At anchor in the early evening along the Spanish coast.

‘Salara’ had arrived in Torrevieja on mainland Spain after a good overnight passage from Formentera in the Balearic Islands and after a day of rest and a full night’s sleep I was ready to go sailing again. So after stopping at the fuel berth to top up with diesel I steered her out to sea and put her on a course to round Cabo de Palos and then continue to the large port of Cartagena. There was hardly any breeze and ‘Salara’ chugged along with the mainsail hoisted which is quite often the case in the Mediterranean. A light breeze put in an appearance from the northeast around noon and ‘Salara’ was then able to sail slowly along the course line to Cabo de Palos.

I was in no particular hurry and was content to sit in the cockpit and enjoy the trip as ‘Salara’ sailed past the Mar Menor which is a sort of large lagoon and then through the passage between Cabo de Palos and Islas Hormigas. After which I changed course and headed her along the coast to Cartagena. ‘Salara’ was secured alongside the town quay and I was enjoying a cold beer at 1900 hours.

I like being in Cartagena and as usual it captured me for longer than I had intended but after four nights I paid the mooring fees and sailed onward to Garroucha where ‘Salara’ spent one night before leaving at dawn to round Cabo de Gata, cross the Gulf of Almeria and she entered Almerimar as the sun set having motorsailed all day in light winds. It was just about dark by the time ‘Salara’ had been allocated a berth and I was glad that having been here several times before I knew the layout of the marina so had no difficulty finding it. A marinero was there to help me tie up but even so I find that darkness adds another layer of difficulty to these operations.

I spent almost a week in Almerimar while I awaited the right conditions to carry on westwards along the coast. I used the time to do some work on ‘Salara’, engine oil and filter change, renew the ATF in the gearbox plus a general clean and checkover in the engine compartment. There were also some very bad rust stains on the foredeck which needed attention and I found a product called Ferronet at the local chandlery. I was amazed at how well it worked as I had been anticipating a hard slog with a scrubber. Once I had applied it I could actually see it lifting the rust stains out. It was so good that I went back and bought another bottle for future use.

‘Salara’ left Almerimar via the fuel berth to top up with diesel again. A very reliable engine is essential in this area as a lot of time is spent motorsailing and that is what ‘Salara’ did for the whole of the day until she dropped anchor in a small and pretty cove in Ensenada Berenguelas under a headland called Punta de la Mona. This is quite a handy stop on the long stretch between Almerimar and Fuengirola.

The following day we pushed on along the coast to Fuengirola and once again ‘Salara’ was motorsailing all day. When we arrived the waiting berth was full with one large sailing ship, a replica of Columbus’ ship I think judging by the massive Portuguese flag she was flying. So I anchored ‘Salara’ just outside the harbour entrance using two anchors to stop her swinging into the main channel in one direction and into shoaling water in the other.

I spent a restful night and at first light I was steering ‘Salara’ out to sea and on course for Europa Point, Gibraltar. There was very little wind and once again ‘Salara’ was motorsailing
but the trip went well with help from the tide which at one point was giving ‘Salara’ seven knots over the ground. Her normal cruising speed being five knots. She rounded Europa Point into Algecirus Bay and at 1730 hours I had anchored her off Alcaidesa Marina in La Linea ready to go into the marina in the morning.

The following morning I had ‘Salara’ safely tucked up in a snug berth in the inner basin with the intention of staying for a few days to relax and visit Gibraltar which is an easy twenty minute walk away over the frontier. While I was in Gibraltar I met a chap that I knew from my time in the Caribbean ten years ago. It was good to talk of those days and also to swop stories of more recent exploits.

As usual I lingered in La Linea much longer than I had intended, September was drawing to a close and I had promised myself that I would be through the Strait of Gibraltar and back in the Atlantic before the end of the month. There was a fierce Levanter forecast for the next week which put me under pressure to leave quite soon. I left on the afternoon of the last day of September and ‘Salara’ had a good run west out of the Strait and around Tarifa and once again she was motorsailing, just to get this part of the trip over and done with, I then stopped the engine and sailed for a while. However as ‘Salara’ sailed north and darkness approached the breeze became weaker and I turned the engine on again as she approached Cabo Trafalgar. I had decided to continue through the night and go to Cadiz rather than stop for the night at Barbate as there was a slight risk that 'Salara’ could be trapped there by the coming Levanter winds.

It was a pleasant night as ‘Salara’ chugged along, the moon was beaming onto the surface of a calm sea any swell had disappeared with the breeze and once clear of the banks off Cabo Trafalgar and various tunny nets I was able to cook myself a meal which I ate out of the saucepan in the cockpit at 0100 hours, fine dining indeed.

Three hours later I steered ‘Salara’ into the Bay of Cadiz using the Navionics system to help me pick out the lights of the channel buoyage against the many lights ashore. I steered her to the head of the bay and at 0530 hours she was anchored in the bay between Puerto Sherry Marina and the Puerto Santa Maria training wall. It was the first day of October and once more ‘Salara’ was back in the Atlantic Ocean.