Wednesday 14th May.

Yesterday we crossed from Smir to Marbella. We had good wind from the west and sailed over 7 knots most of the way! It was fun dodging the tankers in the Straits again! We were pretty tired by we reached our intended marina but they turned us away saying they were full- not that we could see! We had to go back to Marbella marina and it cost us €35.50 for the night in a 15 metre berth! We set off again this morning along the southern coast of Spain. We sailed only half a mile offshore so we could see the holiday resorts of Fuengirola, Torremolinos and Malaga. It’s a bit chilly on board and we haven’t seen any dolphins since Gibraltar.

Ah! Now we’ve seen a big shark and it’s warmer too. We can see snow on the High Sierras from here - amazing1

Thursday 15th May.

We anchored last night in Ensanada del los Berengueles – just northeast of Marina del Este. As we approached very close to the beach, I was on the helm and noticed quite a few people taking the late afternoon sun! Dave was too busy to notice it was a nudist beach! We had an interesting but quite rolly night at anchor and set off this morning for Almerimar.  Unfortunately there isn’t any wind so we’re having to motor. I had heard about the polytunnels in this area but to see acres and acres of plastic covering every available piece of flat ground is something!

Friday 16th May.

Almerimar marina is everything we expected. Everything for the yachty is here. Restaurants, supermarkets, chandlers, laundrettes etc are close at hand – we even have internet on our boat! It’s still very cheap as the ‘off’ season doesn’t end until the end of May but it’s just lacking in character and it’s not very Spanish – most of the voices we can hear are British! Still it’s a good time to stock up again, get cleaned up, and use the internet to catch up with everyone: so if you have skype, expect a call!

At last I’ve had time to update our blog. The good news is that we are on the move again. We left Rota last week after an emotional farewell to the many friends we had made over the winter. After a pleasant day sailing we reached Barbate for the night before setting off the next day with a favourable tide but very little wind, to pass through the Straits of  Gibraltar and enter the Mediterranean. Fiona was lucky enough to be blessed with an escort of a pod of dolphins for our entry into Gibraltar Bay.

We have loved our stay in Gibraltar, climbing the ‘Rock’, enjoying the wildlife, and shopping in the Main Street. Unfortunately our ancient laptop finally gave up the ghost and we have had to invest in a new one. Hopefully we will be better able to keep in touch as we have all the latest technology including webcam!

Tomorrow, if the weather is as expected we will sail to Ceuta a Spanish enclave on the Moroccan Mediterranean coast. From there we will take a trip to view some Moroccan sites and then sail to Smir Marina. We are very excited as the African coast beckons!

Hi every one. Sorry that we’ve taken so long to update our blog – but we have had such a great time here in the bay of Cadiz for winter. We are still enjoying Rota and have made many friends and had plenty to do with lots of social engagements going on. Dave has been enjoying having a few beers and watching the rugby in the local Irish bar with some of the other yachties and I have been trying my hand at some sketching and painting of the glorious sights around here.

We are getting the boat ready for setting off and watching the weather but it isn’t settled yet and it will probably be April before we set sail. In February we had some winter weather here!  It was very windy for about 12 days and then we had a couple of very wet days but now the sun is shining and we are going for tapas on the sea front to catch a bit of sun. Yesterday it was 30 degrees in the cockpit!

We are looking forward now to places new and exciting. We plan to go first to Morocco as we are so close and then make for the Balearics. We have heard so many bad stories about how expensive the marinas are there that we don’t know how long we’ll stay. We may sail to the south of France but I would like to end up in Spain for next winter as I’ve put so much effort into learning Spanish. We’ll see - a lot depends on the winds and weather!

Well - better get ready for tapas now. Let us know how you are. Keep in touch. Love and best wishes, Dave and Sue xx

We agreed that The Bull Fight was a bit of Spanish culture we just had to experience and so we went to a big end of season event at Sanlucar de Barrameda. It certainly was a breath-taking spectacle- but probably one we won´t have the stomach to repeat again!! 

We had a fantastic time last week when son Rob and partner Nadine came for a visit. We packed in a lot of sight-seeing, sailing, swimming and sunbathing and even a trip to the Bull Fight!

We´ve made many friends here in Rota. Here we are having coffee with fellow sailing nomads. Norman (on the right) has gone back to uk for winter, Christian (second left) has set off for Brazil and Tim and Caroline have gone South. We wish them all well in their travels.

We´re in the Bay of Cadiz and we`ve experienced our first rain for seven and a half weeks - eat your heart out in UK!! We had exciting thunderstoms whilst at anchor and the winds reached nearly 40 knots but we were quite safe on Fiona. We are currently treating ouselves to a few nights in Rota marina - the only nights in a marina for nealy a month. The city is very beautiful with tiny narrow streets with covered moorish arches. We`re only 60 miles from Africa here so we´re really feeling the heat! As its only 4 miles from Cadiz, we can visit the city by fast catamaran in a few minutes. There are also good beaches and anchorages and the area has plenty of interesting towns such as Jerez and Seville within easy reach so we´re tempted to stay here for a while - maybe for winter? It`s a good place for people to come out and see us - any offers?

We had a fantastic time in the Rias but it seems so far away, as we´re in Faro in Sothern Portugal now.

We are now in the lovely town of Baiona at the southern tip of the Spanish Rias. We’ve had a wonderful month exploring the Rias in mostly great weather. It’s perfect for sailing with predominately northerly winds which have blown us steadily south. We’ve been taking our time as there is so much to see and so many anchorages! Since leaving A Coruna we’ve only had 2 nights in a marina. However here in Baiona we intend to spend a few days in the marina before setting sail for Portugal.

We’ve met plenty of other cruisers since arriving in Spain – we’re actually berthed next to a couple from Cork here! Everyone from Northern Europe seem to be sailing south and you can’t blame them as the sun is shining and its around 25 degrees every day. It’s so cheap here too and the tapas and wine are wonderful. The people of Spain are fairly friendly but rather reserved. Our Spanish is improving but communication is still a little difficult and we’re finding it not quite like the friendly welcome we received in Ireland.

A Coruna in the sunshine!     
Dave at the beach
Sue ready for going out on the town - vino and tapas!