As announced in our last blog we are sailing again. I had butterflies of excitement in my stomach as I cautiously took Patience out into the open sea past the other unlucky boats who were not going on a sea adventure today. I surely must have been a mermaid in my previous life.

Our destination - South, to check out some of the many places we missed on the way North in our haste to get to Greece back in 2015 (Gosh that seems a lifetime ago.) First stop a mere 63.8 miles to Moraira , a port recommended by Daryl, that he used to visit when he lived out in Javea with Cindy many moons ago. Despite being fabulous to be out on the sea again, sadly the trip was underwhelming. The sun didn't show its face until the afternoon and the wind wasn't playing ball either. How rude! Didn't they realise it was our first voyage after nine months? We had thought we would anchor but the swell was relentless and the yachts who had decided to brave the anchorages were swinging side to side like metronomes. So we headed for the yacht club - great choice. Their marina was absolutely fabulous darling and the staff welcoming. We had a little chuckle to ourselves as my very limited Spanish greeting to the guy on the radio was answered by a young guy with a London twang from Canvey Island.

As we went to check out the showers ( spotless - quite a treat ) we could hear music, so we followed it, as you do. To our surprise there was a procession with the most wonderful costumes. I couldn't work out what was going on so asked a spectator, turned out to be american , so was clueless too, typical. But eventually I caught site of one of the marina staff and he said it is the beginning of a festival to celebrate the battle between the Moors and the Christians for control of the town .Costumes now made sense. The rein action of the historical invasion ironically took place on the beach next to a very modern statue 'Gigante de Sal ' The salt giant, who was for some reason precariously balancing on his head and tippy toes (look ma no hands!) This however didn't seem to bother the actors as there were war banners flying, wooden replica swords brandished , even chariots with real horses. Not to forget the and fireworks, well loud explosions really. Gosh how the Spanish love their explosions.

Once the crowds had dispersed we sat on the beach with a pizza, watching the sky settling over the castle where the theatricals had taken place. Despite looking ominous, no storm came, just a few spots of rain that lasted even fewer minutes. Weird. The clouds just sat there.

An interesting end to a very long day.

Yes brother mine, Moraira is a lovely place to visit . Only took us 9 years to get here after your recommendation on our blog.