It looks peaceful enough. Dinghy on the beach and the boat happily at anchor. But it belies a pretty horrible day beforehand. I shouldn't really have left the sanctuary of Almerimar and ventured out on Thursday, but I was emboldened by the prospect of the Easterly wind gradually diminishing during the day. Unfortunately it didn't. I tried sailing, tacking into the steadily increasing Force 5/6 but I was getting nowhere. So I tried the engine and made slow progress, but at least progress, although uncomfortable, towards San Jose Marina. But about 10 miles out, the engine cut out. Given the fact that we had been bashing into the waves for a good few hours, I guessed that it would be horrible nasties in the tank that had been stirred up by the banging about and had clogged the fuel filter. Turning back downwind to reduce the boat's movement, I replaced the fuel filter (it didn't look bad) but the engine would still not run. Luckily, I was not far from the Cabo Gata anchorage, so tacked my way in to drop anchor under sail. Peace at last. However, no amount of tinkering could get the engine to work for more than a few minutes before it cut out again. Frantic calls to Ian - a fantastic mechanic - but nothing seemed to work and the more complicated methods were just not possible (given my very basic knowledge of engines) in the now rising swell and thunderstorm. Call for help!

Below is what's called "Wind on the Nose" - not very pleasant