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| Early morning approach - Gibraltar's famous cloud |
Since we returned to Common
Sense in Cartagena following Terry’s heart surgery, this couldn’t have been
described as our most active sailing season. First, we had quite a few
leisurely weeks exploring this fascinating old city as well as enjoying the company
of the small but congenial liveaboard community in the marina. We also took the
opportunity to go back for a better look at Barcelona and a catch-up with
cruising buddies Laura and Olivier (and of course the charming Mae!) and I had
the amazing experience of being in Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia at sunset to take in
his sculpture in light, an experience I will never forget. We had side trips to
Murcia and then to London and Ireland as well, as described in previous blogs.
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| Triana Markets in Sevilla |
Terry told the story of our ill-fated first foray out to
sea, which resulted in a stay in Garrucha for repairs. Unfortunately, this
story has been repeated a couple of times and we now find ourselves not much
further down the track in Gibraltar, engaged in the time-honoured cruisers’
pastime of ‘waiting for parts’, to be followed by ‘waiting for a bloke’ to
assemble said parts.
But it hasn’t been all bad by any means. Spain has been
warm, friendly, interesting and full of good things to eat and drink. We had a
wonderful month at home to celebrate our son’s wedding to the lovely Claire and to catch up with
friends. Bridgeen and Patricia joined us for the trip from Almerimar to
Gibraltar and it was such a shame that the boat problem and their schedules
prevented them from sailing through to the Canaries with us. We did get to share
some good times with them, however, including a busy day in the beautiful city
of Seville. We really hope they both get to fulfil their sailing dreams in the
near future!
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| Patricia and Bridgeen lunch on board Common Sense |
While waiting for our repairs, we met Johannes and
Merle-Marie, two young German backpackers who are keen to crew on Common Sense for the passage to
Lanzarote, and, if all goes well, the Atlantic crossing to Cuba.
So, despite our very few nautical miles, we have seen some
amazing places and met some really wonderful people, and that’s what it’s all
about in the end.
