Balestrate - 30 September 2021

A very relaxed morning with a swim, was followed by a very hasty lunch. We were mid meal, when we could see squalls approaching, so we packed up quickly and departed the anchorage, before all the lunch paraphernalia got wet. Happily the dark clouds didn’t dump any rain on us and cleared quickly, so we had a sunshine, light breeze, beam reach sail across a large bay to Balestrate. It was fabulous; just lovely sailing conditions.

Our final view of the dramatic rock that has been our backdrop for a couple of days

As we approached the harbour, despite no response on VHF, the marinaros were there to welcome us in, which was much appreciated but a fairly straight forward park was made rather stressful because their enthusiasm to get everything sorted very quickly put pressure on us. I had forgotten this, in our absence from sailing, that sometimes you find they want to give you instructions that are not correct and you have to remember to smile carry on doing what you know is best for you and this boat, while just ignoring what they are saying. After half an hour of things being a bit frantic, we realised that they were just so anxious to please, but it was rather style over substance.

It’s very nice looking marina, but there are no onshore facilities, so we all showered and spruced ourselves up, on the boat, before hitting the town for the evening. It was Teresa and Tom’s last night with us and we finished off a superb 9 days with them, with delicious dinner in a seafood restaurant up on the cliffs, with the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks below. We walked around the town a little and finished off with gelato, of course. The young guy in the gelataria was very keen to speak English to us, and was asking what the English words for the flavours were.

Tricia (and Steve, Teresa and Tom)

Distance today              15 miles

Total distance 2021:   367 miles

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