As I write, we are tied safely in a marina whilst the wind blows galeforce outside, but the sun is shining!

In my previous post, I wrote that the weather has now changed and we didn't relish staying any longer in the Balearics if it wasn't settled and we couldn't swim and snorkel and sleep soundly. So, we took the decision to head to mainland Spain and then get to the Canary Islands as soon as we can to do the swimming, snorkelling, sleeping soundly bit again.

In this part of the Med, the wind is either blowing from the east or from the west, that's it. It has been blowing from the west for almost a week and we've been stuck in Cartagena. However, we are not complaining, it is a beautiful city with lots to see and do but we've had enough of the wind now.

Yesterday, two cruise-ships were departing when the wind was at it's strongest (approx. 30kts) and they were pinned to the dock. The biggest of the two, was pulled off by the immensely powerful tug boats but the smaller was managed it himself, though the local authorities were not happy and sent down various police cars to witness the departure just in case it went wrong, which it didn't. Chris watched the whole thing standing (or rather bracing) himself at the bow of the boat and I looked out of the window from below.

Weather forecast is for the winds to die down tomorrow so we may be off to Gibraltar on Friday!