Andalucia

Ria Formosa to Ayamonte

Nice leisurely sail to Ayamonte, yes we have been here before but is a nice short sail east and get’s us back to Spain.  15-20knots for pretty much the entire journey so lovely sail, Abbie was lucky to have such a calm and successful sail for her first trip.

We explored bit more of Ayamonte and the Ria the second time around although did have pretty much an entire day washing (6 buckets of hand washing!), cleaning, fill taking, shopping, etc. The second day we woke early to catch the tide up the Ria, we had seen in various blogs that the Ria was supposed to be exceptionally pretty with lots of scenic anchorages so we didn’t want to miss out.  After 2 hours of motoring into the wind we were a bit disappointed, yes is was lined by fields and we did see a few cows but not much else. The thought of anchoring somewhere in the Ria overnight did not seem that attractive idea as the wind whistled down the Ria all night and most of the morning and with a strong tide would not be the idyllic stop you would hope for but we were pleased we went to have a look. We had a nice to sail back to the marina and relaxed for the remainder of the day.

Cows!

Ayamonte to Cadiz

As this was Abbie’s first big sail she couldn’t have been luckier as we had force 4/5 most of the journey without much swell although not that she knew much for the first 3 hours as she slept!  It was still a long day (Mark and I questioned why we had decided to get up at 8am for a run with a big sail ahead!) as we were unable leave until after 11am due to tides and we had around 70 miles to get to Cadiz.  We arrived into Rota about midnight, anchored off the beach at Rota and finally got into bed around 1am.  By about 3am there was a strong?????  And a swell rolling into the beach.  We tried to forget about it and sleep through it but no chance and by 5am we were all back up with tea, hot chocolate, biscuits and a beating into the wind to an alternative anchorage – Puerto Sherry – part of the Sherry Triangle.  By 7am we had found some shelter and were able to get back to bed!

As was expected we were all exhausted the next day but did manage a swim off the boat.  By 5pm as we knew the wind was only going to increase and we didn’t want another sleepless night we sailed over the Bay of Cadiz to the marina in actual Cadiz, only about 4 miles but spirited sail in over 30 knots of wind.  It was nice to be tied up safe in the marina with the wind howling all around us but earplugs went in and we all settled down to good nights sleep.

Cadiz

Cadiz for the second time was just as interesting and still did not get to see everything I would have liked to.  We were lucky that the Cathedral was open although only a very limited area it was very impressive.  We had another trip to the Archeological museum I am still amazed with the artifacts that have been found, there are 2 sarcophagi which are from 5 BC and are fully intact, amazing.  On the site of Cadiz there has also been a roman town, Gades  and there are some amazing fully intact roman statues. All very interesting.  The only problem is that Cadiz marina is a bit of trek to the town and with Cadiz being so hot it is a bit difficult with the food shopping!

Cadiz to Sancti Petri

Left Cadiz in the cloud with a few spots of rain and headed into the wind, first up wind sailing we had done in some time and what was supposed to be 15 miles quick sail was a bit longer than expected – almost double.  Abbie slept through it all and we managed to dodge the rain and arrived in the sunshine.

Sancti Petri

Sancti Petri is really pretty estuary, the pilot booked had described as deserted and Caribbean like beaches, it was a lot busier than we expected with mooring buoys and a range of watersports from the beach – kayaks, windsurfing, kite surfing, dinghies.  We managed to find a nice spot to anchor away from most of the activity although we enjoyed watching the newbies learning to waterski.  We all attempted to swim off the boat which was fun as the tides were so strong it was like an endless pool and you went nowhere and if you were lucky you did not get swept away from the boat.  We managed a trip ashore where it was easy to tie up in the marina but there really was nothing other than the watersport centres, one café/bar and not even a shop but our stay was short so this was not a problem. 

Anchored at Sancti Petri

Sancti Petri to Barbate

Leisurely start and a gentle motor to catch the last of the ebb tide out of the lagoon. It was a beautiful morning sunny and clear with a light breeze, we sailed for a couple of hours until Cape Trafalgar should have been in sight, but we were “treated” to our first taste of fog which was really no fun at all. There were thick banks of the stuff and it was eerie drifting into the wall, through and out the other side, especially as it was still sunny, but visibility was down to a few 100 ft. At one point a local fishing boat hove into view and made a bee line straight for us. We were aware that it can be rough along this stretch of coast and the swell had been getting steeper as the sea shoaled near the cape. The fisherman was quite animated and seemed to be shouting a warning about rough seas ahead and telling us to alter course. He hung around until I altered course further out to sea and then seemed content to leave us to our own devices.  An hour or so later the fog lifted and there was our destination Barbate.

Barbate

There was a really nice beach 5 minutes walk from the marina so we went for a cool down as soon as we arrived.  The beach was backed with pine trees which is typical of that area of Andalucía – as in Tarifa further down the coast where we have been on holiday. Barbate is actually quite a large fishing port luckily the fishing port is not too close to the marina so you do not get the wash from the early morning fishermen.

We never had time to see much of the town, Mark and I had a bit of a run in the morning and what we saw along the sea front was very Spanish and not very touristy.  We made the decision that we should leave in the afternoon to make progress before the Levante set in (strong wind from East) as it was rapidly approaching when we needed to be in Gibraltar for Abbie to catch her flight home.

Barbate to La Linea/Gibraltar

We set of aiming to reach Tarifa to anchor for the night, as we left the wind was 5 knots within about 20 mins only just out of the harbor and sail up we had 20 knots on the nose and this only increased.  After about 3 hours of making very slow progress into big swell and increasing winds we did what we never do, turned and ran back to the marina.  By the time we returned we had time to shower, eat and get to bed before getting up to leave again on the next tide at 3am! This seemed to be our best chance of getting to Gib as once the levante winds set in they blow very strong during the day and sometimes for up to 10 days in a row.

Winds were light when we left the marina so we had to motor and unfortunately this continued into the morning.  Then the fog appeared, this made it damp and cold.  It was the worst fog we have ever been in we could barely see Magnums pulpit lights and resorted standing on the bow and blowing our fog horn every 2 mins, scary stuff. Abbie got up to join us for a bit a 5am but after a couple of hours she was back to sleep. I then deserted Mark and had to have a nap.  We passed to Tarifa lighthouse and could only just see the light, no land or actual lighthouse but we could here the fog horn.  It was a long morning but it was pretty spectacular approaching Gibraltar from the sea.

This was our last sailing day with Abbie and still no dolphins L

The fog!

Gibraltar in the distance