It was an eventful 24hr passage from Almerimar to the Anchorage at Azohia on the Costa Blanca. After rounding Cabo de Gata (infamous cape no.8), we encountered a pod of about 20 pilot whales; a swarm of Jellyfish 25 miles long; 3 drift nets and finally a surprise visit from Spanish Customs, who crept up on us in the dark with no nav lights showing and then, at the last minute, racing up to us at full speed using powerful search lights to check us out. We are now in the historic City of Cartagena, from where Hannibal and his army (including the elephants) started the famous expedition across the Alps to attack Rome.

We had a fun passage from Ceuta to Estepona, accompanied by many playful dolphins. Unfortunately we had to wait out more bad weather in Estepona - Strong head winds and thunderstorms - after 4 days we left on a grey wet morning for Fuengirola; yes - really wet, proper rain - this wasn't in the brochures! From Fuengirola we motored (no wind again) to a nice little anchorage near Marina del Este, which turned out to be a nudist beach, and after spending the night on the hook we left for Almerimar. The saying about the Med being either 'no wind or blowing a gale' seems to be holding true. After motoring most of the previous three passages with little wind, our voyage to Almerimar was in a severe gale force 8-9 (42knots of wind); the forecast had been for a 3 to 5! But Hitrapia is a very good sea boat and we really did have a great sail with only a scrap of headsail up and still making 7 knots. Our only concern, because of the rough sea state, was that the entrance to the Marina would be too dangerous to navigate and it might be safer to stay out at sea. Luckily, and with guidance from the Harbour Master via the VHF radio, the harbour was safe enough for us to enter and once inside the breakwater walls we were sheltered from the heavy seas.
 

After waiting a week in Gib for another Levanter to blow through, we had a great sail across the Straits to the North African coast, making landfall at Ceuta - a spanish enclave bordering Morocco. From Ceuta we enjoyed a fantastic inland trip to Morocco by minibus taking us across the mountains. Visiting the old medina at Tetouan, where we were served a typical Moroccan lunch in a restored palace, before continuing on to the busy city of Tanger. We returned to Ceuta via the coast road, overlooking the Straits of Gibraltar, offering panoramic views of Europe (across the Straits) and the African Mountains.