My long time friend Sarah and her husband John flew out to Spain to look at possible properties to buy and we were able to meet up one evening at Puerto Banus. We set off earlier in the day to investigate Fuengirola as a possible place to be lifted so Steve could do some maintenance on our prop seal and anti-foul the hull.

We had met Tim Gordon on our pontoon a few weeks ago and he used to work in the boatyard at Fuengirola and said that it was a good place as the guy in the office spoke English - always helpful and he had worked in the yard himself for a while, a recommendation is always useful. Also you can live aboard and work on your boat when it is out of the water which is rare in Spain as normally once it is lifted you wave it goodbye and are at their mercy! We questioned this at Ayamonte and were told that it is a health and safety issue - no comment! You can also work and live aboard at Gelves up the river Guadalquivir river near Seville. Fuengirola is a bit like Blackpool with more sun so did not appeal but the bars. Tim Gordon still does boat maintenance and is a useful man to know.

Sarah suggested we met in a bar overlooking the marina at Porto Banus - see picture. The marina is rather up market and there are some fabulous boats there, along with some classy shops like Jimmy Choo. We didn’t end up in the bar as planned because a pint was 9.50e and we are poor sailors now!