Spain is Fantastic

Been a bit remiss with the blog for the last few days so will try and catch up below without boring too many readers with too much info.  We have been in Spain a couple of weeks now and are all just loving it.  We had visited before in 2005 with a short trip to Barcelona and had enjoyed it - beginning to wonder why it's taken us so long to get back. 

We pushed on from Gibraltar after only a couple of days and berthed the boat at a place called Benalmadena just a few miles west of Malaga - Scott’s birthplace!  The Mediterranean was flat calm and we had to motor the whole way.  The marina is huge and both it and the surroundings are what you would picture for the Costa del Sol - very built up, plenty of tourists from Northern Europe and package tourism everywhere.  It was however a good base for the next few days.

Sam and Scott said goodbye to Andy and Lars, the last of our Atlantic crew members, over the weekend and then did a major clean, polish, wax of the boat before heading off to Seville on Monday (12th May).  They spent the day getting to Seville using local transport and had a great time just relaxing and taking it real easy just grabbing buses and trains whenever and wherever they could.  It was great to travel this way with Sam - no doubt he will be off doing this sort of thing on his own in a few short years.  Nic, Calley and Heather flew in at the same time from Paris and we all met up in the evening at a hotel.  It was a joyous reunion and everyone is glad that we are all back together again after almost a month apart.  In that time Nic and Calley have had their own mini tour visiting New York, Copenhagen, London and Paris and taking in many of the sights.  They even managed lunch on Mothers Day in the beautiful Jules Verne restaurant atop the Eiffel Tower. 

The gang,s back together

We all met up at the hotel around 9 o’clock at night, and following the tradition of the locals we went out for a dinner of tapas immediately to eat, drink and generally catch up.  It was a great evening and set the stage for the next few days.  We got up and hit the streets for a local breakfast and then wandered around the city gazing in awe at the buildings, the tree lined streets (there are orange trees and Jacaranda trees everywhere) and stopping only to sample some of the amazing food on offer.  We started to take siestas so that we could stay out later at night and enjoy a late meal.

Typically Spanish Mediterranean Europe

Seville must be one of the most beautiful and charming cities in the world.  It is just captivating from its architecture to its food to its handsome and friendly people.  There is so much to see here given that it was originally Roman, then Arab, then Spanish.  The history is all around you and its pretty overwhelming.  In fact when you visit its only possible to skim over unless you spend a significant amount of time here.  Even so it is really interesting and enjoyable just to wander the streets taking in what you can and visiting a couple of the sights.  Its beyond our capability to offer a worthy description so you will have to go and see for yourselves.  We have posted a few photos which will give you some idea.

Plaza De Espana

Futuristic Metropol Parasol

Everywhere you look is amazing

After a few days in Seville we all travelled back to Benalmadena and managed further trips to Malaga and a hill town called Rondo.  We had always imagined Malaga to be a bit on the industrial side and the outskirts are a bit on the modern urban side but there is a beautiful old city which is equally spectacular to Seville although on a much smaller scale.  In addition there was a fantastic Picasso Museum housed inside an old restored building which used to be a Royal Palace.  Picasso was born in Malaga.  It was great to show the kids the museum and get their impressions of the works some of which were, to us anyway, pretty out there.  Great display though.

Orange trees are everywhere in the city

The town of Ronda is just spectacular.  Its a hill town about 50kms inland from the coast.  Just the drive there is amazing as you leave the coast and climb into the hills of the Sierra Nevada the countryside gets more rugged and small white hill towns dot the landscape.  Ronda consists of an old town and new town (should read old town and older town), which are separated by a deep ravine across which run three old bridges.  The architecture is stunning, the views unbelievable and the food as usual, sensational.  The weather was gorgeous while we were there which made the day perfect.   Its certainly a world away from the busy Costa del Sol and although there were plenty of tourists walking the streets the season has still not ramped up to “high” to make the numbers uncomfortable.

The gorge at Ronda

The girls in Seville's Alcazar

We left Benalmadena the day after our Rondo trip and headed east to another marina near Almunecar.  Again we had to motor due to a lack of wind.  Very nice marina and we used this as a staging point to visit Granada and say goodbye to Heather.

We are lucky that as of yet the huge numbers of summer tourists have not materialised however we are sure they are not too far away.  Just now we are enjoying the relative peace and quiet and trying to get used to a different type of cruising.  It is very different from what we have been used to in the Caribbean for a number of reasons.  

This is everywhere

There are almost no transient yachts to be seen along this coast at the moment.  Not sure why that is.  All the yachts we see are moored in the marinas and look like they are based out of the particular marina rather than cruising.  So far we have stayed in marinas most of the time and this seems more like the norm.  Certainly this south east coastline is pretty exposed if the weather blows up and since we are looking around onshore it means leaving the boat for extended periods of time hence the marinas are a safer bet.  When we get to the Balearic Islands we should be doing more anchoring.

The weather is the other big change.  It is usually warm during the days and cool at night but certainly not tropical.  Today its even raining.  We have also to take much more notice of the weather - in the Caribbean it was always 15 to 20kts easterly whereas here it changes direction and strength.  Saying that though it is relatively calm most of the time in summer.

All in all everyone is thoroughly enjoying the change from the Caribbean and being in Europe and Spain.  Anyway, it must be sangria time.

We Made It !!!!!! - Gibraltar

Dulcinea pulled into Marina Bay marina in Gibraltar at around 10:00 local time yesterday (7th May 2014) on a beautiful sunny Mediterannean morning with a tired but satisfied crew onboard.  

