On the move again - a haulout and visit to Gibraltar

After four and a half months anchored in the Guadiana, the time had come to leave.

Katie and Reuben took in cakes on their last day at school, and were presented with a lovely card containing a class photo, a whole school photo, and a personal message from each pupil. We had farewell drinks at the Chiringuitos bar, a delicious curry with Martina & family, and air-horn blasts from friends at anchor as we headed downstream. There was definitely an air of sadness on board as Sanlucar disappeared behind us.

Katie's school leaving card

messages from fellow pupils

Spirits lifted as the water turned from green/brown to blue at the lower reaches of the river. We anchored up to wait for the tide to turn and right next to us on the sandspit were two egrets. After lunch, the kids and I paddled ashore for a quick wander along the beach.

anchored at the bottom of the Guadiana

happy to be on the beach!

Our first destination was Isla Cristina, just four miles east of the Guadiana. We were booked in to haul out, not only for the annual repaint, but also because Dave wanted to take out the shafts and check them. Our set-up is a bit unusual in that the shaft from the engine goes into a V-box, which sends another shaft in the opposite direction underneath the engine and out the back of the boat to the propeller. This shaft is made in two pieces – a 3m length of original shaft and a 1m length of intermittent shaft, joined with huge couplings.

Our intermittent shaft broke 12 years ago, while on route from Gibraltar to the Canaries. We replaced it with a new one and had no problems for ten years, until the shaft inside the V-box broke last year, all of which indicates that something might be slightly wrong with the alignment.

Hauling out on railway at Isla Cristina

Prop off!

So, while Dave was busy trying to get all that out of the boat – quite a major job as it turns out - I was back in charge of home-schooling. The children had been focusing on Spanish and maths (which less of a language barrier) while at Sanlucar, so we had a bit of catching up to do on English grammar and topic work. Prepositions, determiners, modal verbs - it’s a whole new language for me to learn! One of Year 3 topics was ancient Greece, and the boat next to us was surrounded by discarded octopus-catching pots….. two of these were soon commandeered and painted with ancient Greek designs!

Katie painting Greek patterns

Reuben painting a 9-headed snake

In the afternoons, the children either watched a DVD or amused themselves around the local ‘beach’ while I did my bit on sanding and painting the topsides. They came up with ingenious ideas, from making 'assault courses', dens among the discarded boat moulds, and even a raft from discarded bits of wood!

touching up the waterline

our own private 'beach' at the boatyard

balancing on the raft (note it is tethered!)

With a little help from the machine shop next door (and their oxycetalene and big pullers), Dave managed to get both shafts out and the couplings off. The intermittent shaft turned out to be fine but the original shaft was definitely out of line. At last an explanation for our problems!

The machine shop heated it up on their lathe and hammered it back straight. Dave also purchased and installed another running block close to the V-box to help take some of the weight of the shafts (which are 90mm thick and very heavy!). With everything back in place and lined up, we hope we have solved the problem. The prop certainly turns much easier by hand; and with the engine running, there is much less vibration (things used to judder across the table before).

Pulling out the main shaft

new running bearing next to shaft coupling

intermittent shaft ready to go back in

In between working, we took time to explore Isla Cristina. Opposite the boatyard was a busy fishing quay, lined three or four deep with various fishing boats. There were plenty of chandlery shops there to keep Dave happy. Several streets behind was a busy town centre, leading out to a ‘fake lighthouse’ at its furthest end. From here, you could follow a mud and sand ‘beach’ around the inland waterway. The shallows had lots of wading birds – especially storks and herons, and across the sand scuttled crabs, each armed with one enormous, oversized nipping claw.

fishing fleet, Isla Cristina

colourful tiled house, Isla Cristina

stork and curlew feeding in inland waters

crab with one HUGE claw!

This inland water eventually led underneath a bridge which crossed to the beach proper – a lovely expanse of white sand, and a good spot for finding unusual shells and mermaid’s purses - some of which Reuben discovered held the half-formed remains of baby dogfish.

Looking out over the beach from the bridge

gruesome remains inside a mermaid's purse

The inland waterway led to a shallow channel through to Ayamonte. We followed it a fair way in the dinghy, hoping to find flamingos. We found spoonbills, jumping fish and mudbanks crammed full of crabs, but no flamingos. One evening we had seen (and heard) a flock flying directly over the boatyard so we knew they were around somewhere. Possibly they fed in the old salt pans behind the boatyard? 

Spoonbills

Yes, all those bumps are crabs!

Reuben mastering rowing

Salt pans behind the boatyard, with a weird tinge of red

Once all the work was done, we headed east towards Gibraltar. We anchored off Sanlucar de Barremeda for Dave’s birthday. This is a sizeable town at the entrance of the river that leads to Seville. It looks a little rough-and-ready, with lots of buildings in disrepair, but the riverside is lined with a long sandy beach, and we found a nice little bar with palm–frond umbrellas to celebrate. 

old boatyard, Sanlucar de Barremeda

Birthday drink for the Captain

From here, a 25-mile hop took us to Sancti-Petri, before a long day trip the rest of the way to Gibraltar. We decided to stay in close to the coast for a more interesting trip, but soon after passing the Cabo de Trafalgar, (site of the famous sea battle where Nelson won for Britain but lost his life), we found ourselves faced with a wall of buoys and fishing nets. To be fair, it was marked on the chart, but we had hoped there would be a small gap near the shore. Nope! Cue a three-mile detour out around the nets…  

3-mile wall of nets and fishing gear

Sailing across Gibraltar Bay

The wind filled in as we passed Tarifa, and we were able to turn off the engine and sail through the Straits and across the ship-lined bay to Gibraltar (we counted 30-odd ships at anchor). This was Reuben’s favourite place on our last trip, mostly for seeing the apes up the Rock! It was quite a long detour for us, but we also wanted to stock up on cheap fuel and English goodies, and I had a loose filling to replace.

We have just spent two hectic days in Gibraltar doing all those things. We hiked up, along and down the Rock (I recommend the cable car) - saw the monkeys, the Moorish Castle and St Michael’s Caves. We have tanks full of fuel and cupboards full of Golden Syrup and Ginger Nuts. Katie and I have a new supply of reading books. We enjoyed a full English breakfast and I had my filling replaced. Now it’s time to turn around and head slowly home.

the famous Barbary apes

Reuben taking close-up pictures 

learning history about the siege of Gibraltar

We had thought about visiting the Balearics (Mallorca, Minorca, Ibiza), but it is a long way there and back (1100 mile round trip from Gibraltar), and wouldn’t leave us much time to explore the islands. Maybe another trip for another year?

For now, we are planning to return to Portugal and spend the rest of May enjoying the Algarve, before heading north in June/July. We plan to go to Douarnenez festival at the end of July and aim to be back in Topsham sometime in August.

Hasta luego!