The night before we left Portosin was the final night of their Fiesta celebrations. At about 10.00 pm we wandered into town out of curiosity and were very glad we did. There was a fantastic band playing consisting of 12 musicians and 3 singers including full brass section, sax section and 2 excellent percussionists playing on a stage in the town square where we joined the locals in dancing under the stars to their very professional playing – this was followed by a marvellous firework display. We were sorry we hadn’t asked someone to take a photograph of us dancing in the open air - a very rare occurrence – especially for Paul!

I had decided I was beginning to put on too much weight and had cut right down on my cheese intake – a great sacrifice as there are some very tasty Spanish cheeses! However, we weighed anchor the morning of 20th August after the final Fiesta celebrations to set sail for Cascais, Nr Lisbon in Portugal.

We were at sea just over three days arriving at Cascais at 2pm on the 23rd August. Despite encountering very rolly, uncomfortable seas during the last day I was not sea-sick at all. We remembered that when sailing to the West Indies in 2007 Paul was trying to maintain his vegan status for as long as possible so we had very little in the way of dairy products and are wondering whether it was co-incidence that since reducing my intake of cheese I was not sea-sick.

We had a wonderful two days in Cascais. Unfortunately the vegetarian restaurant we had hoped to visit was closed for refurbishment but many more café and restaurant outlets were offering vegetarian options since our last visit five years ago. We had a fantastic vegetarian lunch at an Indian restaurant, not at all like the restaurants found in the UK as the main course was a lot less spicy, but the most delicious vegetarian food we have found whilst eating out for some time and all enjoyed while sitting in the sun with a glass of wine or two.

On the 25th August as the winds were still favourable we decided to weigh anchor and head for Faro on the Algarve coast. This meant rounding the fearsome Cape St Vincent and, although we had reasonable weather, the sea was rough and we had strong winds but as soon as we had turned round the cape we sailed into the calm and gentle waters of the Algarve.

We again had a good passage and arrived at the anchorage at the mouth of the River Faro at 11pm on the 26th on the coast of the Isla da Culatra.
The next morning we set off for the old town of Faro, about 5 miles up the river and well away from the tourist enclave that we passed the night before. The buoyage reminded us of the river Exe and we had a winding passage through the sand banks Paul steering whilst I looked for the next buoy through the binoculars. We arrived at the anchorage and spoke to Bruce a retired single hander. He had overwintered in Faro last year and after attempting to go through the Straits of Gibraltar and head up the coast of the Costa del Sol, he encountered a strong easterly ‘levanter’ winds, turned around and headed back to Faro again.

We spent the day in Faro town exploring the old streets and saw the nests of the Storks on the roof of the cathedral. It was a pleasant day and we were glad we visited but just before low water we set off back to the anchorage at the mouth of the river as we were leaving in the morning to head for Cadiz – we had gone upriver on the flood but coming back the depths were very shallow at times, but we made it ok although it is scary when the depth sounder drops to 0.1 metres below the keel!

We were anchored off the Isla da Culatra by 6pm and decided to go ashore and explore in the dinghy. The little island was a holiday haven for the Spanish, many of whom lived there in the summer and returned to the mainland in the winter. Some only lived there for a 2/3 weeks in the summer and let the properties for the remainder of the time. The only vehicles on the island were two tractors used to distribute supplies to the small shop and a couple of restaurants and a beach bar. We stopped for a drink at the beach bar. The proprietress was a Spanish lady who spoke very good English having had a long term English partner, and it was from her that we learnt of the history of the island. For us it was reminiscent of Graciosa the little island at the tip of the Canary Islands that we found so charming in 2007.

The next morning on Tuesday 28th August we left the anchorage for Puerto Sherry in the bay of Cadiz where there was a good and well protected anchorage. We had a calm sea and good sailing throughout the night.
Paul woke me at 6am to help him spot the relevant lights on the shore and approaching buoys. We were proceeding well hoping to drop anchor in an hour or so when suddenly we found ourselves in a thick fog. One moment we could see a large ship anchored nearby and the next she had disappeared. We were thankful again for the AIS which warned us of approaching vessels and we slowly crept into the anchorage, arriving after 4 hours of staring into the thick fog.
On our way in to Porto Sherry the AIS kept signalling a sailing yacht called ‘Iponema’ but it was at least five nautical miles away and when we checked her position co-ordinates we noted she was in the anchorage we were heading towards. We finally anchored at about 10am but ‘Iponema’ was nowhere to be seen - she must have gone into the marina. We saw her again in Gibraltar and spoke to the American owner who was most pleasant and introduced us to his cruising family.

