BOARDED AND SEARCHED

I spotted the rather sleek looking black and grey power boat tucked in by the cliffs about three miles away , but Im sure he saw me much earlier, very difficult to hide a 15 meter mast and 25 ton of steel from a decent radar scanner, unlike this stealthy beast.

He slowly turned towards me, I felt the gaze of a pair of binoculars as he came at me out of the sun , it reminded me of a lion stalking a three legged blind gazelle, we were in his sights and nothing I could do.

The last mile he turned on the taps and burnt some diesel doing a high speed approach , god knows why , flat out we make 6.5 knots, the howl of big diesels were supposed to intimidate me I guess.

Three guys in black and packing pistols and go pro helmet cams were now on deck and hanging big fenders over the side, guess where they are going, the captain waved for me to slow down - we were only doing 3 knots any slower Id be heading backwards.

He came alongside at slow speed and well under control, the two guys that jumped on were a bit shocked to see my vicious attack dog leap into action, out came his sticky pink tongue , Nelson "assaulted" the big Spaniard first with his honking dog breath and drool - smart thinking , leave the little one to me!

My Spanish is improving , I 'm fairly sure he said "I love your dog he is so cute" though why he felt it necessary to put his hand on his pistol holster and unclip is beyond me , perhaps its a bonding thing ?

Probably safer to put the Admiral down below , he obviously has mixed emotions being boarded by a Spaniard , memories of the armada I imagine.

In fairness they were wearing deck shoes not Nazi boots and were very polite and apologetic to be rummaging through my underwear drawer "the captain says you are down by the bow"

Really?.... Hmm "her bloody shoe collection" i replied as I pulled the workshop apart looking for any contraband under the selection of paints, rope ends and rubber gloves (makings of a good night in).

We filled in the paperwork , an hour later free to proceed , he heads off in the direction we had come from , just two hours to go at 6 knots , anchored before night fall..... Whats that dark shape in by the cliffs , oh NO not again!

Different boat, different crew, we waved the paperwork at them and explained we had already been "done" and had no wish to be "done" again , the captain laughed and left us to get on with anchoring ...phew




Beautiful anchorage , beatiful view, lovely place , good bar , free coffee , what more could you want in life ?




LOVE IT - what a Stunning place , we initially anchored deep in the bay in five meters of water , I watched the chain hit the bottom and felt the anchor bite as I backed the boat at half revs.

The wind was due to get a tad brisk so I rigged addition anchor rode and flaked it out over the rib to stop the admiral from peeing on it and settled in to bed, the swell was not fun , it hooks around into the bay and set us rolling.

The following day another large yacht circa 80ft came into the bay and snuck in REAL close to the cliffs , it looked as if he would swing into the cliffs he was so close, but monitoring his movement he was much more stable.

Later that day we took a stroll up into the hill over looking the bay and could see clear sand and no rocks up close to the cliffs , so when the other yacht left we moved in closer - local knowledge pays off - slept much better, we stayed here for five days, swimming and doing odd jobs.





The cafe on the beach gave us free coffees as he seemed to think we drew trade into his restaurant, which we probably did as the first bit of beach to fill up was next to us, we also got water from the cafe in the barrels ive been carrying but never using - finally - knew they'd be useful

Alzheimers :

I launched the rib to get ashore, rowed 80% of the way "oh bugger" says I, forgot the dinghy lock , so I rowed back, to many derisory comments from the NON rowing crew , got the lock , got back in rowed back towards shore ..... bugger ,forgot my shoes (again) ... the air was blue with curses from me and laughter from NON rowing crew.... all watched by the Guardia's patrol boat !

Shark Bait :

We had a bit of drama (how novel) when the admiral decided to come full speed ahead back into the cockpit while I was tidying up the fishing tackle , my screams of NOOOOoooo went un obeyed and deputy dog was firmly imbedded into a set of mackerel feathers.

Any fisherman knows that you simply cannot pull a hook back out if it has a barb (unless your a fish) so the admiral was well and truly on the hook - i was faced with a couple of decisions.

1. Leave it in , toss him over the side and maybe catch something bigger
2. See a vet
3. pull the hook back through his skin, cut off the barb then reverse the hook out of his skin.

Heres the thought process, if I toss him in I then have to unhook whatever I catch using him as bait so its going to be pretty big , see a vet is going to be expensive and a pain in the ass finding one.

So I got the poor unfortunate victim into a head lock and pulled the hook through his skin again , cut the barb off and reversed the hook as per plan 3 , he yelped but resisted biting me as pay back , he's none the worse for wear Im glad to report.



Playing back gammon at anchor - what else



History :
The La Herradura naval disaster was a naval disaster on October 19, 1562 in the bay of La Herradura, Almuñécar, Spain. 25 ships sank in a storm and some 5000 people were killed.

King Philip II of Spain had gathered a fleet in Malaga to relieve Spanish-held Oran, under siege by the Ottomans.

On October 18, 28 galleys, loaded with supplies, soldiers and their families set sail under command of Don Juan Hurtado de Mendoza y Carrillo, Captain General of the Galleys of Spain.

A strong easterly storm took the fleet by surprise, so Mendoza decided to take cover in La Herradura Bay. This is a horseshoe-shaped bay, opening towards the south-west. But in the morning of October 19, the storm unexpectedly returned, now blowing from the south. The trapped ships were thrown onto each other and then crashed upon the rocks. 25 of the 28 galleys sank and between 3000 and 5000 people died. The surviving ships were La Soberana, Mendoza and San Juan. Some 2000 people rescued themselves by swimming towards the coast. Many of them were galley slaves because they were lightly dressed and well-trained.

This was a true disaster for the Spanish Navy, which had just suffered a terrible defeat in the Battle of Djerba.
Nevertheless, Oran and Mers El Kébir were successfully defended against the Ottomans.

Today, a monument in La Herradura notes this tragedy.