar and sounded our fog
horn. At worst, our visibility was only
about 100m. The fog lasted for about an
hour and fortunately there was only one other boat nearby, a yacht who we
contacted on the radio. It was an
interesting, if eerie, experience
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| Pat and Caitlin enjoying the calm seas |
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| Caitlin at the helm |
We arrived in Estepona early afternoon which gave us plenty
of time to explore this charming town.
There was a beautiful esplanade along the waterfront. The old town with its narrow streets was
decorated everywhere with flower pots along the walls of the buildings. Delightful!
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| Fish drying along the waterfront |
On the final day of sailing with Pat and Caitlin we had
wind. The genoa went out and Pat and
Caitlin sat up the front, tethered, enjoying getting their feet wet. But as we neared Gibraltar the wind increased
and we were bashing into the waves. We
had to turn on the motor to struggle through the waves and current and still were
making only about 3 knots. Caitlin loved
the waves splashing over the deck and even wanted to go out on the deck so she
could get wet. We convinced her that
even tethered it was much too dangerous.
I am glad though that she enjoyed the rough weather and was not scared.
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| The Rock of Gilbraltar and Jebel Musa - The two pillars of Hercules considered the limit of the known world in ancient Greek and Roman times |
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| Rounding the Rock |
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| Happy Pat |
We saw dolphins again on our last day of sailing. In our 5 years in the Med we have probably
seen dolphins only a dozen times. Caitlin and Pat were lucky enough to see them
three times in 4 days of sailing. So
although we sailed for only 4 days, Pat and Caitlin got the full taste of
sailing – no wind, wind, too much wind, fog and lots of dolphins.
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| Our view for the next 5 weeks - on a clear day.... |
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| ...and with the Levanter east wind forming clouds over the Rock |
