Tuesday - 4 September 2018

Penon de las Caballas to Adra

Well, it’s been quite an eventful day on the sailing front.

We had a relaxed start; much needed after two nights of disturbed sleep. The wind died each night but there was a swell, causing the boat to roll. It was not easy to get to sleep.  Anchoring, some folks believe, is meant to give you a natural motion, in tune with the waves. Not so where we were.

Steve had a work conference call, so we slipped anchor at about 10.45, in light airs, but enough to sail. Midday, we had to motor for an hour, when the wind died. Then we restarted sailing and switched off the iron donkey again.

The view from Steve's "office"

The wind built until we had Force 6, so we were cracking along at 8 - 9 knots.

The anchorage we had planned to go in, was supposed to give shelter from the westerly wind, but it didn’t and, after two attempts to lay the anchor, in the 20 plus knots of breeze, we gave up. The anchor would not bight in the shingle bottom.

Steve re-planned the route and we took off, back into the wind, heading east in the west wind, giving us fairly challenging downwind sailing, in the large swell. The waves make the boat roll, requiring absolute concentration of the helm.

It is intriguing to see a barren coastline with the hills covered in polly-tunnels. Apparently, this is where a lot of the UK’s out of season vegetables are grown, giving us, for example, tomatoes in the winter. The white sheets make a patchwork over the land.

During the day, the repetition of the PanPan message has come through on the VHF many times, asking us to watch out for a rib, with 52 people on board, which had left Morocco, bound for Spain. We also heard a NATO aeroplane, taking to some of the ships in the area, to check out who they were.

Sadly, late afternoon, came an announcement that a dead body had been found in the water to the south and east of us. I find this very distressing to hear of these desperate people. After two days of the authorities looking for them, I suspect the news of the rest will be grim.

Having continued to make good speed, we arrived in Puerto de Adra early evening, feeling pretty exhausted. The marina here is barely used; we’re not sure why. A cheery marinaro came to take our lines. We suspected it was the most excitement he had had all day.

We had supper on board, too tired to clean up to find somewhere to eat ashore. That will our treat tomorrow. We are past the Costa del Sol and back into proper Spain, so we should be able to get an authentic Spanish meal here.

Distance covered today	37	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	1589	nautical miles
Distance covered 2018	2309	nautical miles
Tricia (and Steve and Steve)