After eight months ashore, doing just enough of the money earning flagmaking and an awful lot of knitting (this was necessary for the soul), I came to the conclusion that I would never be totally satisfied until I had completed thAe mission to get around the world on Moonshiner, which had been my original goal. I would just have to accept that I had missed out the Red Sea and Suez but nothing could be done about that given the unfortunate circumstances….pirates in the Indian Ocean last year.

So, I flew out to Menorca at the end of May to join the boat in Mahon and we left after a couple of days of having a look around this quite pleasant island (not too many and mostly the “right kind” of tourists). Dick had sailed the boat across the Med with friends, leaving Marmaris, Turkey in mid March. Moonshiner had been in that part of Turkey since June last year and I spent a month aboard in August just daysailing and mostly anchoring. We had met up with a pair of old friends from Guernsey / Taunton, who are mostly liveaboards, on their Heavenly Twins catamaran, Sundowner…..we had some good runs ashore and enjoyed many sundowners together. Turkey, from the small part I saw, was very pleasant, not too hot, just the right amount of sailing wind at the right time of year…………...and cheap.

 On rejoining Moonshiner, the first destination was a daysail to Mallorca, south and just a little west of Menorca. We arrived in the evening after a motorsail and attached ourselves to a “waiting pontoon” hoping to be able to stay there the night, but a man turned up after a few minutes and said we would either have to leave or pay him 100euros. Eek! No way Jose! So we left, and reluctantly, with much grumbling, found a marina mooring for the night. Our original choice had been the free anchorage outside but it was far too crowded….and we had quickly earned why. Fortunately, in the end, the terribly nice man in the marina said we could have the mooring for that night for nothing as it was getting rather late and we were leaving early the next morning so it wasn’t inconveniencing them at all.

We left and after another half day motorsail, anchored in a bay in the South of the island, Puerto el Arenal for the night. Next morning, we dinghied ashore for essentials and left early the next day for Ibiza, yet another half day trip but this time, we actually had some wind and so could sail properly for a change. We spent the night in the marina at Santa Eulalia…….horribly expensive and just about as far away from the marina office as it’s possible to get and one of those increasingly common purpose built places that seem to cater for tourists and people with big, shiny, showoff, motorboats only. Not a very pleasant experience. One night was enough. The nicest part was being accompanied for a few minutes towards the marina by a lone dolphin.

Next day, we motored the short distance to Formentera, the most southerly of the Balearics. Umpteen ferries cross from Ibiza and create enormous amounts of wash which makes for a lumpy passage! This traffic fortunately dies down in the evening. We anchored on a sandy patch…..you mustn’t disturb the sea grass…they are supposed to have moorings available from the first of June but they weren’t there yet when we arrived so we had no choice. The only thing I shall say about this place, as we didn’t go ashore, is that it appears to be a Mecca for naturist yachties. I simply didn’t know where to look!!

Our next port on the route out of the Med was Cartagena, an overnight sail away and with a marina that looked as though it might cater for sailing people because it’s off the tourist trail. And it was.  En route, we spotted an enormous pod of dolphins madly feeding and, nearby, a small pod of about eight finned pilot whales. We stayed in Cartagena for 4 nights in the end and met some lovely people such as Jackie from E Yorks and Bill from Washington. Bill had been sailing around the world since 1997 with his wife, who had sadly died just a few months ago. They had sailed with Jackie last year and she had very kindly come over to help sort out the boat. We spent a lot of our time in their company and this helped make the stop in Cartagena a very pleasant few days ….we shall stay in touch I hope……but we had to leave….a schedule to stick to if possible……..

Next stop after almost 24 hours was Aguadulce, a small holiday destination for the Spanish, and recommended by a yachtie in Cartagena as a port of call in preference to the more obvious Almerimar which isn’t supposed to be as friendly. Aguadulce was a really nice little place and we stayed for two nights in the marina there, taking a bus along the coast to Almeria for some sightseeing and a bit of necessary shopping too…..I bought a pair of slip on shoes which are the most comfortable I have ever had and I am already wishing I had bought a spare pair…….

Incidentally, en route to Cartagena, we crossed the Greenwich Meridian making this the first time Moonshiner had been in the Eastern hemisphere since July 2010, nearly two years ago and then, on the leg to Aguadulce, we crossed the line of longitude that Guernsey sits on, meaning that Moonshiner had technically been around the world, having crossed all 360 lines of longitude. Land gets in the way from now on!

We had a half daysail to our next chosen (not by me!) stop, Fuengirola. I had heard this name before and we found out why……….aarrghh! The marina was nice enough but it was really hard to get away from the smell of vinegar and pizzas….and the European football was on of course so there was an awful lot of cheering going on all night for some reason……maybe England were playing? Maybe they won, even? Hooray!! The best part about being there was the ability to get on a cheap bus and climb into the mountains to see Ronda. I’d been there before a few years ago with Mary and loved the old town and the tortuous journey to get there, so I thought Dick might like to see it…..It was still really hot as before but it’s such a spectacular place, I’m glad I went again, though I missed going over the bridge to see the old town……just like last time……I was wilting in the overpowering heat and just couldn’t face going any further………just like last time!!

As an aside,this is how I have been amusing myself on the long, long tortuous passages...and I have long way to go......in more ways than one!! I'll try to post a few other photos in the next instalment of something or other......

Fuengirola was the last stop before Gibraltar, the Straits and the Atlantic and this was another half day motorsail. The winds are so flukey around this part of the Med….we had fairly dense fog in Fuengirola and the same on the approach to “The Rock” which made for an interesting approach. Gibraltar is very busy as a lightering (taking fuel etc from anchored ships) place and the Bay was full of fairly large vessels doing just that. I think it’s a tax avoidance thing as well? As we passed one ship that had just picked or dropped off a pilot, the police launch came zooming out towards us……had we transgressed some unwritten rule? It sped past then turned and waited. Then the pilot launch zoomed past and someone on board started shouting at us. Eek! I listened hard and heard him yell at us “You’ve got the Spanish flag up”. So what, we thought? We weren’t going into Gibraltar, but into the (Spanish) marina next door and so the Spanish courtesy flag was correct. We pointed towards this marina, La Linea, and carried on……The pilot boat and the police launch both left. Very childish, I thought.