We sailed down the coast of Spain, passing Cape Trafalgar and then sailing inshore of Trafalgar Bank, the scene of the battle itself. It is said that at Tarifa, the southernmost point of Spain, the wind blows at 30 knots for over 300 days in the year, and as we neared the point, the hillsides were covered with huge wind turbines, their large blades cart wheeling across the barren landscape as they captured this free energy from mother nature.
Entering the harbour at Gibraltar, the tide had turned in our favour pushing us along at over 11 knots. A Guardia Civil police launch roared up, did an abrupt u turn alongside us, then after a brief pause, the uniformed occupants waved a greeting and sped off again, presumably looking for illegal immigrants from the troubled north African states. It was a strange sight, seeing Gibraltar on one side and only a few miles away the north African coast - such a long way from Portsmouth Harbour.
The next day we took the cable car up the rock of Gibraltar and spent hours fascinated by the Barbary Apes which live wild on the heights of the rock. Their human behaviour and their comic mannerisms had us captivated for hours, watching the young apes playing games with the long suffering attendants who man the tourist office at the top of the mountain.
The next day Tom, Jamie and Mat left us. Tom and Mat to Ibiza and Jamie to Haslemere to start earning money to fund his gap year. We felt sad leaving the boys as we motored out of Gibraltar, just Caroline and I on our own for the first time for several weeks. First stop was Benalmadena, a ghastly marina that adjoins the holiday town of Torremolinos, and then the following day onto Marina Del Este, a beautiful little Spanish harbour, very much like the French Riviera, nestling at the foot of the hills. All very stylish and
far away from the beaches and the holiday trippers of the Costa del Sol. This was where Saz was to join us later that evening having flown from the UK to Malaga.
Next we sail along the Costa Blanca towards Catagena and Alicante before leaving the mainland at Altea and heading west to the Balearic Islands of Formentera, Ibiza and our final destination of Mallorca.
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