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!