We arrived in Almeria, Spain on December first, after an overnight sail from Gibraltar. We had finally decided to spend the winter in Almeria, partly because our friend Tom, from the boat "XTC" was there, and partly because we had heard that it was a very nice place to spend some time in, and the marina charges were reasonable.

We had set out from Gibraltar on November 30 and motored all the way up to Punta Entinas, on the southern coast of Spain. By the time we reached that point it was early morning, and all of a sudden the wind started blowing. In no time at all the windometer showed over 25 knots from west. Immediately the waves increased also, but since they came from behind, it was not too bad. Dan rolled out our genoa and we motor sailed along quite fast, and by noon we were only 18 miles out from the port in Almeria. A big red sun had risen over the horizon in the east earlier, and that is when we could see high, snow covered mountain peaks inland. We thought it was snow, but were not sure, as it could have been the sun shining on the bare mountain walls! After 137 miles we had reached our waypoint and changed course towards Almeria. The coordinates our friend Tom had given us, took us over to a fishing port west of the main port. Just as we were about to enter that harbor, in high winds and rolling seas, the engine warning buzzer started screaming! Something was plugging up the salt water intake! Dan rushed down to our utility room and backflushed the strainer, all while I kept a look out. We got the engine started again and made our way into the fishing port looking for Tom's boat! The harbor was quite large, but only varying sizes of fishingboats lay tied up along the piers, and not one sailboat did we see. Even in that harbor it was quite windy, so I was glad when we decided that Tom's boat was not there, turned around and headed out into the Mediterranean again. It was not far to the main port in Almeria, and once we entered and was in the lee of the breakwater wall, it got calmer and much more comfortable. We went all the way up into the port and turned around, and the only marina we saw was at the beginning of the port. We went back to the marina to have a look, and that's when we saw Tom's boat; we were at the right place! Dan turned our boat around and headed outside the smaller breakwater wall to the fueldock, where we figured we would tie up temporarily, until we found out where we could tie up long term. By then Tom and his friend Vern, who was visiting from Florida, came out to the dock to help tie us up. We had just thrown one line from the stern to Vern, when Dan noticed black smoke billowing out around the engine compartment door! He immediately shut the engine off, so thank goodness we at least had one line tied off to the dock. Once Dan shut the engine off, the smoke stopped and cleared out. He opened the engine door to see what had caused the smoke? Seemed the lug on the alternator cable broke off, and in so doing it hit the steel oilfilter on the engine, arced a hole in the oilfilter and some oil spilled out. We could not turn the engine on until a new oilfilter was installed, and of course we didn't have a spare. The marina people were not happy about us being tied up to the fueldock, but what could we do! Later on we walked to a marine store, but they did not have a Janmar filter; we would have to order it! Once we were back in the marina again, and were walking out to our boat, we saw a service truck turning around and coming towards us. On the truck's side was written "Janmar Repair Service"! We stopped the truck and asked the man, if he had oil filters for our particular engine with him? He did not, but he thought he had some at his shop. He would bring two the following morning at 0900!

A good night sleep secured to a dock felt good, and before 0900 the next morning we were awake, and Dan was waiting for the Janmar repair man. He came with two filters! After Dan hade paid him, Dan installed the filter, turned over the engine and checked the oil level. Dan could not believe the oil level hadn't changed hardly at all, so luckily we hadn't lost much thanks to Dan's quick reaction. The engine seemed to work properly, and it could move our boat again, so it was time to go into the marina office and pay for a spot along the pier. I filled out the papers, and when I came to where they wanted to know what kind of boat we had, I made the unfortunate mistake of writing catamaran! Immediately the price increased with 50%, as we had to pay for a 45 foot long boat! Even so the price wasn't that bad; 1,350 pesetas per day, which is about $7.30, and it was the same price wether we stayed one day or 30 days! Our friend Tom had written "sailboat" for his 37 foot catamaran, so he was paying much less than we did, about 900 pesetas, $4.86 per day. From now on we also have a "sailboat"! The marinas in the Mediterranean are not like the ones back home in the US. Here they have docks also, but the boats are tied up stern or bow to with only fenders between the boats. This would be our first try tying up the Mediterranean way, and with the help of Tom and Vern we managed quite easily. Dan backed our boat up to the pier, lines from the stern cleats were tied to the bollards on the pier, and a line, which is secured to a heavy chain under water, was tied to our front bollard. When all the lines were tightened, our boat could only move so far forward, backwards and sideways! Dan rigged up our swimladder with a small plank on it to begin with, and that was used as a gangway to get on and off. Later on he bought a longer and wider board, that he fastened on the dockside end of the board with a bungie cord to a line from the davit, so the board hung in the air, and the other end rested on top of the boat. That made it quite easy getting on and off! It felt good to be able to get off and on the boat when you wanted to, instead of having to get into a dinghy and go ashore that way!

The electricity was included in the daily marina charge, but to begin with we couldn't utilize it. After Dan bought a transformer, that converted 220 volt to 110, we were plugged into the shore power, which ran our battery charger, and which in turn kept our batteries up. That worked great for a long time, but then one day the battery charger just quit! Dan brought it to the marine store, and they in turn sent it out to be checked out by the local factory authorized repair facility. At the repair facility they cooked it thoroughly, as they tested it with 220 volt! Too bad for us, because they were not going to do anything about it, nor give us some money off on a new battery charger! We had to do something, but a new battery charger like the one we had was out of the question, as they wanted over $600.00 for it. Eventually Dan bought two smaller car battery chargers for a lot less money. They have been charging our batteries for quite some time now, and seem to work ok. With the solar panels and wind generators helping, the batteries are kept up most of the time! We also bought an electric heater, that Dan tied straight into the 220 volt system, and that heater has been keeping our boat warm and dry all winter. We still make our own fresh water every third day, and as long as the salt water in the marina is somewhat clean, we can continue to do so. When we left the boat for eleven days to go to Paris, Dan had to clean out the watermaker and leave the pickling agent in it until we returned, otherwise algae would have started to grow on the membrane and ruined the watermaker!

