A disappointing day motoring! we had hoped that the wind would fill and we would get a sail but as usual it didn’t go our way, when the wind did arrive it was on the nose so it wasn’t to be! We stopped at the marina for water and fuel on our way into anchor and soon were settled not far from Falkor.

We moved further up the anchorage after a few days to get out of the swell and stayed there for a couple of weeks anchored in the cruise ship turning area- as no cruise ships are forecast until next year we hoped not to be kicked off by the officials. From here it's much easier to get into town, do shopping, laundry, fill gas bottles and generally get off the boat. We also found an early Christmas present for Innamorata in the form of a secondhand gangway / passerelle which we will need for mooring stern to in Gibraltar and the Med - its very similar to the one which we had before and having not used it since 2006 and thinking we wouldn’t ever need it again we got rid of it - pre covid we had no intention to go back into the Mediterranean 😬.

The weather forecast for Christmas week was looking wet and windy so we decided to treat ourselves to a week in the marina with water and electricity on demand. Lucy and Simon also chose to moor up for a week -  Lucy’s parents Sarah and Steve had arrived in their campervan a few days before and ferrying to the boat and shore in the wet was no fun. On the 23rd both boats headed into the marina and were given berths next to each other. Form here we could walk ashore easily and all went for a couple of walks into town where we purchased a Christmas tree for the boat and got some last minute Christmas treats. 

The least successful outing was on Christmas eve when we thought - eat early then go for a walk to see the lights and enjoy the bustle - so we all donned Christmas hats, dodged the rain showers and headed into town, some of the lights we on but the town was dead everywhere was closed except a couple of restaurants! 

The streets really were deserted!!!

  

 

After a disappointing wander we found a restaurant that would serve us drinks before heading back to the marina. Christmas day was lovely we went for a walk on the beach in the morning and I picked a large bag of litter up on the way, then we cooked lunch - I cooked nut roast, roast parsnips, pigs in blankets and veg, while Lucy cooked the meat and potatoes and other vegetables on Falkor where we all had our Christmas meal together followed by playing some card games, all in all we had a lovely day and didn’t even really overeat too much 😋! Of course we had an interlude between the main course and pudding to speak to our families in UK as well and wish everyone a happy Christmas. 

Boxing day was warm but grey so we took the opportunity to give Innamorata a deck wash - that’s the "royal we" as it was 90% Steve and only 10% me doing the cleaning and she looked a whole lot better for the wash. I did give the inside a jolly good hoover though as well! 

All too quickly the week was over and it was time to head out to anchor again - though we both 100% prefer to anchor it is nice to have unlimited power and water, run the dehumidifier to get rid of condensation and be able to take nice long showers (which not only use water but cause condensation as well). 

So out to anchor we headed for the night.