Rest, Sail, Rest

We have chosen to rest in San Jose on previous trips, this time the rest day was weather enforced – the winds were high and the swell was really high. Even in the marina we were getting tossed about aboard Gemini J. We were happy to rest here but the wind was too strong to even sit up on deck. We made the most of a relaxing day though, enjoying the views from our spot on the outer edge of the marina.

A wander around the bay in the morning was lovely, the red flags were flying, people were still swimming, but even with high waves this is a really beautiful place.

In the afternoon I went on a longer walk, this time I took a route Rosana and I had taken when we stayed here (minus Gemini J) over new year. Once again, fabulous views and scenery and this time at least I could wander mask free in the remote countryside (albeit a very short wander from the town).

The next day we were watching the weather very closely, the forecast had been very much 50/50 regarding us setting sail as the swell was still predicted to be quite high. The morning arrived and we felt that the weather had changed, we chatted to the yacht skipper next to us who was planning to leave. We wandered along the breakwater to see how the waves looked, we were surprised to find everything looked good for a departure that day. We didn’t rush too much as we knew the conditions were improving all the time so a bit later than usual we followed the yacht Kampala out of our berth, they were refuelling so ended up following us for a while. Out of the marina was very choppy but once we were out at sea the waves were in our favour so we made our way through the flying fish towards Cabo de Gata under sail. Once we rounded the Cabo we had ideal winds and waves and we had a fabulous sail across the Gulf of Almeria. This was brilliant for us as we have crossed this gulf a few times without the conditions in our favour previously and it had almost got to the stage where it was our nemesis.

We headed for the port of Aguadulce which had been recommended to us and were weren’t disappointed. It is beautiful here and we had to pull up at a waiting quay to do our paperwork before we were directed to a berth on the outer edge of the marina. There is lots going on here and we spent the evening watching small boats, jet ski’s and all types of water craft heading in and out of the marina.

The next day was Sunday and we were very much in two minds about leaving, the sailing conditions were fairly good according to the forecast but we both felt like a rest day and a bit more of an explore around this marina, so as it felt calm in the air we decided to take the rest day – it is Sunday after all.

I headed out for a walk at sunrise to check the place out properly since we had pretty much stayed aboard the night before. It is lovely here.

The breakwater we are next to is home to a protected cat colony – so there are cats everywhere and we even found evidence that we had a visitor overnight when we awoke this morning ! We checked the lockers to make sure it wasn’t a cat burglar 😉

We spent the day exploring the marina by dinghy – it was fabulous fun, we even managed to fit in a coffee break and then head back out for lunch too. Not your typical Sunday lunch but delicious nonetheless.

And finally although it’s a rest day we did some chores and after I finish writing we’ll be washing the boat down and filling up with water ready for the next part of our journey.