We weren’t sure how much longer the favourable winds would be with us so we went ashore for a drink in the afternoon and prepared ‘Sareda’ for an early start to Gibraltar the next morning. Porto Sherry is a huge modern Spanish marina but the infra-structure of houses, hotels and shops have never been finished although started some 25 years ago, so parts of the marina were rather like a building site.

We left at 7am motoring out of the bay of Cadiz and into a strong wind and heavy swell. We switched the motor off at 8.15am when we were able to sail a good course towards Gibraltar. Paul had to steer clear of a big cruise ship on its way into Cadiz and by 8.30am we had two reefs in the main and half the jib unrolled. At 2pm we rounded Cape Trafalgar, where the famous battle was fought by Nelson and made our final course for the Straits of Gibraltar. At 3pm the wind began to drop so we switched on the engine to ensure we arrived at Tarifa, the entrance to the Straits, in time to make use of the favourable current.

The journey through the Straits was uncomfortable with strong overfalls, strong winds especially off Tarifa, and very strong current which at times gave us over 9 knots over the ground – faster we than I think we have ever sailed before.

We reached the bay of Gibraltar in daylight but by the time we dropped anchor in La Linea on the Spanish border it was about 10pm but it was a glorious sight sailing past “the rock” and through the many large ships anchored in the bay.

Over the previous ten days we covered a total of 582 nautical miles, almost doubling the distance we had covered since leaving the River Exe two months before making a total of 1285 miles so far this year. It was interesting that the Mal de Mer experienced earlier in the voyage completely disappeared after I cut out the cheese on passage!

We had hoped we might have reached the Balearic islands during the following week to meet up with Lucy, Jake and family who were holidaying there, but strong Easterly ‘Levanter’ winds persisted for the next nine days and we didn’t even leave the anchorage although we did spend 3 days in La Linea marina so that we could catch up with showers, washing and refill the water tanks. After some research it seemed sensible to consider leaving ‘Sareda’ in the La Linea marina for the winter and catch a flight home from Gibraltar airport which was only a walk of about 10 minutes away from the marina.

La Linea is a pleasant Spanish town in which we enjoy shopping. Gibraltar itself we find not so appealing but hosts a ‘Morrisons’ which we are sure will assist us in our re-stock of UK items on our return which are not always obtainable in the Spanish mercadonas.

There has been a fair amount of socialising since we have been here and we have met some lovely people. We were very pleased to meet up with Kit and Belinda on ‘Quilcene’ whom we first met at Northern Spain in 2007. They have been cruising the Med for the last five years and are now in Gibraltar before heading down to the Canaries for their Atlantic crossing this year. It was great to see them and they came over to Sareda for a “curry night” along with the inevitable sundowners and we met them in Gibraltar for lunch 2 days later.

I doubt we will see them again for some time as they will be heading for the West Indies and America and we shall be exploring the Mediterranean – but I am sure we will keep in touch with each other, either through our blogs or by e-mail.

Last night we were invited onto Time Bandit for a 6.00 sundowner. Anne and Stuart are on an Island Packet 45 anchored next to us and hail from Scotland. Also invited were Helmut, a German single hander on a Moody 31 and Jeff and Lelia from New Zealand and Australia respectively - also on an Island Packet cruiser in the anchorage.

Anne and Stuart on Time Bandit fly the flying fish pennant of the Ocean Cruising Club, as we do and it invariably makes for good introductions as you know they are genuine long distance and experienced sailors. A jolly evening was had by all and as everyone had a good sense of humour there was much laughing and telling of stories over drinks and nibbles all in their rather spacious cockpit on a lovely, balmy, moonlit evening.

We have now been in the bay for ten days and feel fully rested after our rather hectic cruise from the UK but before we get too port bound we plan to head for a few days in Morocco before returning to La Linea and our subsequent return to the UK on the 3rd October.