After saying that we were going to relax, we decided to take a quick look at our propeller under the boat.  We had a new bearing fitted in July and Skipper Nigel wanted to make sure everything looked good….

He popped into the water for just a few minutes to take a look and came back aboard to report all is well.

After a siesta we took a walk around the marina and had a great steak with Judith and Poppy.  A fabulous evening and a lovely end to our time here in Benalmádena.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The next morning after a lovely sunrise we checked the weather forecast as usual and saw that there would be quite a swell. Once again we made our plans A (sail to Marbella), B (pull in at Fuengirola if conditions were too difficult), C (turn back if it was unbearable).  Skipper Nigel filled us up with fuel and off we went.  We did indeed encounter swell (not choppy waves) of around 1,5 – 2m but because it was behind us and there was no wind it wasn’t as bad as expected.  In fact we were on very low engine revs with some sail and we were being pushed along really fast.

• 

• 

• 

The added bonus of today was that we saw a pod of dolphins – they came really close to the boat, swimming by in the opposite direction.  It was a beautiful sight, there were lots of them but please accept my apologies for the terrible video …. you get the idea though.

As we approached Marbella quite Suddenly the wind picked up, and very dramatically.  All of a sudden we had 20 plus knot winds, combined with the swell we were soon making more than 6 knots speed which is very fast for us.  Skipper Nigel then  had the unenviable task of getting us into the marina at Marbella.  Things were quite hairy on the approach to the marina, added to which it has one of the “shortest” entries, so very little time between rounding the breakwater and mooring alongside on the waiting quay.   I couldn’t make my usual casual preparations with the fenders, I couldn’t move down the boat until we were almost upon the quay as I was hanging on and I certainly had to hang on with the waves round the breakwater, we were bobbing around crazily. Extremely luckily for us we were being blown onto the quay, which meant my step onto the dockside was fairly easy.  We tied up and skipper Nigel breathed a sigh of relief.  However the fun wasn’t over because after I did the paperwork in the office we had to move the boat onto a proper berth for the night.   The wind was blowing 22 knots and it was quite a challenge getting off the waiting quay (this time we were working against the wind). I had to work quickly to get the lines/ropes in the right place and Skipper Nigel had to read the water/current and wind to make sure we ended up safely on the other side of the marina. He did a superb job and anyone watching might have been none the wiser to how difficult it all was. We were smiling 10 minutes later enjoying our drinks on deck safely behind the harbour wall which the waves were crashing over!

I got up early in Caleta de Vélez and headed out for a morning walk.  Me and lots of others but the social distance measures here are extensive with a one way system along the paseo (which amazingly people really adhere to).  There is also a path created along the beach of compacted sand where it is easy to walk/run – doubling the capacity of the pedestrian area.  The architecture here is interesting too – there are new tower blocks in amongst the original cottages and even some older style beach huts which you don’t see a lot here.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Once again it was a gentle day at sea, we made very good time using our Genoa, mainsail and motor for the first couple of hours. It sounds odd to say that we had both sails out and the engine running but on this occasion the combination worked to push us along really well until the wind dropped entirely and we ended up taking both sails in.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We arrived in Benalmádena around 2pm and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon aboard watching the comings and goings of a different marina.

We are now on the Costa del Sol and it is still really warm here. The next morning I was up early again heading out for my walk.  I was out with the cleaning crews and sporty people once again.  There are two paseos (seaside walks) from this marina, the first one was closed for cleaning so I walked in the other direction and found lots of beach front hotels, restaurants and bars and barbecue restaurants on the beach too.  They seem to offer a speciality “fish on a stick” dish, perhaps we should try it sometime.   The sunrise as I came back was beautiful.

• 

• 

• 

We had a really exciting day because we went to visit Judith and Poppy’s new yacht…..we are so happy for them both to be back on the water and berthed in this marina too.  We spent a happy morning talking boats (and buying flags and assorted other bits in the chandlery).  Now for an afternoon relaxing…..

