21.4. Santa Pola-Mazarron. First 30 miles we had a nasty swell and even with the wind we couldn’t make it with the sails so we motorsailed to Cabo de Palos and then turned west. After that it was very nice sailing for the last 33 miles to Mazarron which was a familiar place. We arrived late but did get to the showers and theb to bed after 13 hours at sea.

22.4. Southbound with a nice light 4-6 m/s wind with the genaker. Very nice sailing for 35 miles, 11 miles with the engine. The genaker takes about 20 minutes to set up but it’s very efficient and because of the furling system it’s very easy and fast to take down. The night was closing in so we decided to stop at Carboneras which is a fishing harbor with no place for visiting boats. We moored at the fueling berth and figured that nobody will take notice. I rained a little bit after we got to the harbor.

23.4. Carboneras-Almerimar. 53 miles with sails all the way. In the beginning we had to use the engine on the side to help the autohelm but after that we made very good speed with genoa only, the average speed was around 6 knots, 53 miles in total. In Almerimar the reception was nice and efficient as before and we did get our old berth at darcena 3. In the evening we went out to watch Champions league and at the bar we met three guys on their way to Finland. One of them had bought a Moody 33 her in Spain and they were sailing it home.

24.4. Almerimar. A new gas bottle from the chandlery and provisions from Mercadona. Finally I had the time and the place to flush the water tanks. At firsta I pumped them empty and put in some citric acid which was left in the tanks for 6 hours. After pumping the acid out I flushed the tanks  three times. I used like 2 cubic meters of water. We took our quilt out to get some breeze and while doing that we accidentally dropped our little bear and the bigger piglet in to the water. Nina discovered this disaster after I left for the chandlery. The bear was floating right beside the boat and the piglet was found about 100 meters away. The finnish guys came in for drinks in the evening, the first finns for a month we have spoken to. It was very nice.

25.4 The westerly wind was strong all the night. According to the weather charts it looked like we had a two day window to get to Gibraltar. By morning the wind slowed down to 4 m/s so we decided to leave. At the sea the going was alright for a while but after an hour the westerly wind was picking up to 12 m/s and we decided it was useless to push against it and took refuge in Adra. The marina was big and empty. There were only a few boats in the whole marina. The guardia civil came to greet us and made us fill the papers. Made his day, I guess, otherwise he wouldn’t have nothing to do all day. The oficina was luckily closed for the siesta. Some people say that here they either have siesta or fiesta. That day it was fiesta with all kinds of firecrackers, tivolis and stuff. After lunch the wind suddenly stopped and away we went. The sea was much calmer this time and we decided to motor ahead. Because of the grim forecasts we eventually went ahead all night and in the morning were able to set sails for 15 miles and arrived in Gibraltar by midday. The night was beautiful with the full moon and while Nina was sleeping the dolphins came to a visit. Scared the shit out of me. So we arrived at a familiar Marina Bay harbor after noon. Not any too soon because our fuel tanks are empty, one has only fumes left and the other isn’t in much better shape. The fuel here is cheaper because Gib is taxfree.

27.4. We woke up after a good 10 hour sleep. There was a fiesta day here, too! They celebrated a 200 year old treaty between England and Spain about the ownership of Gib. The matter is still undisputed and the Gib is a pain to Spaniards as I wrote before. We saw some marching bands and all this very British military heritage. Nina did get a haircut at her usual hairdresser. The day was very windy as predicted.