Marbella, Spain
June 28, 2015

Greetings Everyone-

The Escapade departed Marbella this morning for points north, i.e., Baleric Islands and possibly Valencia. The wind has been either non-existent (like this morning) or blowing the dogs off their chains from directly on our nose. Yesterday approaching the Straits of Gibralter at Tarifa and halfway through the Strait we saw a steady 30-35 knots, no wonder Tarifa is the windsurfing capital of Europe reportedly averaging 300 days a year of wind above 30 knots! The wind went very light part way through the Straights and will remain light for the next 24-36 hours before it goes back to the east. Therefore we are motoring north and eastward steadily racking up the miles before the new wind arrives. This has been an unbelievable trip...basically very little wind since 300 miles the other side of Azores!

Our two stops in Portugal were very nice...just what Americans like about Europe: great architecture and historic old towns filled with romantic restaurants, outdoor bars and friendly people (it's the beginning of the tourist season!). We overnighted in Faragudo, opposite Portimao, and again at Faro where we traveled 5 miles up the river to the old town and anchored in 5 feet of water. Wonderful seafood, some very nice Portuguese wines and warm but not hot balmy evenings, a welcome change from the humidity of May in the Caribbean.

From Portimao it was a long 100 mile day to the windswept Cabo Trafalgar where we anchored off the beach in an open roadstead. During the passage we were hailed on the VHF by a young woman whose engine had quit on her British registered Dehler 36. We turned back to see if we could be of assistance but after discussing the probable damage to her boat that would ensure during a long tow through the swell she saw the wisdom in carrying on slowly under sail. She and her equally young companion told us that they had sailed the boat down from England and that they had enough food and water for many days. I was reluctant to leave them as they appeared quite young and very possibly inexperienced, but the last we saw them the spinnaker was up and flying and they were headed in the direction of Cadiz, Spain some 25 miles to the east, so that was reassuring.

Cabo Trafalgar to Tarifa and beyond into the Straits was nasty as I said earlier 30-35 on the nose and a nasty sea, we had to throttle back to 5 knots to keep from beating the boat up. Right in the windy part of the Straits and in a controlled shipping lane we noticed a boat doing some unusual maneuvers on the AIS on the chart plotter. Soon we could see the boat repeatedly rounding up into the wind, coming about, jibing and rounding up into the wind again with only a large RF headsail set...very strange. I was ready to pass them by when Debbie said they might need help, for example it could be a woman whose husband has had a heart attack and wasn't able to get the boat under control. We changed course to intercept them and saw that there were two people in the cockpit with a man with his shirt off (in 30 knots of wind!) steering the boat. They looked at us and made no sign so we figured they were ok, but possibly drunk. Later we heard Tarifa Traffic hailing them on the VHF and telling them to get out of the area as they were a danger to other traffic...some of the boats we have encountered out here have been very strange!

Arriving at Marbella and looking forward to an evening ashore we didn't hold high expectations since it was developed as a resort town back in the 70's and is home to a lot of packaged tours from northern Europe. We ended up have a good time people watching, catching up on the internet and dining outdoors at a wonderful pinxhos bar/restaurant. Pinxhos are essentially a variation on Tapas and in this place you didn't place an order, rather the waitress would pass by with plates full of different delicious small items and you took one or passed waiting for the next... the Spanish summer season is already in full swing and the town was lively with people of all ages.

Too bad we have to motor all day but the good news is the current is sweeping us along at an extra 1.5 - 2 knots...