We enjoyed a fabulous rest day from marina del Este, we hired a car and drove up into the mountains to Poppy and Judith’s to join Poppy’s birthday celebrations.  It was great to meet a lovely group of people and join the fun.  I relaxed so much I failed to take photos (epic fail for a blog writer!!) We had a lovely day and the next morning we drove down the hill again to rejoin Gemini J and set sail (well set motor actually)

• 

• 

• 

• 

It was a nice day but as you can see from the photos, very calm so once again we were motor sailing.  We had a very relaxing afternoon ….. one of us relaxed a little more than the other…..

• 

Before we knew it we were at Torrox lighthouse and from there is was a short run into the marina at Caleta de Vélez.   We arrived earlier than we had expected and took a walk to the beach where I chose a fish dish from the menu at the beach bar.  Note the word bar, this wasn’t a restaurant by any stretch of the imagination but the food was outstanding.  We were really surprised and very happy.  We had, had a wonderful couple of days with a sunset view from the boat too.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We awoke early to the patter of feet on the deck….we had found our imposter…..

Not the best photo but it was before sunrise ! One of the beautiful kitties from the cat colony had climbed aboard for a little explore. He might have been looking for food but there is plenty of food and water provided for the cats all along the breakwater at special feeding stations. We made sure he wasn’t aboard when we pulled up the gangplank 😉 As we departed we saw that people were aboard the Ocean Explorer boat which was moored opposite us. It had a submersible vehicle on board for exploring maybe next time we can get to see it.

Onwards for us towards the port of Adra, very calm waters and just about enough wind to sail but in all honesty not really. We did sail the first few miles along the coastline past Roquetas de Mar but very slowly and we eventually put the motor on.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The marina at Adra is interesting to say the least. We arrived at around 4pm and berthed ourselves alongside, being careful to pick a space between the anti-seagull tape that is fluttering between the majority of the electricity stations along the pontoon. There are hardly any boats here in the marina and we waited for the marinero to arrive to explain that since we had booked online I needed to go to the port office to check in because there is no computer in the portacabin that serves as an office on the marina dockside. To be fair there are big signs explaining that there is a future development for the “puerto deportivo” but watch this space, there is no building work at the moment. When I got to the port office the boss was most excited because apparently we were the first boat to use the online booking system! I was made to feel like quite the novelty. We had a brilliant evening watching the sunset and the various activities of people wandering about the port.

We also watched a galleon from the year 1905 which we had assumed was simply berthed there – but later in the evening it filled up with people going off for a sunset boat trip. It was fun to watch them both on the way out and the return, the children aboard were having a great time.

The next day we awoke to stronger weather as we had anticipated, it was quite cloudy and we expected a swell too. We had a plan A, B and C in case the weather got too much and indeed it was quite choppy as we departed the marina. We decided to see how we felt and once we were underway and with some sail up the boat smoothed out and we started to make progress.

An hour or so later the sea and wind really picked up and it was fabulous sailing conditions, although as it started to pick up a little more (2 metre waves and 20 knot winds) we had to work hard to sail the boat and we were ready to stop as we reached Motril (plan B – we had already exhausted plan C by not turning back) unfortunately the marina was completely full. We had no choice but to press on towards marina del este and go for our plan A. I won’t lie, it was really hard going but good fun at the same time – we really had to concentrate on the helm and there was certainly no going down below decks.

As we sailed past Motril we had seen a fishing boat, a little later we saw a suspicious blue container in the water – quite a difficult spot as it completely blended in. As we got closer we realised there were two, they did have smaller yellow buoys attached but were still very difficult to spot. We had to do a very swift tack to avoid them.

Very soon afterwards the conditions completely changed and we had to bring in the sails, we motored in to marina del este in almost flat calm conditions, exhausted but happy. We were moored in a more central location in the marina than in previous years and we had a great view of the rock that keeps the boats sheltered.

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.

We really know the way by now and we departed our alongside berth at around 9am to head towards Cabo de Gata and one of our favourite marinas, San Jose. Garrucha is a very quiet marina and overshadowed by the industrial nature of it’s breakwater where huge ships dock to load what we think is gypsum. The night before we had watched the tugs take one ship out and less than half an hour later another one arrived. The lorries started loading it before 8am the next morning.

