Thursday / Friday - 13 & 14 September 2018

It’s been a while since we found a decent fish shop, Aguadulce is unusually not a fishing port, and so there is no catch local to the town. This means that there are also less seabirds around, although from the noise emanating from the various mast heads, and the mess on some boat’s decks, this is a little hard to believe. Having asked where the best local source of fish was, we were directed to the largest of the local supermarkets, on the far side of town. We mixed a run along the seafront with a walk to locate the supermarket, and were impressed by the quantity and quality of fish on offer. We fixed on sea bass, one of our favourites, and half the price that it is as home, selected the individual fish that we wanted, and waited while they were cleaned with the same skill and care that we have seen in the fish markets everywhere in Spain and Portugal. We noted that the locals were all buying smaller and cheaper fish, but it seemed like too much of a bargain to miss.  We will be back.

Every tray has a label stating when it was caught, where and by which boat.

We spent most of the rest of each day working our way through the list of jobs.  We have been to the laundry, and again, we will be back. There is much more to do.  We have also had visits from the rigger and sailmaker.  We have asked for a rig inspection, but the rigger has hurt his back and could not go up the mast. This has been rescheduled for Monday. The sailmaker took our jib away for assessment. Hopefully we will hear the verdict on Monday as well.  A guy came who will make a cover to protect our teak decks over the winter.  Continuous exposure to the sun will not do them any good.  It is quite strange that we are having to consider such a different set of climatic conditions to last year, when the boat was going to be in a shed and the temperature would be substantially sub zero outside. Thinking back to the start of the year, when we had 10 cms of snow on the decks seems like a lifetime ago. This year ice and frost seem a much more remote possibility, and although the marina boss says that the air is damp in the winter, we are thinking that it will not be anything like as bad as we have been used to.

We have stripped the safety gear from the outside of the boat and packed it away, and also prepared the tender’s outboard for a period of disuse.  This was not too hard, given that we have not had to use the tender or the outboard at all this year. I am sure that they will come into their own next year. 

We continue to be entertained by the 2 scouse brothers on the boat next to ours. They are inspiringly fit and healthy, let alone for their age. They seem to have done just about everything during their lifetimes, and have a constant flow of stories.  The older, Peter is the more talkative, he could talk for England, and his brother gets on with the work that they are supposed to be doing and chips in from time to time.  We can hardly get a word in edgeways, but they are fabulous guys. They have volunteered to take us into town on Tuesday, when we start our journey home, and that will be very welcome.

Distance covered today	0	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	1616	nautical miles
Distance covered 2018	2336	nautical miles
Steve (and Tricia)