Dolphin alert!

Thursday saw the rain dry up and the warm sunshine return. After breakfast, we decided to take ma Belle out for her first sail of the year - what a great day. Flat calm water with no wind meant a steady motor around to Cala Montjo but on the way we were joined for about an hour by a solitary dolphin who just seemed to want to play and show off. The more we spoke to him and encouraged him, the more he seemed to play, diving to the bottom and returning to the surface at full speed, swimming in our bow wake and generally entertaining us. What a very special hour!

Lunch at anchor in Cala Montjo was also very entertaining with a group of Spanish Army recruits swimming out from the shore in their wet suits and just bobbing about 20 meters from the boat. They were clearly doing their scuba diving training, getting in and out ribs and generally messing about in the water.

The wind got up after lunch and we had a great sail back into the bay of Roses before heading back to our birth in Empuriabrava.

Friday was another beautiful day and I went for a brilliant run along the beach and along the river Muga as far as the Falgas factory near Empuries. A final steak meal at El Churrasco ended a well needed week. We set that alarm for 4 am and left the boat in darkness to get to the airport for our early flight. The AP-7 was closed for some reason which meant that we had to find our way through Figures to get to the motorway - their was a lot of traffic about at that time and we got pulled over for a random breath test by the police. The reading was 0-04 whatever that means but the lady police officer said that I was OK. Thank goodness I only had half a caraf of wine with my meal!

Roll on Easter - only 4 weeks to go until we return and then we may try to get to Barcelona as the boat show is on in Empuriabrava and we will need to move the boat anyway.

Half term at last

Well I can't believe that we haven't been out to the boat since October!
At last half-term was with us and Helen and I eventually flew out from Bristol to Girona on Saturday morning - Ryanair have changed the times of some of their flights which are better for going out, arriving at lunchtime, but a nightmare coming back, leaving Girona at 6.30 am!
Hertz rental car wasn't the usual 'ice cream van' but was a little beaten up - I did point this out to the office but they said that they had a note and that we shouldn't worry. Anyway it turned out to be a great car, a Seat Ibiza, which did us well for the week.
Lunch in the Montserrat super market with my first beer since New Year's day. I decided to put the diet on hold for the holiday!
Saturday's weather was fine and sunny with a bit of a chill when the sun went down. Belle Helene was beautiful and all was well; the dinghy had faired well on the front deck and the sea cocks all opened easily even after such a long time closed.
Sunday morning saw the sun shining but a forecast for overcast weather and possible rain in the afternoon. We decided to take the car around the coast to Cala Montjo and go for a walk. We have seen the coast from the sea on many occasions and always thought that the bunkers on the headland were houses. They aren't, just probably the most beautiful gun emplacements ever built! We had a beautiful walk along the quite precipitous coastal path ending up on the beach in a beautiful Cala.

A great day out - but very tiring.

I am afraid the the weather turned for the worst for the next three days but we did manage to get out for a drive and discovered a great little place called Saint marti D'Empuries, a small walled fortress with small streets near to Escala. We also went to Estartit and had a Cafe con Leche in Kim's bar, the place we took Simon and Tom for breakfast last year.