Letters from the Med - On to Cadiz

by Andrea and Ian Treleaven on 28 Sep 2007 Hi Everyone,

Rounding Cabo de Sao Vicente, the most southern end of Portugal, was like entering a whole new area. It’s hot; the sea is blue and cliffs of golden sandstone that are carved into many shapes by the Atlantic sea. High on a barren exposed cliff is ‘Prince Henry the Navigators’ School of Navigation. Not a lot remains due to the 1740 earthquake and pillaging by Sir Francis Drake. Beach after beach of the Algarve coast has also been turned into high rise apartment blocks where the British have made this a second home.

Lagos is still a cute village of narrow streets and an English book shop called 'The Owl Story', owned by English yachties who are marooned here due to injury. They loved our book and now have it in stock. Portimao is a great anchorage and Faro which is 5nm up narrow channels through swamp makes entering the marshes interesting. Tides, airplanes and mosquitoes send us sailing out and no sign of the storks which inhabit this area.

Fishing is just not our thing; we have caught nothing so have now resorted to spending big and getting the flashy metallic rod, reel and bright shiny lures. Very exciting leaving Lagos, rod holder screwed on and out goes the copper coloured line.

Sails up on this beautiful day and would you believe it the first thing we catch is a cray pot. Luffing up to stop the boat, Ian doesn’t want to lose his new lure so off he goes in the dinghy to cut it free. Next thing I hear an awful yell to release the line; I am now towing him with the hook in his thumb, dinghy and cray pot. Ian survived but the cray pot didn’t.

Beneath cliffs we anchor off one of the beautiful secluded beaches along this coast to have our first swim this year. Sea temperature reading was 10 degrees in the north and is now 21 degrees; we thought it wasn’t reading right until now, we didn’t believe the sea could be as cold as that.

Discovering the town of Mateus in Portugal reminded us, ‘the baby boomers’, of Mateus rose wine. So for old time’s sake we buy a bottle. Our tastes must have changed and can only think that the unusual bottle was only good for sticking a candle in and letting the wax drip over the sides or putting a lamp shade on it.

Cadiz Spain feels like we are coming home as we enter the bay after a beautiful sail all day of 85 nms. (Still no tuna caught on the new line) Five years ago we left here in our other yacht not knowing what the future would hold!

El Puerto de Santa Maria Royal Yacht Club is our base for three days and the air-conditioning running on full. We were going to take the yacht 50nm up the River to Seville but it’s a long way for just a few days. When Ian read that the depth gauge doesn’t work due to silted water, it was bit unnerving so we will take the train from here.

El Puerto de Santa Maria is famous for its bull ring, sherry and the fact that Christopher Columbus left from here to discover America. First stop for us is the sherry producers Gutierrez- Colosia to learn about the history and tradition of sherry and the region. Needless to say we also buy a bottle or two. Getting to know the owners Juan Carlos and Carmen we are also privileged to have breakfast with them later in the week.

Sherry is meant to be very dry and served ice cold, not sweet like the English prefer. We certainly find it very enjoyable drinking it as a wine and go back for a few more bottles!! Only wine from this region is allowed to be called sherry as is brandy which is also produced by many of the sherry vineyards. Juan Carlos gave us one of his special brandy bottles named in honour of Juan Sebastian de Elcano the first sailor to circumnavigate the world in the 14th century. When sherry goes wrong they produce several beautiful vinegars which do have an alcoholic content.

Seville and we are melting at 35degrees, taking in the Giralda, (the remains of the Islamic Mosque) the Gothic Cathedral and the Alcazar and thankful we didn’t bring the boat up the river because of the heat. The Islamic influence in design and colour is very much present and Seville is full of Religious history. The tomb of Christopher Columbus is in the Cathedral but DNA has recently proved it is not him and that he is buried in the Caribbean.

A Tapas lunch at Cerveceria Giralda was a highlight and is always pleasing when you get the right place and for the right price. Gibraltar is our next port to do final purchases for the ARC, or so Ian says, before we cross to the west coast of Morocco. We are looking forward to having Andrea and John Connolly from Sydney on board for 10 days. Stocked up on port, sherry and wine we are sure to have a very good time.

Now if I can’t find Ian, he is at the fishing shop looking at lures, he hasn’t lost his enthusiasm. Any tips on how to catch the big one when we cross the Atlantic in the ARC Race?

For all our close friends our 20 year old 'Pussy' cat died last week. Janey and Ian have been very patient while we have been away and it has been hard not to be there. Thank you Janey and Ian.

Cheers Andrea and Ian


PS from Ian

The ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) requires that all competitors email in their position everyday. With 250 competitors it is too time consuming for a daily radio schedule.

In our case we have purchased an Iridium satellite phone with an inbuilt GPS and our position is recorded automatically every day to race headquarters.
We have now set this up on our website www.treleaven.com.au and if you visit this site you are able to go to the link and see for yourself where we are actually positioned at 2000 hrs each day from now on if you wish.