On The Way To Almerimar

After a very nice, 12-day stay in Alcaidesa Marina, La Linea, Spain, the winds favored a departure for our next port of call. La Linea exceeded our expectations. The town of La Linea has its charms, foremost of which is that it is not a tourist town.

Plaza, where we drank cafe, daily.

 There is a oldish section which boasts many pedestrian thoroughfares, plazas and cafes, but the people there live there and that is what we liked. The marina is brand new and not yet completed, but the facilities are good, the price is inexpensive and it is within walking distance to Gibraltar. Our view from the boat was spectacular.

View of Gibraltor, from our dock in La Linea

The trip eastward is only 135 nm., so it is an over-nighter. The forecast was good but there was a good chance we would have to motor some of the way. If we did not take the opportunity, we might have to wait another week in La Linea, and we felt the itch to move on. At the time of writing, the engine is on and I am on watch just after midnight.

Europa Point

Shortly after rounding Europa Point (I love the sound of that!) and entering the Med, several porpoises joined us and played under the bow. I was impressed that they stayed with us for as long as they did to enjoy playing in the pressure wave, and I felt that that was the best dolphin encounter yet. Several hours later that was surpassed by a long shot.

In the distance, Maggie noticed several dolphins jumping and we soon realised that there were several dozens which then turned to likely more than a hundred that surrounded us for hundreds of yards. Usually the dolphins you see rarely leap out of the water as these ones were doing. Many of them executed a peculiar jump whereby they would leap out of the water, but, before their tail would exit the water, they would flick it which resulted in a twist of their body and a sort of sideways body flop and splash. A couple I saw, leaped 4 or 5 feet out of the water and gracefully re-entered again. One saucy fellow right beside our boat did 6 upside down jumps out of the water in quick succession. Others played beside or in front of the boat, coursing through the water and jumping out of it. This was going on around us for a far as we could see; it was amazing.

The 6th  jump....my camera is slow

I vaguely recall a documentary I saw about how dolphins work in a team to round up small fish in a cluster near the surface where they would be easy to catch. Perhaps this was a massive joint effort of several dolphin pods to feed in this manner. Whether it was for this purpose or for the sheer joy of it that they performed as they did, we felt honored to witness to the event. It was one of those occasions when I realise how lucky I am to be cruising.

Branko