15th Aug; Estepona to El Bulto:
Today we are leaving Estepona for Benalmedina Marina, which is about six hours from here. Both Rob and I turned in last night, hoping that our engine will be ok today! We had a lovely, impromptu meal out last night. Both Jack and Rob had the prawns, squid and white fish. Very nice, apparently 🙂
Rob and I were up and about at 8am, as I aimed to be at the supermarket for 9am, as that’s when it opened, to top up our supplies. Whilst I was there, Rob began topping up our water tank, washing down the decks using the morning dew and then he began preparing the decks, ready for our onward travel All of this BEFORE breakfast at 10am! We have been going backwards and forwards between La Linea, Gibraltar and Estepona like a ping pong ball recently, and so we are a little pleased that we are going somewhere new! We will miss Estepona, though. We love the blue and white buildings – very Greek – and the Old Town, which is so very pretty. Jack took us out of the marina, this time, and very nicely too, at 11.30. He quite liked being Captain and ordering his “crew” around 😀 Unfortunately there was no wind when left the marina – but no water leak either!! Yay! It wasn’t long, though, before the wind picked up and Rob could let out our Main sail, quickly followed by the Genoa. Both of which increased our speed by half a knot. We are motor sailing on a very calm sea. Ha! I’ve just seen a football! I thought it was a fishing bouy at first hahha. An hour later we had to take in the Genoa, as the wind had died. We have Tilly the autopilot earning her keep and our speaker has been moved to the cockpit, so that we can listen to some music as we go. Very nice too! We had a late lunch, which was disturbed when a pod of dolphins went past. They can interrupt lunch anytime! 🙂 The engine is still good too! At 6pm, we approached Benalmádena. Unfortunately, we never did receive a response from the marina, re our booking, but we did see a good anchorage, El Bulto, a little further on in the Navily app, so we have decided to go there instead (and it’s free). We are still motor sailing in a calm sea, with a sea temp of 25.5°! and the engine is still looking good It is now 7pm and we are approaching the anchorage. It looks empty! We hope it’s OK. At 7.30, Rob dropped our anchor. This bay is very sheltered but not really good enough to swim in, unfortunately, El Bulto is so very calm and quiet ! A pleasant change from the roll and the jet skies of the last few days. I think we will be very happy here. M
16th and 17th Aug: El Bulto to La Herradura, via Playa la Caletilla:
What a fantastic anchorage El Bulto is! It is so protected and calm! We can’t believe that we are the only ones here. Rob says that this is the best anchorage so far! El Bulto is an excellent stop over but not a place for more than that, really. It looks like it could be an old or a no longer used harbour? One can’t really swim here (because the water looks murky) and going ashore looks a bit tricky. Rob has checked the bilges and they are as dry as a whistle, which is excellent news! We had an excellent night last night and we’re now heading for another anchorage, Playa la Caletilla, roughly six hours away. At 11am, Jack lifted the hook and I took us out. Shortly after, Rob released the Main sail, followed by the Genoa. He then slowed the engine to a tick over. Currently, we have 5knts speed, 43m depth and 6.5knts of wind. We continue following the very pretty Spanish coastline.
We are still motor-sailing and all is fabulous with the engine. We’re listening to a John Grisham audio… and it’s very good The sun is pretty much directly above us at the moment, so shade is now limited in the cockpit, even with a bimini. I have been down below to find a white cover, and I have clipped it over the back. This has given us much more shade and protection Rob has just made everyone delicious bacon sarnies for lunch! We arrived at Playa la Caletilla, a beautiful bay, at just after 5pm. We were astounded by the very loud cicadas! Rob and Jack were straight in the beautiful turquoise waters ! It was SO warm that I had to have my dinner in cockpit We have a slight swell – but nothing too serious and Rob and I watched the sunset at 9pm. It is so, so peaceful.
BUT at aound 10pm, the roll started ! It got worse and worse. 1 to 1.5m of constant waves. Poor Hoopla was being thrown around, creaking and moaning. Cups were sliding off the side and books were falling on the floor. Hoopla looked a mess inside! A war zone! At 2am, Rob said we’re leaving ! Jack pulled up the anchor chain and I steered us out of the bay. It is very dark. I was hoping that once we were bows into the swell and moving, it would flatten out? But no. Unsurprisingly I started to not feel too good. Rob was ok for me to go and lie down. He also said that it is only about an hour to the anchorage, which was good to hear. And it was about an hour later, that I heard the engine slow to a tick over and then Rob called to say that we had arrived at La Herradura, at 3.30am. We ran along the bottom of the cliff, in the dark, until we came across a yellow beach bouy. Its deep for us, at 14m. We’ve not anchored in deep waters for a long time, it’s normally around the 5m mark, and Rob put out 40m of chain. We will think about pulling that up later! There is a little swell – but nothing like the last place! I made a cup of tea all round, before we all fell into bed at around 4.30am. We all woke up at 10.30! Not bad, considering the disturbed night! Now we can see where we are in daylight! It. Is. Beautiful. More turquoise waters and ickle fishes. After breakfast, Rob was straight in the water. He says it’s warm and like an aquarium. Nice! He even saw an octopus! Rob also explored the small caves in the cliffs. This is a well known scuba diving area too and we have four big RIBs here, with 8+ divers in each RIB. I might swim over to the caves, or to the beach, later, as I can see a couple of beach bars 🙂 But I am currently enjoying reading in the cockpit. We have a slight wash from the scuba RIBs and the jet skies, but it’s all ok. I am really hoping that the swell doesn’t pick up like the last anchorage tonight! Rob has made bacon sarnies again for lunch, which was followed by a siesta! Jack went in for a swim to the caves after and there are lots of people snorkeling. I might join them but as its now 7pm, maybe tomorrow 🙂