The conditions were perfect for sailing and it was not long before we turned off the engine and sailed away, following the coastline past Mojacar and Carboneras before rounding a very slight headland ( we did motor sail for a couple of hours at this point to get us to a better sailing position to use the wind). We had to do a fair few sail changes during the day to keep the wind in the sails but it kept us on our toes and it was good fun. All in all a fantastic day and another 38 nautical miles covered (because of the extra needed to make the most of the wind, it should have been around 30 if we could have travelled direct)

In the evening we headed to a restaurant and had a classic San Jose offering of “paradilla de pescado” – a plate of grilled fish to share overlooking the beach, it was a great end to a fabulous day.

With a plan to set sail towards Gibraltar we headed out of Cartagena on Tuesday morning. The weather was cloudy and fairly calm. We were hoping for wind later in the day and certainly in the afternoon when it was forecast to pick up to around 10-12 knots which should be nice sailing weather. As we rounded the pontoon it was strange to see no boats – not even the orange rescue ships that are usually there. In the past we have headed out of the marina past a massive cruise ship and sometimes two, but we haven’t seen one in Cartagena since February.

We set out towards Cabo Tinoso and decided that perhaps the conditions would enable us to get to Garrucha, so we duly set the heading and tested the autohelm (if you remember we had changed the fluxgate compass which is part of it’s operation). Unfortunately we couldn’t hold a course and we think it needs re-calibrating, the conditions were just slightly choppy for us to do that there and then. We will have to try another day to see if we can complete the fix by another calibration of the compasses.

We were very excited about an hour into the journey when we set sail proper, putting out the mainsail and genoa sail and switching off the engine. 20 minutes later the wind dropped and we were back to using our mainsail and motor. It was quite comfortable and we headed at 240 degrees all day to get to Garrucha. The only real excitement was a frightening moment when a large speedboat approached us from behind really, really fast. I was freaking out thinking they hadn’t seen us but it was quite the opposite as the Guardia Civil slowed down and pulled alongside us (at a distance) – they gave us quite a scan, looking at us through binoculars. We were expecting a call on the radio but they simply sped off again, quite an experience. Luckily it has happened to us once before and we expect it will happen again. The water is very, very quiet, we saw precious few sailboats and the odd trawler. We heard on the radio of a migrant boat with 42 people on board in difficulty (as usual, “keep a sharp lookout”) which is becoming increasingly regular to hear.

You can see from the photos that the weather improved during the day and we arrived in Garrucha at about half past 6 after a long day, but we did cover nearly 49 nautical miles so we were happy to get on our way.

The day started with coffee at the bar midway, which is just under the aqueduct that brings water from the north of the country to the south (if I understood correctly). The mist made it look stunning today.After we arrived at the boat there was the small matter of putting the impeller back in it’s place.  We had taken it back to Pinoso to get the impeller shaft removed at the garage, which was done successfully – it’s amazing what can be done with the right tool.  Anyway, Skipper Nigel did the fix, then found we needed to replace a jubilee clip. Cue my job to head to the chandler’s and get more jubilee clips.  We cleaned the engine bay and tested the fix, and we’re ready to go. While the fix was taking place I took out my pusar’s cap and went off provisioning.  Gemini J is now fully loaded ready for our trip. So much so in fact that Skipper Nigel had to readjust the fenders because we are sitting lower in the water ! Still, I did bring on a fair few bottles of water, fanta limón and very importantly, 60 litres of fuel. That should keep us going for a whileJust the weather forecast to check again, routes to review and discuss and we should be off tomorrow.

After fluxgate last weekend (page down for the previous update) Skipper Nigel still found some small spaces to work in this weekend, replacing a battery, the fuel filter and the impeller! All of which involved contorting himself into various positions to get access to do the jobs.

A check of the batteries revealed the need to get right under the sink – funnily enough below the new fluxgate compass…..to replace one of the 3 batteries. We had two replaced when we were in Majorca a couple of years ago now, but one was over 3 years old and a check of it (after it had been removed!) revealed it was a good decision to make the change.

