During our meander down the coast, Roy went for a nap around 0830 and, as soon as he surfaced, Elaine followed suit.
By noon we were still sailing on the genoa alone, although the winds has turned more northeast and strengthened to 14-18 Kts. After jibbing the sail, our SOG (Speed Over Ground) increased to 6-6.5 Kts.
By nightfall the winds had increased to 25 Kts, gusting to 30 Kts, as had the associated swell which had us scooting along at 9-9.5 Kts on a double reefed headsail.
As the night progressed, under a waning gibbous, the only excitement was reefing and unreefing the headsail as the winds fluctuated, at times dropping to below 10 Kts, which forced Roy to turn on the starboard engine for a very short spell during his watch. Then, at times, we enjoyed a SOG of 7.5 Kts. We basically had one extreme to the other!
Fortunately the only obstacles we had to contend with were the numerous fishing boats, the most we’ve seen in the Mediterranean thus far, and the only logistical matter we faced was moving our 3-hour watch schedule to start an hour later, since Tuesday is Elaine’s methotrexate day, which meant she needed to take her medication at the end of her midnight to 0300 watch and head straight to bed in order to avoid the nausea side effect that plagues her with this medication; something a rocking yacht was definitely going to exacerbate.
However, by the time Elaine completed her watch, the wind had completely died and the seas had flattened, so on went the starboard engine again, keeping our SOG at around 5Kts to coincide with a morning arrival.
Daylight revealed a rather misty, hazy morning, but what we could see ashore were numerous hothouses scattered between the little towns, nestled at the foothills of the surrounding mountains, together with some very impressive civil engineering undertakings.
By 0945 we were safely secured to the t-dock at Marina Motril, a family run establishment, after a warm welcome from Roberto, the owner, and his able helper, as well as receiving friendly and efficient service from the marina office staff, all of which definitely lived up to the marina’s reputation of being the friendliest marina in Spain; we would even go as far as saying the best marina in the Mediterranean, based on our experience thus far. It may not be pretty, but it’s reasonably priced, it’s out of the tourist trap, it’s conveniently located within walking distance of the little town and beach and the marina office will arrange bicycles, car hire and any touristy excursions one would like.
After completing all the necessary paperwork, we enjoyed a coffee and breakfast croissant at Captain Morgan’s Bar and Restaurant, before returning to Paw Paw for a nap, the latter eluding both of us regardless of the fact that we were exhausted; maybe the caffeine had something to do with that or indeed the excitement that we were in spitting distance of Gibraltar, after an arduous passage to windward for the majority of the time since leaving Finike, Türkiye, and given the fact that doing an overnight had essentially saved us three day stops.
A drink at the bar, followed by Elaine’s favourite dinner, bangers and mash, with a hearty helping of bacon, sealed the day.
