SV Songbird

Adra to Cala de San Pedro

25 July 2014
Stu & Shar
I woke early as we were being blown offshore by an easterly wind with good pressure. Pushing off we sailed for about an hour before it swung onto the bow and died out, on with 'Victor' and away we go.....not happy with the motoring......Again we had no fixed destination, as the coastline drifted slowly by it changed and was absolutely spectacular in places.....we motored into an area with massive schools of baitfish, they created ripples of broken water as they scattered away from the boat, clearing a path for us to go through, then reform again astern of us . This lasted for about an hour (7nm)...how many fish were there?....I don't know but it was huge numbers, which was good too see as from all reports the Mediterranean has been fished to death....after rounding 'Cabo de Gata' one of the many capes on the south eastern corner of Spain it was around 18:00 and we were looking for a place for the night....we stumbled across a small bay on the chart known as 'Cala de San Pedro' (Bay of Saint Peter)...what an absolute gem....dropping anchor in about 5m of crystal clear water and diving in for a swim was a welcome relief after a long hot humid day.....looking across at the beach I thought I saw a number of naked people......I picked up the binoculars and took a double take...there were a lot of nude people on the beach......anyhow after a bit of reading we discovered that this was a hippy commune only accessible by foot of boat....some people live in the beach shacks they have built all year round and others walk from the town about 5nm away. Originally it was a Moorish post with a small fort (see pics), what made it very valuable is a natural spring that still runs today, which is why there is quite a bit of vegetation in the area and it allows people to stay here permanently.....a great spot...totally different to the overcrowded and ugly tourist regions not far away.
Comments
Vessel Name: Songbird
Vessel Make/Model: Dufour 40E
Hailing Port: Fremantle - Australia
Crew: Stuart & Sharanne

Songbird

Who: Stuart & Sharanne
Port: Fremantle - Australia