26th Oct 2008

OK ! Where are we now ? Rota – at the north end of Cadiz bay.. We have been to Barbate after Gib and then to Cadiz – and the story goes like this…. We had been having small problems with the cooling water (sea water) for the engine before Gib and it looked like a combination of the hose collapsing and cutting off the water supply to the pump and the pump not being as good as it should be ; well we gave the pump a severe talking to and went to the fuel dock to top up before leaving Gib – but there was a queue so we hung off and waited but the inside boat ( a big Oyster 655 “Solway Mist 2”, Royal Thames ‘Blue Flag’ ! ) had sent crew ashore to get shopping from Morrisons – so we waited about 1 &1/2 hours before we got the diesel (too late to catch the tide past Tarifa now…). However there was very little cooling water going through the engine so we had decided to remain in Gib to fix the problem. For whatever reason we were forced to stay in Gib - the entertainment was quite good -- a certain ‘Blue Flagger’ that was chased off the fuelling jetty was hanging about just outside the marina to waste time while waiting for the crew to return with the shopping.. However – they were just off runway and had caused a couple of flights to be delayed in take-off - we tried calling them up on ch16 and a couple of other channels that they should have been listening to but got no answer ; the airport staff were using loudhailers (Tannoy system) ; Port Control calling on the radio - and all got no joy. So eventually they were impounded at one of the off-lying jetties by the port police launch. There was a lot of follow-on to the incident – and all a good laugh (to us) – while I had another look at the cooling water pump and then it checked out OK. So the main talk of Gibraltar had been the ‘Hurricane’ and the yacht that delayed the flights….. We left for Barbate next day ; having a reasonable sail on the way (no engine temperature problems). But then from Barbate to Cadiz we had to nurse the engine with no wind to sail, at about 1500 revs to keep the temperature down. That was a very auspicious day as we were rounding Cape Trafalgar on Trafalgar day -- - there was even the sound of loud gunfire in the air. However it was not the ghost of Nelson and the ships-of-the-line but the firing range south of Cadiz. It was due to stop at 12:30 (utc) so we didn’t have a problem. Arrived in Cadiz OK but had decided ‘en route’ that we would not leave until the cooling pump had been fixed.. so we ordered up some spares via the internet on Wednesday afternoon and waited, went to the office on the Saturday morning and the parcel was there already, the lady in the office said that it had arrived on the Thursday – absolutely amazing!!!

It was also amazing the difference the spare parts made when fitted to the pump - those interested in the technicalities can ask me for the details.

We did not enjoy Cadiz this time as much as the last time that we were here – don’t know why - - maybe because Jaap & Diana are not with us.. We are ready to be moving on, and hopefully not go to the places that we visited on the way out to the Balearics ; although that will be un-avoidable in a lot of cases. So now we come across the bay to Rota which has come highly recommended by all the people that we have met that have already visited. It’s only a short walk into the old part of town ( which we like ) and also a totally new place to us. We’re trying to get the timing right (weather & tides) for going into Vila Real and Isla Canela but hope to get a few days here to explore before then

The next post should be some pictures of the disaster areas of Gib and a few others; and also to bring you up to date with some of the new acquaintances that we have made and where they are heading..