Ok so I’ve managed to break my little toe, I kicked a fitting on the boat, you would have thought I might have learned that the boat always wins in thirty plus years of sailing, but unfortunately my feet do not always listen to my head.
Just as well Mike is on his 28 day off part of his rotation and we have friends staying which is great as my right food has lymphodoema, (a result of those coral sores), and gets infected easily. The Doctor told me off for not coming earlier, if I had they probably would have asked me why I came as there is nothing they can do, other than to strap it to the next door toe. I ended up on antibiotics and orders to put my foot up.
We had a trip to Tarifa scheduled for Wednesday as the East wind (Levante) was dying and the west wind (Poniente) was going to start that evening, giving us a sheltered anchorage in the bay on the East side on the causeway.
Our friends went off to do the shopping and once back we set off in light winds.
Fizzpop moving out from under her shelf.
Poor Fizzpop, she was terrified, she came to us from a boat, we wonder what happened that she ended up so terrified. We thought it would be TP2 who would have a problem, but she took to it like it was old hat, went straight to the most comfortable part of the boat, the saloon bunk, and went to sleep and then came out to sit with us a bit later. We wonder if she was also a boat cat that had been dumped.
Fizzpop hid under the shelf in our bunk, she was so terrified she was panting, we reassured her and the panting stopped and she settled down.
Tp2 helping me keep a lookout.
We hoisted up our favourite sail in the light wind, our Parasail, which we named Cyclops (she looks as if she has one big eye). She is on its last legs unfortunately, but she is so easy to handle and such a forgiving sail, and flies so well in light airs we will be very sad when she dies as we cannot afford to replace her, we only got her as she was a reduced price as a “demo sail”. Later we found out why she is dying so soon, she was more than a “demo sail” as when she started packing up so soon we enquired of the agent who sold it to us, who went back to the agent he got it from, who happily told him it had been used in a “Round Britain Race”. It was a bit more than a “demo sail”, basically it was a lesson in Caveat Emptor, we paid two thirds of the price for a tired worn out sail. Lesson learned. To be fair the agent in South Africa tried to give us a good deal on another one but as Mike now has melanoma, we need to be cautious about spending money unnecessarily, so we try to nurse her and only use her in light airs. It was so good to see her flying again and we will be very sad when she finally dies.
Cyclops, our favourite sail
We ran the fast ferry gauntlet across the Gibraltar bay, even having to run Cyclops by the lee, she is so forgiving she just collapsed on the leeward side and then, once the ferry had passed, filled with her usual gentle fluff when we changed back on our proper course, no other down wind sail would do this without a ship shaking jerk.
The wind died and we turned on the iron tops’l, much to poor Fizzpops disgust, although by now she was sitting outside, very close to Su for comfort.
We anchored at Tarifa in the early evening, still with a light East wind and a bit of a swell.
The beach and one of the forts from the anchorage
The next morning it was calm, very little wind, sunshine and quite Idyllic, we went ashore, I was not going to miss out, broken toe or not, we tied the dinghy up in the harbour, making sure we did not enter at the same time as one of the large fast ferries, and explored Tarifa, the old town is well worth a visit, it has two old forts from moorish days, lots of quaint shops to explore, we even found an organic restaurant.
A ferry coming out of Tarifa.
Mike sailing our Walker Bay Dinghy in Tarifa Bay with the mountains of Morocco in the background.
Mike loves the bay there as he can sail our Walker Bay dinghy, row her to the beach and go for his morning jog.
Playing in Tarifa, the causeway in the background.
We left the next day as another friend of ours was arriving a day earlier than expected but as the wind had picked up and the anchorage was a bit roly, we took advantage of the wind and had a very pleasant sail back. This time Su talked to Fizzpop and she was happier. It will take some time and a lot of love before she is a happy sea cat
.