March 5th, 35 Km East of Malaga

18th Feb – 4th Mar
Mon the 18th we caught the bus to Seville with Jaap & Diana for a day trip to see the city sights. What a wonderful city, we are very pleased to have seen a lot of the place and would liked to have had more time. However, we did cover a lot of ground and will hopefully be back another day. I should make a selection of the best 3 places for a multi-city 10–day holiday in Spain.

19th – 25th we stayed in Cadiz while the weather blew in and out and would not settle or ease enough to let us get further along the coast. So we did some more sightseeing and checked out a couple of places for Tapas. We didn’t venture into the new part of Cadiz – the old part of had more than enough to interest us for the duration of our stay. Carolyn also had to go to the shops and select a new jacket to replace the one that disappeared ‘in the oggin’ while she was off the boat one day….. The skipper had decided to give the clothes from the hanging-locker an airing and had secured them to the rope very well - except that the hanger that the jacket was on broke and only the little wire part was left stuck through the rope…. We didn’t see it again!! Ho Hum (or words to that effect) !!

Mon 25th we moved on to Barbate (about 37 miles) and had to motor again because of light winds which once again turned into a head-wind. So after putting in some diesel and leaving Cadiz about 10:30, we were a little early at the edge of the firing practice range and slowed down and generally ‘hung about’ for half an hour or so until the finish time of 13:30 – then it was up revs and make best speed to Barbate, another 5 hours away. Of course the wind decided to pick-up a little and was up around 19 or 20 knots and close on the bow – so we were motor-sailing again with the mainsail set and about 30 degrees to the wind. By the time we got to Cape Trafalgar there was a bit of current running and that made for some lumpy water again. It was quite interesting to be heading towards the exercise area and have a large grey ship try to head us off (but the water we were in was too shallow for him), then the aircraft carrier headed towards us; but the best was when the ‘SeaKing’ helicopter tried to sneak up behind us. First to hover a couple of miles away on the starboard quarter and then about a mile and then he flew right in front of us banking steeply – so he must have got some really good pictures of us… I can only guess at what they could have been thinking when they saw the Dutch flag of Kiara and the British flag of Balchis just off Cadiz!!! That was all when we were about 8 miles from the range but obviously heading towards it – they never came back or called us on the radio although we could hear them calling other ships to keep clear – and they must have relaxed when we pulled up 2 miles short to wait for the firing to finish.
So firing range with very loud bangs – Cape Trafalgar and the lumpy seas – that’s 2 things – is there a third thing to come..? It must have been when the crew decided to fall off the pontoon ( in the dark ) just as we are trying to tie-up the boat.! Good job Diana and Jaap were there to catch the lines and rescue the crew. No damage done – she even said how warm the water was. Sorry – no pictures.

We were in Barbate until the 27th when we headed to Gibraltar – weather forecast : light winds --- Huh - by the time we got 8 miles down the coast it came from nowhere – 5 knots to 18 knots in 2 minutes. By the time we got to the corner at Tarifa it was up at about 23 knots. However we got into Gib in quite good time about 18:30 (after a 10:15 departure from Barbate) and tied up in Marina Bay up beside the runway. We were met by Darren & Vicky from Nocturne who were also in Marina Bay and next day Sergij & Isabelle and the children (Alex & Katie) came round from Queensway Quay Marina. So we had a good reunion over the next couple of days and also did a couple of jobs.

28th 29th Feb & 1st Mar in Gib - Kiara leave on the 1st we leave (with Nocturne) on the 2nd to Marina La Bajadilla about a mile east of Marbella. We didn’t bother with the touristy bit while in Gib this time as we had visited with Francy & Richard in December.

Just 1 night in La Bajadilla and then the 3 boats move on to Caleta De Velez about 35 Km East of Malaga. So this is where we are for now trying to decide which weather forecast is telling the truth and which will be the best day for moving on. In the mean time it’s good to have a little internet (again patchy) and a little time to slow down. The past few days the weather has not been as predicted so we are cautious that the F4 – 5 that has been forecast may actually appear from the wrong direction.
Darren & Vicky decided to carry on over night to Almerimar and have reported in by SMS that they have arrived safe & sound. We will probably see them when we move along there in a couple of day’s time.