Sailing Letter March 2015

Last month of our winter stay in Almerimar is gone. We left harbor March 31 and are now April 1 in Gibraltar. This chapter will act as a sum up of our experiences as well as the March letter.

Staying put in one single harbor without being able to do weekend trips with the boat (except twice), was a new experience for us. On one hand it was most likely necessary in order for us to calm down and get some kind of home-like surroundings; on the other hand we might not choose to do that again. Winter 2015 we have planned to stay in Canary Island, where we will be able to combine our” home-harbor” with weekend sailing.

We have had time to read a lot of books, take walks and be out in the sun, which is not possible in Sweden during the dark season, when you are working. We have also understood (almost) that it is not necessary to do more than 1-2 things at the same day, if you can leave some of the tasks for “tomorrow”. Taking care of the ship, ourselves and buying and preparing food has also been given more time than before. A nice experience. A specific sign (smile) of us calming down is that when we are traveling by car and miss the right exit, Peter just takes a second round in the roundabout. (There are LOTS of roundabouts in Andalucia)

Spending half a year in one place also makes it possible to follow the seasons changes. When we arrived in September it was still summer, with 30+ degrees and all trees still green. We had almost the same weather conditions up till beginning mid-January, when “autumn/winter” came. Weather started to be colder, more clouds and wind, and after the influence of a severe storm which sprayed the trees with salt, the green gave way for brown. Now in the last weeks of March we started to see green leaves again and flowers everywhere.

The 6 months in Almerimar has given us a pretty good knowledge of one part of Spain – Andalusia. We are very fond of the nature, the friendly people and all small and big places that we have explored. We will never forget the snow covered Sierra Nevada view from our boat. The village Felix, where we filled water every 10-th day, will always be special for us. So will Roquetas del Mar with our tapas place by the sea and good shops for tools and other “stuff” necessary for our boat projects. For Almerimar we will remember all new and old friends, some we might meet again and some not, the beautiful weather, the sea and all nice tapas bars and good grocery stores which have given us good experiences of the food here in Andalucia.

When we visited Cadiz last autumn, we reported in the blog about the brass and drum orchestras that were exercising almost every evening. Now last Sunday being Palm Sunday we learnt what this training was aiming for. We were in Malaga to return the rental car and found ourselves in the middle of the processions held with all the fantastically ornate Saints that were carried around in the narrow streets, followed by the brass bands. The whole week of “Semana Santa” (Easter week) this is happening daily in all towns and villages, reported on TV and people following it with Apps or in the streets. It makes us understand that it is one of the major feasts, maybe the biggest, for this catholic country. In the pictures attached to this letter, you will see some Saints, but also the, for us Swedes, strange clothing with top hats in all different colors looking like KKK. You will also see the beautiful ladies with their black mantillas, for mourning. Makes us wonder why we in Sweden great each other with “Glad Påsk” = happy Eastern, when this is a week of sorrow for the catholic world.

Boat projects.

• All stainless steel jobs are done: prolongation of the davits and extra fasteners for the solar panels.
• All four bilge keel pumps now in good working order.

Nature

• Eva planted a new batch of spices: rosemary and greek (?) Basil
• The frogs starting to make noise in a dam Eva has been following since we came here. It is spring!
• The birds are fighting for their mates and in Malaga, where there are parrots; we saw them build their nests by actually cutting branches from the nearby trees.
• Leaving harbor we had beautiful weather with bikini-sailing. We anchored outside marina del Este and were able to take the first dip in the sea. Water temperature +18 degrees. On our way there we saw a flock of approx. 30 Flamingoes moving east, maybe to the Salinas in Almerimar.
• We were surrounded by dolphins as we came closer to Gibraltar straits. As always that makes us happy.

We are now looking forward to new places, new experiences and new adventures. Closest is a visit to Ceuta (the Spanish enclave in Morocco) and thereafter most likely Lagos in Portugal before we take the jump over to Madeira and Canary Islands. But, as always plans can be changed…

Until next time – see you later…

BR Eva, Peter

Semana Santa, 100 men carrying the 5 ton vIrgin Mary

Leaving Almerimar