Finally at Anchor, El Puerto, Santa Maria, Cadiz
Alan's Log:
Joan's Log:
Saturday August 4th 2007
We have been marina dogs ever since we left Antigua. There are very few possible anchorages along this coast and to be honest we have not been as diligent as we had planned in seeking them out. Nevertheless we are finally at anchor in Cadiz bay in a small protected anchorage near the fillage of Santa Maria.While in the last marina at Rota we started using our new folding bicycles. They extend our range considerably. They are stowed in the guest cabin during voyages, but now we are at anchor we have to deal with loading them into and out of the dinghy. It took a while to figure it all out and didn't leave a lot of room for us but we made it safely to shore.
We spent a couple of nights at anchor, the Levanter blowing red dirt all over Moonstruck. We dinghied to shore where Joan found some opportunities to brush up on her sketching technique.
Cadiz
Then it was off to Cadiz, where we planned to stay just one night before leaving for Gibraltar. But as has often proved the case, it is the places we did not expect to enjoy that we enjoyed the most, and Cadiz proved to be a delightful town, very scenic and in many ways like a miniature Seville, but without the searing heat and tourists, and with a nice slow pace to it. The enlightened city fathers have recently installed free wifi in the town's public spaces and it did seem a little incongrous as we sat on the steps of a 500 year old cathedral booking flights online over wireless internet.
We stayed in Cadiz four nights, Joan did more sketching, and we cleaned the boat while waiting on a favorable wind/tide to reach Gibraltar.
Next......Finally we reach Gibraltar, gateway to the Mediterranean