Gibraltar to La Cala de Mijas

Europa Point

We left Gibraltar on Wednesday 17 July with not a breath of wind in the air. The forecast looked to be the same for the next week so the sails stayed stowed and we proceeded under engine.

Rounding Europa Point with its distinctive lighthouse we started to get a good view of the Rock from a different angle. The way we had walked down from the top the previous day looked incredibly steep. We think we have worked out the line of the Mediterranean Steps route and marked in on the photograph below. It was a great route down and we were really glad that we did it. Nice to be able to see it from below too.

The Mediterranean Steps route we walked down

So having had a good look at the eastern side of the Rock we set course towards a small town between Marbella and Málaga where some good friends of ours have a villa. The route took us right through the middle of the big ship anchorage on the eastern side of Gibraltar so we thought we would get a good view of the anchored ships from up close.

Fog

In the end we only say the ships from a distance before thick fog rolled in. Our VHF radio’s foghorn mode was switched on and bellowed a good blast every 2 minutes as we crept along at 4 knots. Much easier than blowing a horn but Nicky missed a heartbeat every time it sounded the first few times thinking there was a large ship directly ahead of us.

Coastal view

Once out of the fog we were able to enjoy the view of the coast; not too built up and some good hills behind. We motored for 7 hours and then then anchored off the beach just west of Puerto Cabo Pino. There is a small marina there but our pilot book says there is rarely any space for vistors. The weather was so settled though that we decided to just stay at anchor for the night. In the morning we worked out which beach was closest to our friends’ villa and moved 3 miles east to anchor there. We had a lovely day with their kids clambering all over BV and leaping off into the warm sea (23 derees Celsius).  However, having had a good look at her underwater, it’s clear that tomorrow’s task will be for us to scrub BV’s bottom when we’re swimming – need to put that time in the water to good use!