Raffaellesco - Bill and Suzette's Sailing Adventure

3/19/23 Calpe, Spain In spite of the plan to leave today, the weather had a different idea. Looking at the weather for the next week it looked like we wanted to be on the north side of Ibiza, but not today. High wind out of the North East would be on our nose and in our cove on the north side. The wind was already building, but the sun was shining and it was warming up. We took advantage of being at the dock and gave the boat a good cleaning inside and out. After lunch we enjoyed a walk around the fishing boat docks. Those fisherman work hard, sorting nets and lines on shore, pulling nets and lines off shore and up at O dark thirty for a long day or maybe more. The nets looked beautiful fan out in the sorting yard. The beach on the west side was bustling with beach goers in spite of the cool temps. We could see the Calpe anchorage and decided to move out to the anchorage for the night. It is always easier to get going early in the morning off of the anchor as compared to the dock. ...

 3/13/23 Ensenada de Morron, Spain We were awaken by the gentle slosh from a passing fishing boat in time to enjoy a gorgeous sunrise. The water was as calm as we have experienced so far, light breeze and clear. Easy departure from the anchorage and glassy seas. We motored until about lunch time. After lunch the wind had picked up so we rolled out the sails and enjoyed the tranquility of sailing on a flat ocean. The shoreline was less inhabited, but still covered in white tarps for the farming in between the rocky out crops. We motored into the harbor at Aquila, Spain and drop the hook in about 5 m of clear water tucked in behind the break wall. Another boat, Molly, pulled in next to us. We had seen Molly at the previous anchorage. A German fellow single handing a Sun Odyssey 37 that looked very similar to Rascal (our California boat). The wind picked up off of the land and was eerily warm. It blew 15 + all night long making for a noisy night, but calm and protected. 3/14/23 ...

 3/7/23 Gibraltar It was a full-on rainy day. As the madam in “Pretty Baby” once said; “there is only two things to do on a rainy day, and I don’t like playing cards.” Clearly, she did not live on a boat! There is always lots to do and maintain. With tomorrow being the planned departure day, it was time to stow and secure equipment and daily use stuff. The rain stopped around noon so we walked to the chandlery to pick up a few items; new boat hook, tethers for our harnesses, fuses and some screws. I was still looking for a rivet gun, but did not want to spend the 200 pounds they wanted, though it was a really nice one.   The chandlery is in a very industrial area with lots of equipment and hardware shops. We found several rivet guns, but all light duty. With only for rivets to pop it was time to get creative with the tools I have. Back on the boat we worked out a solution. We still needed to settle up with Pritchard’s so we walked to their yard carrying the stainless-ste...