First off want to say a huge thanks to Andy, Lars, Steve, Gordon, Clemmie and Sam for all their help in getting Dulcinea across the Atlantic.  And Nicole for setting us up right to start with.  Needless to say it would not have been possible without them and we are very grateful they made the commitment of time to help us.  Everyone did a fantastic job and its a real credit that we came through completely unscathed, physically and emotionally, especially as no one had tackled an ocean crossing before.  Also glad they could put up with a skipper who was pretty stressed most of the time and not that sociable during the trip.  

First view of the "Rock"

In the end the sail took us 19 days giving us a respectable average sailing speed of 7.6 kts.  As Andy said - “Its the Pacific next”.

The sail over from Horta  was pretty straight forward especially after the ups and downs of the first leg from the BVI’s.  We had good weather for almost all of the trip.  The only bad part was the final days run to the Straits of Gibraltar where we lost the wind and had to motor into a big swell for most of the day and night.  Apart from that all was good.

We started seeing a lot of dolphins after the Azores and they seemed to visit the boat daily to check up on us.  Even saw some whales (well their spouts to be more precise) in the first couple of days.  But apart from that we saw little else.  Every now and then we saw a vessel on the AIS screen but rarely caught a glimpse of them on the horizon apart from the lead into the Straits of Gibraltar.  There the screen was completely clogged with vessels around us and the VHF started to be constantly filled with chatter between the vessels and shore stations.  On the last day there must have been 40 to 50 boats pass us heading to or from the Straits.  Saying that the navigation in this crowded sea lane proved to be not to difficult even at night thanks primarily to the onboard electronics rather than any skill on the skippers part.

On approach to the Straits.  We are the red boat.  The others are any vessels within 25Nm

Sailing into Gibraltar was great.  Its such an iconic spot in terms of colonial and nautical history.  We arrived early in the morning and the “Rock” was still shrouded in cloud which slowly burned off as we motored closer and closer to the port.  When you berth however and are in the marina it turns out that its kind of like a Blackpool on the med......maybe a bit more cosmopolitan than that..... maybe a British Monaco is a kinder description.  The Rock dominates the peninsular with the airport runway marking the northern border with Spain.  The Rock on the east side descends steeply to the sea where there are a few small developments and small beaches.  On the west side the Rock is ringed by the old fortifications and the old town is crammed between the protective wall and the lower slopes of the Rock.  As a result the buildings are stacked up the slopes until it gets too steep.  There are beautiful old buildings alongside slightly less attractive modern additions.  Outside the wall is reclaimed land and that is where the new apartment developments, presumably for the UK tax exiles, the marinas and port facilities have been built.   

The waterfront at Gibraltar

The old town is really pretty with narrow cobbled streets lined with shops in period buildings.  Hanging baskets with colourful flowers hang from the sides of the buildings.  Above the shops are old apartments adorned with shutters.  English pubs are everywhere and there are plenty of interesting sites from the rich historical background of the place.  We visited a cemetery with graves from some of the sailors from Trafalgar.  Its pretty amazing to see history right in front of you and its great to show this stuff to Sam.  Gibraltar would be a really interesting place to visit for a few days.  

A quiet street in the old town

One of the heros of Trafalgar

Beautiful old buildings in the old town

We spent the day walking around the whole peninsular:  Through the old town, up onto the top of the Rock along the paths and back down into the town.  Lots to see from beautiful wild flowers all over the Rock, to historical sights from the Pillars of Hercules Monument to gun emplacements to Moorish castles.  The weather is superb - beautiful clear clear skies and around 28deg C with gentle breezes.  From the top of the Rock the views are just amazing - you stand there and can just see the whole of Gibraltar town layed out with its old buildings and new, its port facilities and all the shipping standing by in the bay.  Across the bay you see Algeciras and north to La Linea.  To the south the peaks of the Atlas Mountains in North Africa loom out of the cloud covering the Straits and to the East the beautiful Mediterranean stretches away forever.  Just magnificent and the photos hardly do it justice.  It makes the sailing all worthwhile and reaffirms why we decided to come to Europe.

Sam, Lars and Clemmie at the top of the Rock

The view North

Across the Straits to Africa

The crew have started to drift away.  Steve and Gordon left today and Clemmie flys out tomorrow morning.  Andy and Lars will help Sam and Scott sail Dulcinea onward to Malaga tomorrow and then they will also depart.  Scott and Sam will take a few days off the boat once it gets to Malaga and meet up with Nicole, Calley and Heather in Seville before continuing into the Mediterranean.  

So final thoughts from Scott on an ocean crossing.

Its been a real experience and one that I am glad I did.  From a skippers perspective I found it pretty stressful.  There is the usual concerns over the boat, weather, routing, , victualling, crew etc but now its magnified and you are completely removed from any external assistance.  Before we have always been a VHF call away from help but in the middle of the ocean there is nothing.  When we were out mid Atlantic I remember thinking that there are probably only a handful of people within a 1000 mile radius of our position.  There are not many places on earth where you can get that detatched from civilisation.  Its a situation which grounds you pretty quickly but you cannot dwell on it otherwise you would get overwhelmed.  The sailing was taxing at times but we were fortunate with a strong boat and competent crew.  I found the sailing resulted in either real depression during the stormier times and elation when the weather was good and we were coasting along in the sunshine.  I guess moving forward its necessary to learn how to temper the down times so you do not get too down.  

The arrival at the destinations after so long at sea are a huge buzz.  Arriving anywhere by sea is fun but after sailing for a while the enjoyment and sense of achievement is increased tenfold.  Its coupled with an immense sense of relief once you are tied up at the dock and you realise that you do not have to worry about too much for the next 48hrs.

So question is will I do it again.  Not in a rush I guess is the short answer.  I would do it for sure, but probably not for fun but rather to get where I need to go.  But I would not do it in anything smaller than Dulcinea and would not attempt it without my right hand man Sam.  I certainly take my hat off to people who do crossings in smaller boats - for me it would be too tough.