Gibraltar-Barcelona

I think I would have stayed longer in Gibraltar if my body wasn't already shaking and trembling from too many beers in the past week.

Gibraltar is great and I've met so many wonderful people here in the past week. Frank, you're the man! I seriously have to consider going back.

The marina, Queensway Quay, was nice and reasonably priced but some deep current made the berthing somewhat uncomfortable.

Gert is arriving in two days and we're trying to get to Malaga to meet him.

So! Tonight I live in Marbella and it's not too bad for such a touristy place.

There were lots of current going against us otherwise I think we could have made it a little further.

The office here doesn't open until 1000 tomorrow so we probably won't make it to Malaga as Gert arrives at 1030.

We'll see ...

We're going to Fuengirola, which is halfway to Malaga. According to the marina office there is a train going from Malaga to there.

It should have been all sun but it is all clouds. Can't trust the forecasts these days.

I went in the water to check the propeller and the hull and everything looks fine.

Thanks Marbella ... off we go.

Here's Fuengirola ... and here's Gert. It took us a while longer than expected so Gert patiently had to wait at the local coffee joint.

Anyways, the weather has gone good again and the place is crawling with tourists.

We're on out way to Caleta De Velez. We spent Christmas Eve here in a restaurant with my grandfather and he is staying in Fuengirola for another week.

The sun has been shining every day and even today which was supposed to be cloudy. The sun is out, the wind is calm and it feels like summer.

We fuelled up about 33 litres.

It was a very calm ride and it got so hot we had to hang up a blanket just to get some shade from the sun. It's amazing - the 25th of December. Well they tell us it's unusually hot for this time of year and, well, we appreciate that.

It looks like a nice place. I hope they have junkfood, cause we need it ...

We got junk food last night and spent the evening lying down. One gets tired from sitting in the sun all day.

Today is sunny as well and we're going just 20 Nm to Marina Del Este. Tomorrow should be stormy so we have to go to a marina that is worth spending a day in and the next one along the coast, about 35 Nm away, is a big industrial port far away from the nearest town.

We are expecting to reach Almeria before New Years Eve.

Marina Del Este is like taken out of a tourist brochure and it matches the best of its kind even though it is quite deserted this time of year.

The ride here was smooth, nothing much to say about it ...

Marina Del Este was excellent and from what we've heard the Spanish mop has built it during Franco's regime. Maybe that is why the Guardia Civil is standing on a nearby hilltop looking at us with binoculars.

We fuelled up about 16 litres.

So we've reached Almerimar, which is not too bad but not too good either. We still have about 25 Nm to Almeria.

Finally we are on our way to Almeria. We were held up by bad weather. The forecast had promised us a calm yesterday morning but the wind was blowing like a balloon man before the birthday party of his life.

So yesterday we took the bus to Almeria to check it out. We also found a Hostel, just in case we wouldn't be able to sail today.

The sea is still pretty rough but the wind is calm and we are heading for new years party.

Well it was a bumpy ride but we are here ... at the waiting pontoon ... where we will have to stay because, even though they do not make reservation, all the empty berths are reserved for somebody else.

Now we'll go shopping for the hangovers and hey! It's New Years Eve.

We need to start looking for a place to leave the boat while I head back to Denmark for a work session.

The weather is shit for sailing and in best case we'll have two more days to get somewhere. We have considered going back a bit because going further east we're not sure what we'll find and we do not have enough time to make is as far as intended.

Anyway, even though going east is risky we're doing it anyway. After all it's closer to Barcelona!

New Years Eve was fun. We met nice people, got really drunk, danced silly, fell over and a little in love.

The wind took us to San Jose just around the corner of Almeria. It's expensive but we can stay here if it's necessary. If the weather gets better we'll continue.

But for now, it's San Jose.

We haven't been able to go anywhere because of the wind and the next couple of days looks to be the same.

My grandfather arrived yesterday and in about an hour Gert and I will catch a ride with Julian from the Club Nautico and go to Almeria. The Plan is to rent a car there and drive to Sierra Nevada and spend the last two days there.

I'll be back in just about two months.

Well I was supposed to have done this 3 weeks ago. Just didn't really feel like it. Now I am finally on my way to San Jose and to see Sisse again. But just for two days.

