We had a fairly noisy but relatively good night’s sleep apart from the fact that there was a leak on Dave’s side of the bed on his head which he discovered at 3:30 in the morning ( we think it was condensation, but we haven’t managed to work it out yet).
However it was a lovely dawn and I sent a dawn photo to Sam in revenge for him beating me at wordle.
Marco was keen to make an early start as we had a long sail ahead so we made a quick cup of tea and set off at about eight o’clock. As we headed away from our mooring we spotted what looked like a fleet of boats at the mouth of the lagoon. It looked as if it would be impossible to navigate our way through them. As we got closer we realised that everyone on the boats were line fishing and a few moved out of our way to clear a path for us as we approached.
We had a much easier sail today than yesterday, because the sea was pretty calm the whole way and it wasn’t as cold and windy as it was yesterday.
Unfortunately there was not enough wind to sail however, so we had to motor instead. There was one slightly hairy moment when we heard a big thud at the back of the boat and it turned out that a sunfish, which we then spotted, had collided with the boat. It looked as if it had collided with the propeller or rudder but we could see no obvious damage and the fish swam again after it surfaced so we hoped it was ok
After seven or eight hours of motor sailing we approached the mouth of the River Odiel up to Huelva. There were a lot of tankers moored up around here and one of them was offloading is oil via the long pipeline to the refinery. Which starts at the yellow platform in the photo.
As we entered the river behind the protection of the pier we got the boat ready for berthing. We pulled up alongside the fuelling station and Sue and Marco went to check-in at the marina office and found out where we were first. The berth we had been assigned was very spacious and so we reversed in and the wind was gently blowing us onto the pontoon which made it relatively easy.
We tried to attach the electricity but we needed an adapter which the harbour master was able to provide for us. We then had a beer and a packet of walkers crisps as it is almost traditional. We then went for a walk up to the town and had a look round and Marco bought a couple of bottles of wine and some dried chilli for our dinner. There was a fairground in the town with lots of people out and about celebrating the holiday weekend.
We then came back to the boat to cook some Padron peppers for starters and Marco cooked pasta with shrimps, lemon and chilli. We popped to the bar for a nightcap and met the bar staff who were very entertaining. We even got mates’ rates on a brandy. We return to the boat for a lively chat and an early night.
What a great first few days to the journey. Shame you didnt get a picture of the sunfish?
I’m not sure how we got onto the topic but it’s unlikely to get revisited 😀
I wondered where you were going with a leak on Dave’s side of the bed, good to hear most likely condensation. Enjoying the blogs!
Omg…., I can see your thought process there😱😱😱
What can I say, but one experience after another.
Lovely food as usual.
You never know what will happen next.
A lot of motor sailing, I suppose that might be slower?
I have never heard of a sun fish.
All well here, no hot sun, but perfectly good to be outside .
Bye for now, Jx🐡🐠