18th Aug; La Herradura:
We did indeed have a roll when the wind died, but it was ok. Phew! Everything stayed where it should and the roll wasn’t constant – and only a pleasant rocking sensation. All was good 🙂 A busy morning was had; the school books were out at 11.30 (Maths) while Rob searched on-line for the engine parts he will need for Hoopla’s lift out in two weeks. Gulp! Rob also emailed Real Club Nautico, Motril, via Navily, requesting a reservation for the end of Aug. We need eleven nights so I am sure that they will find room for us. We are booked in with the yard next door (Motril Marina) for the following first two weeks in Sept, and we have an Airbnb in the mountains. It’s only a half hour drive from the yard and we are all looking forward to staying in an apartment! It has a BBQ and a shared pool 😀 Nice! Rob has also arranged for a hire car for our stay in Motril and they will also deliver the car to the marina! After all this shopping, booking and studying, it was time to don the snorkels and hit the water. Both Rob and Jack had a head start; they both jumped in but I climbed down the ladder, all ladylike, hahhaha! It was a stunning AND a very pleasant 28° (sea temp) I have missed these turquoise waters and little fishes. I swam over to Rob – who didn’t see me? As I got nearer and nearer, he still didn’t wait! I called out his name a few times and then I heard peels of laughter from Jack – and then saw Rob!! Awkward! Hahahaa! I quickly swam in the opposite direction towards them, hoping that the chap in front didn’t stop snorkeling! It could only happen to me! Hahahha! Rob & I snorkelled over the rocks and in and out of the small caves (the snapping of the shrimps was really quite loud). It was Absolutely Amazing! We turned and watched Jack jump off a rock, quite high up. It was great to watch him leap into the air and then see him under the water too. I made my way back towards Hoopla soon after, leaving the boys cave exploring. Our gallon container of water on deck was used to rinse us all off. It was really quite unbelievably hot water too! Fabulous. What a grand way to spend an afternoon We have also received a booking confirmation from Real Club Nautico.
Apologies for the lack of photos today! I will make up for it tomorrow
19th Aug; La Herradura to Motril anchorage:
Yup, the now usual swell returned when the sun went down and the wind died 🙁 We decided to move on late last night because of the said swell. But not until much later, as it is a gorgeous anchorage otherwise. Rob and I went for a swim at just after 1pm. Rob wore his orange swim cap this time – not only for sun protection but mainly so that I don’t go off and follow some random stranger…. The sea is SO clear! We swam over to the caves and on the way, we swam over five scuba divers WAY below us. There were lots and lots of bubbles!! We tried bursting the bigger ones hahaha. We swam through the zillions of smaller ones – and they tickled! It was so strange! We swam up to and along the cliff edge, and over the rocks, watching all the different fishes. We loved it – it was amazing! Finally, we headed back to Hoopla (over more scuba divers!) for some lunch. After which, Jack went for a swim and to jump of the rocks. Rob went for a siesta and I had a quick tidy up before opening my kindle 🙂 Rob woke up at 5.30pm and it was time to move anchorages. Jack lifted out our anchor at 6pm – and received a good work out at the same time! We had out 40m of chain!!! I was on the helm and I took her out of the bay. We will remember this place for long time! A stunningly beautiful spot! We had a good, uneventful motor journey with lovely views, following the coastline. We arrived at our next anchorage where Rob and Jack dropped the anchor, at 8.15pm. The sea is green but ok, La Herradura has a lot to live up to! But there is a nice beach here and it’s quite calm. We saw a few motorboats go to the shore to be trailered out of the water by a tractor(!) and then disappear over the sands. Others slowly left the bay and soon there was just us and two other sailing vessels here. Unfortunately, a swell started after dinner. It is ok – but we are all looking forward to being in a marina tomorrow, away from any swell.
20th Aug; Motril anchorage to Real Club Nautico marina:
We have a choice of two marinas in Motril: Real Club Nautico or Marina de Motril, both of which are side by side. Motril de Marina is €5 cheaper per night and Hoopla is being lifted out of there on the 1st Sept. But when we stayed in Real Club before, we had access to a swimming pool and to a small gym. So, for these two reasons, we have chosen to stay at Real Club and then motor over to Motril de Marina, on the 1st.
The swell in the anchorage eventually died just after breakfast, at around 10.30am. Rob & I started to prepare Hoopla to leave the bay soon after. This will be our last passage for around four weeks! We are literally just around the corner, only five minutes away!
There was some confusion when we arrived, as Motril Marina thought we were staying with them! We circled around for 5/10 minutes and then Real Club contacted us with a berth. Yay! We slowly entered the berth to suddenly discover that we were to berth alongside, not bows-to as expected! Uh oh! Jack and I made a quick dash to change around the shore lines! Jack and I then quickly lowered our fenders to reach the pontoon, while Rob secured the shore lines – and we then all switched on the TV for a certain ladies football final: England vs Spain….
Jack high-tailed it to the gym after – but he came straight back, saying it’s closed! What? This was the main reason that we booked here. Hmm. Rob and I went to the pub for lunch and Jack got his own aboard Hoopla. We tried to check in (twice) but the marina office was closed both times. Hopefully both the office and the gym will be open tomorrow!