Aguadulce, Almerimar and onwards

Below: Reception quay at Aguadulce and, right, pray for a good forecast on the fuel berth at Almerimar!

August 1st - the days certainly fly when you've nothing to do! We left our berth at 09.00hrs with very light winds on the nose. It proved a long day with sails up and down and engine on and off as the wind played games with us. We eventually motored into Aguadulce (translated "sweet water") at 21.00hrs, tying up alongside the waiting pontoon until we were allocated a berth. It was a bit of a shock to be told that we needed to part with 49 Euros, we had come to realise that the fees often bore little relationship to the facilities offered - the marina was OK but we had enjoyed better for less!

We spent a couple of days at Aguadulce, mooching about and mainly waiting for a decent forecast -it was not a favourite stopover and whilst we anxious to move on the weather plotted against it.

On the third day our Navtex wouldn't pick up a signal so we motored over to the waiting quay to check in the office for the forecast. It seemed we could look forward to strong winds later in the day but the winds would be up our skirt and we should make Almerimar in the available window.

So, off we went, motorsailing initially but we were soon enjoying a stiff breeze and storming along under full sail. The wind soon started veering and eventually we were hard on the wind until we turned the corner and headed for Almerimar, again enjoying a broad reach and 6kts+ on the log.

We slipped into the narrow entrance together with a couple of other yachts who had kept us company for the previous couple of hours and tied up ouside the rather grand port office at 14.15. The overnight charge was a more modest 18 Euros - the reason soon apparent as there was lots of empty berths, for some reason the marina did not seem terribly popular although we found it a very pleasant spot.

The marina had been developed as a "village", the berths set amid large apartment blocks and associated shops and restaurants. The two blocks next to our berth appeared to be totally empty, indeed had never been occupied, and even the sales office was empty and a touch neglected. Some developer appeared to have been disappointed!

Nonetheless, we enjoyed our stay, had a big shop at the nearby Mercadona and used the trolley to trundle our goodies back to the boat. We also enjoyed a drink or two in the local bars in rather attractive nearby Plazas. There were areas where the development worked quite well and the local squares were lively in the evenings.

We also found a nearby internet cafe and caught up with family and news from home.

We topped up water on the 5th August and were away by 10.00. We had planned to anchor at Cala Honda but after motorsailing all the way found the bay was filled with buoys and local boats and no space left - not what our pilot book had lead us to believe!

We motorsailed on to Motrel where we were able to find a pleasant spot to anchor and were soon able to escape the extreme heat by leaping into the crystal clear waters.