It wasn’t quite as hot as last weekend thank goodness and we got through all the jobs, we also started to load up ready for our trip – hopefully we set sail early next week. This meant that the fenders needed to be re-adjusted because Gemini J is now sitting lower in the water thanks to our provisioning (mainly water, water and more water with the odd bottle of branston pickle and brown sauce) We also took off all our fuel canisters ready to re-fill before the trip.

For the technically minded amongst you, you will notice that there is a slight issue with the impeller shaft, the old one is stuck on! We went to various places to try to get hold of a tool to remove it without success. This was mainly because we were trying to achieve something on the very last weekend in August and pretty much all small businesses were closed. We had to admit defeat and we will start again on Monday. This will be the last job to get finished before we can set sail on another trip. The weather is actually very unsettled this weekend so we wouldn’t have been setting sail anyway. The barometer is ready 1006 which is the lowest we have seen on our new digital weather station.

On Friday we had a small motor boat moor up next to us in the marina, they had to take shelter, they weren’t really planning on an overnight stay but the swell was too much for their little boat Alfie. They were hoping to head back to the shelter of the mar menor on Saturday but they set out and came straight back, conditions weren’t right. Let’s see if they are still there when we return on Monday or Tuesday – it still looks quite stormy to us!

In amongst this I went off on a couple of nice morning walks around Cartagena, but the weather really wasn’t good for sailing with 2m plus waves. Let’s hope it improves next week.

Welcome back to our blog – not much sailing so far in 2020 thanks to various issues – including Skipper Nigel getting his knee fixed and of course that little thing called “lockdown”.

July and August has been catch up time on Gemini J with the hope that we can set sail again in September. We knew we had a small problem with our Autohelm which is the autopilot system that can steer the boat for us, but we hadn’t really had the opportunity to investigate fully. We managed to get out sailing in June/July a few times and do some testing.

We narrowed the problem down to our fluxgate compass – which is not the compass that we look at everyday on the console, it is located out of sight and away from any other objects that could interfere with it’s flux system. Now, I didn’t even know that a fluxgate compass was the name of the one that links to the autohelm system – so that was a new word for me. It works on a flux system that has coils of wire which use electricity to make the signal stronger (I learnt that too, it’s a bit more complicated but that’s about the limit of my ability to explain, thankfully Skipper understands it much better than me). It seems that one of the coils wasn’t working on ours, since we could use the autohelm on some compass headings but not all of them. We were missing around 245 to 0 degrees.

Back home to the internet – a few searches later and a replacement fluxgate was ordered. We had to wait a while for it to arrive from the UK but this weekend it was here – waiting at the marina when we arrived.

Friday morning we were up early and emptied the portside locker which is where we believed the fluxgate to be…..this was no small job and it was really, really hot too. That is the locker where we keep all our fuel, spare ropes/lines, cleaning products, table, entry hatch, spare anchor, spare tiller …….the list goes on, as you can imagine it’s quite a big locker! The next step was for Skipper Nigel to get inside and remove the fluxgate…..

Not the easiest of jobs – which was made a little more difficult by the fact that it wasn’t actually where we thought it was ….. and there began the search.

We knew it should be somewhere near-ish to the centre line of the boat, and located away from other electronics etc. So we had to start looking elsewhere, we emptied the locker on the starboard side, not there. We went down below, we took up all the floorboards, nowhere to be found there. We emptied the aft cabin, and that took some doing, not there either.

We had the boat to pieces, we took apart the bed in the forecabin, even though we knew it should be nearer to the aft of the boat. We searched all the lockers under the seats, we even looked in the engine compartment, again, we knew it shouldn’t be there either. All the time we were getting hotter and hotter! It was probably the hottest I have ever felt on the boat, but all the time we became more determined to find that flux!!! We searched forums on the internet, we searched google.

Finally – Skipper Nigel searched the coffee/tea, cups and plates cupboard and there it was ! Plain as day, not easy to see without crouching down but still, the easiest place of all the places we had searched!!!!!

Ridiculous really, but finally we were just so relieved to have found it – and that it was easy to switch over we changed it there and then!

The only thing left to do was put everything back in it’s place and of course test the new one.

We managed to get out the next day – but conditions were not in favour of using autohelm, they were in favour of sailing – so with 20 knot winds we sailed away……the testing of the new fluxgate can wait for another day.