Tuesday 8 june 2004.
Hello! It's time for an update about the happenings in the spring. Since our last letter (8th March) from Alvor we have sailed 580 Nm. The pace has obviously been quite slow, but we have gathered lot's of memories on our way! We have followed the coast eastwards down to Gibraltar and Morocco.
 Gunilla och Krister in Tetouan, Morocco |
It was still very cold on the sea in April and we used our "heatpal" in the nights to keep warm. The marina in Olhao is still free, there is still no water or electricity on the pontoons and neither is there a marina office. We stayed in Olhao for about a week before sailing to Rio Guadiana. We sailed together with six British boats and we managed to get to the river first, with a lot of help from our spinnaker. The fighting spirit is still there with the only difference that now we are competing against boats just as weighed down as our selves!
 Elvina in Olhao |
Rio Guadiana is quite a special place. The river form the border between Portugal and Spain. There are little villages on both sides even though the ones on the Portuguese side are more in numbers. The birdlife is fantastic if we don't know them all. We have been able to identify a bee-eater and seen storks flying along the riverside. After the river entrance it's practically only leisure boats making anchoring anywhere possible.
Fifteens nautical miles upriver the twin villages Alcoutim (Portugal) and Sanlucar de Guadiana (Spain) overlooks eachother. Both towns have magnificent forts as a remembrance of ancient times.
 Gunilla och Krister at the fortress i Sanlucar de Guadiana |
We went further up to the next village, Pomarao, the village with as many citizens as streetlights: 43. The rumor says. The social life here plays a big part and both villagers and sailors meet at the community owned bar in the evenings. It's a well functioning national house where the price fits everyone's wallet. There are no shops but theres a bread van three times a week. Plastic goods, toiletpaper etc can be bought from another van and all vans honk the horn as it rolls down towards the village. Pomarao really got into our hearts with friendly and helpful people not looking for just money. Downriver we stayed one night by a tributary where we took the dinghy to see fresh water turtles. Here we picked wild oranges that lasted over a month!
 Pomarao |
 Krister on a walk in Pomarao |
Our next stop after the river was El Rompido in Spain but even though it was a good anchorage the place it self turned out to be a great disappointment. Empty and ghostly with a boatyard with a reputation of being a good one. The marine store was supposed to be wellstocked,we can't say it impressed us however,it wasn't even up to portuguese standard. Getting in had to be done at HW to be able to get over a sandbar and it took five days until we dared to go out again due to swell. Then we had rain and then we mean RAIN! We had a front passing one night when we satyed in a marina and that night we didn't sleep very well beacause of all the screaming rigs around us. There were a lot of swell left on our next leg with cross-seas to watch out for even though the wind was good. Mazagon, Chipiona, Rota and Barbate were port of calls on our way to Gibraltar.
Tarifa is the southern most point of Europe well known for their strong winds but we had to motor in calm seas. In Gibraltar you have to clear in at Customs before entering any of the three marinas. We choose the northern one, Marina Bay and we were quite fascinated every time there was an airplane landing at the airport a couple of hundred meters north. We liked Gibraltar, there's a lot to see but quite expensive in comparison to what we have been getting used to. The apes are still there and one of them jumped up at Krilla's back making him a bit nervous. After two days we moved out to anchor in La Linea, Spain, within walking distance to Gibraltar.
 Krister and the monkey |
And then we were to experience a so called levanter. Winds from the east holding force 9-11 with a dark cloud hanging over the rock. We were fine at anchor, it was worse in the marinas as the swell went right in and we actually had some boats moving out to us because it was more comfortable.
 Levanter cloud above Gibraltar |
When the levanter had passed on, we went to Marina Smir in Morocco together with a canadian boat. The dolphins were with us in the sound as well. We took a cab and wisited the cities Tetuoan and Chefchaouen, where we experienced mint tea, carpets and expensive spices. We still have our money left and the most we got was memories, which are free! There are many rumours about Morocco and we were curious enough to pay it a visit, and we don't regret that. Everybody was very friendly and no one came aboard for an inspection and we have not paid in whisky nor cigarettes. Yet it was nice to have a friend ship along, especialy since the marina was pretty deserted. Not many people dare to go here, due to different reasons.
We went back to La Linea and with a good weather forecast we once more passed the Gibraltar Strait, headed for Olhao in Portugal. The journey took 36 hours, but only the three last by sail due to lack of wind. We found a jerry can and a large fender, wich was a nice brake in the monotoni! We gave away the fender to some norwegian friends with a larger boat than ours. The jerry can had three small holes on one side. Well, everything that shines is not gold!
 Gunilla with the sea treasures |
We have now been in Olhao for almost two weeks and since two days we are anchored the beautifull island Culatra. The heat came with 32 degrees centigrade and then we prefered to be here in clean waters before in the marina with "less clean water". Our next goal is to get to Porto Santo and Madeira but we will write about that in our next letter! Have a nice summer!
Gunilla och Krister Bewert