The weather here in Almeria has been very nice for the most since we arrived, but then it is not called "The Sun Coast" for nothing! The sun has been shining almost every day, and now in February, it is starting to get quite warm. At least around 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade almost every day, and much hotter in the sun! Of course it wasn't that warm in December and January, but even then it wasn't that cold; never below freezing! Now we can wear shorts and sandals during the day, but it gets a bit chilly at night so long pants and a light sweater feels good. The biggest drawback with the weather here is the wind. From being totally calm in the morning, it can start blowing quite strong all of a sudden by the afternoon. Westerly winds have been dominating so far, but that is expected to change. We have seen our windometer reach 60 knots a few times while in the marina, and those times I have been so thankful we have been safe and secured tied up to the pier. The unpredictability of the weather here in the Mediterranean, is the biggest reason why we opted to spend the winter in one spot, rather than being out there and braving the elements.

Since we have been in "Club de Mar", which is the name of this marina and yacht club, we have met a few other sailors like us and made new friends. This marina doesn't have that many transient boats, as most of the boats here are local power and sail boats. Tom's boat, "XTC" is right next to ours; a littel farther in along the pier is "Mrs. Jones" a Dutch boat, with a young couple onboard, Rene and Wendy. "Pendragon VII" is the name of a French boat, but with US registration and the captain and owner is Patrick; we recently met him. We have been spending most of our time with Tom, Rene and Wendy, and the time has past very quickly. In the beginning of March, Rene and Wendy will continue their travels towards Barcelona, The Baleares, Corsica and Sardinia, before they have to return to Holland and work by the end of August. Tom will also continue farther into the Mediterranean, but only after his lady friend arrives from Florida. Patrick will be on his way to the Caribbean eventually, where he will charter his boat. Stress Relief will stay here in Almeria until the end of April, but then she wil also continue farther into the Mediterranean for the summer and next winter.

While we have been here in Almeria, we have done some sightseeing locally and gotten to know the city a bit better. It is a lot of history here and some old buildings we have visited. The grand "Alcazaba", where it sits high above the city, is a historical fortress from way back in the 900th century, and a great overview of the city can be had from there. Wendy and I have gone for long walks almost every day, sometimes with my camera along, so my Almeria album is starting to get full. Tom, Dan, Duke and I drove farther along the shore out to "Cabo de Gata" one day and saw some beautiful views of the Spanish coastline; that's where we will be heading when we leave Almeria. One day in late January, we also crammed the five of us into Tom's car and drove up to the Sierra Nevada mountains by Granada and went skiing for the day. That was something we had never dreamt of doing in Spain, but the day was a great success and we had lots of fun. Over to Aguadulce we have been a few times to get information from other boats, as there are an awful lot of transient boats in that harbor. That city is basically a tourist city and not at all as nice as Almeria. The people in the boats have been very helpful with information regarding where and how to get butane for our propane tanks, since propane is not available in Spain either! Dan and Tom basically rigged some kind of transfer system together, then they hung the butane bottle upside down and let the gas sink into our propane bottles. No special nozzles or changes were needed to be able to use the butane in our stove or hot water heater, and it seems to be as good as propane as far as btu's are concerned.

As always, the days soon settled into somewhat of a routine, since we have stayed in one place for so long. It seems we sleep late in the morning and stay up late at night! During the day we do grocery shopping in different stores, depending on what we need. There is also a Farmer's Market in Almeria, where we buy fresh vegetable, fruit, fish, meat and the most gorgeous and colorful flowers I have ever seen. We have already enjoyed fresh strawberries this month, and the oranges and lemons are ripe by now. At night we watch one of our 59 dvd-movies, alone or with our friends. Other evenings we play cards with Tom, Rene and Wendy, and sometimes we even had drinking games. Seems quite a few cans of beer have ended up in our garbage, but since a case of beer is only $3.25, it's hard buying anything else. Dan has been busy trying to get his Spanish ID number and a residence address card, so he can register his Honda scooter, he has ordered. Trying to find out about what particular papers he needed, and where to go for the ID numbers was a job in itself, but persistens paid off and eventually both he and Tom got their ID numbers. Dan is now anxiously waiting for the scooter to arrive! A few repairs to the boat and the dinghy has been done also. The dinghy had leaks in its compartments, so Dan had to lay down more fiberglass to repair them, and it seemed to work. The dingy was put back in the water a couple of weeks ago, and since then Dan and Duke, or Tom or Rene has taken it for a sail around the port. Dan also bought new lines, hot pink with blue in them, for the genoa and boom. The genoa lines he installed without any trouble, but the boom line needed a spliced in loop in one end and that was easier said then done. I have been working on our webpages and pictures a lot, and slowly I am starting to catch up. I was hoping to be all caught up by the time I leave for five weeks at home in Rhode Island with our son and daughter-in-law. I want to be there for our first grandchild's arrival and also to do our income taxes!