Caleta de Vélez….twice

After three short days in Marbella, we headed for Caleta de Vélez. As a side-note, our good friend Ludy’s mother’s family is from the village of Vélez which is just inland from the port town of Caleta de Vélez. We did not know this until later, but it’s still pretty cool nonetheless. Though we had only intended to spend a night here, as we were getting eager to get to the Balearic Islands, our good friend “weather” showed up the next day to remind us that we were not in charge.

We woke the following morning and set out for Almiramar which was to be a 10 hour sail. We started out on a pleasant enough sail with light winds out of the south. About 2 hours into our journey the winds abruptly picked up to 20 knots right on the nose. We tried to push on, but about 20 minutes later, our flat, calm seas turned steep with swells very close together, making our progress a very slow 3 knots and most uncomfortable. So 3 hours out of Vélez, we finally sought shelter in a small cove thinking that it might subside. We had lunch, met up with Moonstruck who also tucked into the cove, and waited. We called ahead to the next marina to see if we might get a slip. No luck. And unfortunately, in these conditions there were no protected anchorages in the area. We finally had to make the disappointing call to turn around and head back to Caleta de Vélez (we hate going backwards). At least the return was a nice, speedy downwind sail.

For the following four days we watched the weather waiting for a new window. Finally, though conditions were still not ideal, we took our chances and were able to angle just enough to make it to Almiramar. It was here that we staged for our overnight passage to the Balearics. It was kind of exciting as this was to be our first overnight since the crossing!