Bajidilla and Caletta de Velez
12 June 2017 | Caletta de Velaz
Carole Young
After spending our final night in La Linea anchored off the beach we set off on 29/5/17 for Bajidilla, 40 miles away. We picked our way through the anchored tankers at 0730 and let the tide take us around Europa Point; we saw the Royal Princess cruise ship come in and the dolphins waved goodbye to us at the tip of the point, they were waiting for the fish to come round with the current. After a couple of hours we turned off the engine and had a fantastic downwind sail with the genoa; unfortunately there was a wind-blown chop to the sea which was rather uncomfortable; the waves were crested like a toothpaste advert! Paul managed, after quite a struggle, to catch a fair sized Bonito en route; very tasty! The entrance into Bajidilla harbour was horrendous to say the least; Malcolm( Kinnirossi) helped us secure to the reception pontoon as we were yo-yoing up and down against the very rugged wall- our fenders took a hammering! The chop was so bad that we had to stay on the reception pontoon all night, the marinaros said it was too dangerous to try and secure to a berth on the pontoon.; consequently we didn't dare leave the boat unattended and so did not venture into town or to Marbella.
The following morning we headed off for Caletta de Velez with very light winds and a moderate sea state; as we approached the Punta de Calaburras there were many fishing pots to avoid. The sky was clear blue and the fluffy white clouds above the mountains formed monster faces; the dark blue, rippling sea was glistening in the sunshine and Paul was listening to some jazz funk with his shades and straw hat on; I even had my shorts on- hopefully you are now picturing our idyllic, holiday lifestyle! There was a heat haze in the distance at the other end of the bay where we were heading and we spotted a couple of planes coming in and out of Malaga. During the passage Paul noticed that the automatic bilge pump was kicking in rather a lot and after investigation in the engine bay he found that we had water entering the boat through the stern tube shaft seal; this leak was manageable but Paul would have to rectify it at our next port. With five miles to go we could see the Sierra Nevada mountain range behind the shoreline; we arrived at this busy fishing port at 1800 and were relieved to find a placid mooring in contrast to the one at Bajidilla.
Caletta de Velez is a friendly, typically Spanish, little town not far from Malaga. Paul managed to source a wrench from the local Chinese shop (they are in every town) to carry out the repair to the shaft seal; after three hours of hard graft all was back to normal! We walked down to the smaller of the two beaches for an evening swim but quickly changed our minds as there were dead fish all along the shore; a local told us that these were discarded by-catch from the local trawlers. Instead we headed for the bar and chatted to Malcolm and Barbara (Kinni Rossi) who are fellow Cruising Association members .We caught up on a few chores here, such as washing the boat and the bedding- it's not all sunbathing you know! On the morning we were leaving we noticed the Guardia Civil had brought in a punctured large rib and were taking photos and examining it closely with their blue gloves on; we speculated that the rib had been seized for either drug running or immigrant smuggling from Morocco; apparently this coast is now becoming a target for refugees coming from Africa, more so than in Greece; we are hearing daily 'pan pans' on the ship's radio of overcrowded dinghies which are either adrift or on fire. This is very upsetting as we don't like to think about the people, including small children, in the water as we know that the waters of the Mediterranean can be dangerous- it's not always as tranquil as you might imagine; these people are clearly so desperate to risk their lives in this way.