Beyond The Med

We headed back to our winter Marina in Almerimar where we were greeted like long lost best friends by the lovely owners of the El Tonel bar right behind our berth and spent several very hot days having a wind generator fitted.  A slight delay to our departure was caused by a sudden need to experience the excellent dental service and one wisdom tooth extraction later and we were on our way to Gibraltar.

As we neared the exit to the Mediterranean Sea there was a dramatic fall in the temperature, and a truly impressive fog bank.

Gibraltar is hidden in the fog, along with hundreds of Cargo Ships - very glad we have AIS.

The Rock emerges

We were flying back to the UK for a week, so we booked into the Ocean Village Marina. An interesting place - so close to the airport you can almost count the passengers in the planes landing at the end of the pontoon, and with an interesting collection of 'visiting' yachts

Our pontoon - one sunken boat, one that doesn't look like it's going anywhere soon, and a plane taking off about 100m away.

At the other end of the yachting spectrum ...

The Casino Boat - a permanent resident on one of the larger pontoons (photo courtesy of Azzy)

We had our Liferaft serviced in Gibraltar - it was actually quite reassuring to see what there was in the box!

The Rock - you walk across the runway between flights to get to the airport.

The view from the plane.

Our next destination after Gibraltar was Cadiz, southwest Spain, and the oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain.  The Old Town is a warren of narrow mostly cobbled streets connecting many plazas.  It had a first class market - modern, but selling a vast selection of sea food, fruit and veg and surrounded by snack bars.

Cadiz is a Cruise Ship destination, and possibly for this reason there are a staggering number of street stalls and 'lookie lookie' vendors.

The Cathedral - it took over 116 years to build, involving 5 architects - none shared the same design style, and it is the only Christian Church to have the gold dome more usually associated with Mosques.

Street Stalls in the Plaza outside the Cathedral.

Cadiz was a huge commercial port in the 18th Century and at that time the local merchants built towers to watch out for the arrival of Merchant Ships.  126 of these are standing today.

The view from the Tavira Tower - the tallest of the remaining watchtowers, and now houses a Camera Obscura with which to spy on the city below.

Cadiz does a good line in monuments 

In order to visit Cadiz we anchored across the bay in Rota, a small town with an active fishing fleet

Fishing boats, complete with the lobster pots that make sailing in these waters hazardous in poor light.

Rota Marina - the home of retired fishing dingys

Having seen the sights of Cadiz and Rota we headed North to the Guadiana River that divides Spain and Portugal.

Kite surfers paradise - Spanish side of the river mouth.

A huge bridge spans the Guadiana River.  Seeing in the Almanac that there is enough air draught under it for us is good, but it really is unnerving sailing under a bridge.

Approaching the bridge - photo taken by Steve on Aztec Dream, thanks

The Bridge up close.

We then motored 20 miles up the river to anchor between Alcoutim (Portugal) and Sanlucar (Spain)

Some of the sights on the way ...

Abandoned building projects

A Thames Barge?

Just had enough?

We are reliably informed that this Sunseeker has not moved for at least 3 years.

At anchor - Spain on the Left, Portugal on the Right - and a phenomenal amount of bamboo and other debris in between!

Debris notwithstanding, it is a lovely anchorage.  

We plan to spend a few more days here - there is a zip wire across the river from Spain to Portugal, and lots of kayaking to be done before we head further along the Portuguese coast and across to Madiera.