I have cheated a bit and found some Spanish sailors who will sail her to Barcelona. I am seriously considering to sell her because it feels like I have done the sailing I needed to do by now.

Actually I am just going there now to see if everything is ok and to clean up a bit.

Just arrived after a long travel. Arrived in Almeria by plane around 2230 and everything in and around the airport was closed including all the car rental places ... and no taxis. Stuck in the middle-of-shit-nowhere.

However there was a girl waiting who looked like she might work with a car-rental company ... and wow she was waiting for some passengers that arrived with my plane and she helped me get a car.

Bless her!

Sisse looks good and there does not seem to be any problems.

The crew arrived at 1300 and they seem nice enough though I have my doubts about their experience in sailing a boat like Sisse. They seem to have more experience with smaller boats and motorboats.

Well, it's happening ... good luck

Well, well, well ...

Sisse got to Barcelona and it seems like she has been bahaving. I don't think they have treated her too well though and I am sorry about that.

I had thought that I was going to sell her in Barcelona with the help from the guys who helped move her from San Jose.

First of all the fee for moving her mysteriously doubled. Apprently the two crew members who had been sailing day and night, not having gone to shore, spent 430 euros on food in 3 days???

At the same time the sales price we had agreed upon mysteriously dropped with 30% and everything started smelling fishy.

I made a call to Henrik from Tempo Bådsalg in Denmark, my savior, and we have arranged to move the boat to Denmark to be sold there. The truck should be coming on Saturday and I have to move the boat to Ginestra in Castelldefels, just south of Barcelona, now and get her ready for takeoff.

So I just spent this afternoon cleaning out all my belongings and getting ready for the last trip. I made the waypoints at Pizza Hut while waiting for a pizza to bring along for the ride. I never tried that before :-)

Heading for the last sail with Sisse.

I couldn't find the Spanish boat guy so I left without saying goodbye ... anyways I don't really feel like saying anything to him.

I found a few more defects on the boat from the sailing to Barcelona, among other things the front lantern is broken so I will have to reach Ginestra before it gets dark. But right now I just have to get out of here ...

The weather looks OK and anyway I have to leave because I need to have the boat ready for pickup on Saturday and I and leaving for Tenerife on Saturday as well, which leaves me with tomorrow morning for unrigging Sisse.

WHOA!!! Nothing like I had hoped for but I am still alive and the boat is still in one piece.

From the minute I got out of Port Olympic I had the wind right on my nose and nothing less than 14 m/s. So no sail to stabilize the roller-coaster ride of the waves. And it got dark around 2200 which added a bit to the action. With no navigational lights it became very hard for other ships to figure out my direction and I almost collided twice.

Finally I got a sight of what I assumed had to be the port. At least the green light of the pier was a match but there was no red light!! The post is somewhat on the outskirts of Castelldelfels and has an extreme lack of illumination coming from the seaside ... which is normally preferable, because it is easier to spot the red and green light in the dark. But this time it would have been nice with some light in order to identify the port with a bit more certainty than just one green light.

Slowly I approached the green light but still no red light appeared. As I got closer and closer I finally found cover from the wind but still no red light, though by now I could kind of see the shadow of a pier beneath the green lighthouse. And a shadow of a mountain behind it. The darkness makes it really hard to tell distances and with the front navigational light missing and the red light of the port entrance missing it didn't exactly make it more comfortable to be alone on the boat.

Well, finally I had closed in enough to be able to tell the pier apart from the mountain behind it and I could see what seemed to be the entrance of the port but still no red light. So just taking it slowly I made it though and finally docked along the port office and with everything completely abandoned I just decided to stay docked there for the night and hoped that no one else would arrive through the darkness.

And by the way ... the red light had sunk or something ... it just wasn't there ...

I wanted to go to bed after I had arrived last night but found my covers and everything else in the front cabin completely soaked. Including my laptop! I had forgot to close the front window perfectly.

I found an old dirty blanket went to bed and then came the mosquitoes and lots of them. So I woke up this morning completely eaten and I hadn't really slept ... and now I just spent 5 hours on getting Sisse ready, made arrangements with the port office and with the constructor who is going to take the boat out of the water.

Now all I want is to go home and sleep.

Goodbye Sisse ... it has been amazing!!!

Thanks for the ride ... and good luck.