Herewith, some general notes for the benefit of other visitors. The information is arranged in the traditional form, beginning with a few paragraphs concerning such matters as history and flora. If you deem these things to be irrelevant to your needs as a yachtsman, just scroll down the page. Eventually you will find the nitty-gritty: an appraisal of the local winds, and a few words regarding local customs… (as in Customs and Excise).
After a couple of months of to-ing and fro-ing between England and the Canary Islands the Mollymawks were more than ready to say goodbye to Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) and head for somewhere a little more relaxing. To be exact, we decided to head for La Gomera.
What do you think of our new dinghy? It matches the mothership quite nicely, doesn’t it? There we were, one quiet afternoon in the anchorage in Las Palmas. Or at least, we were being quiet; the anchorage itself is never very quiet because it is part of “the busiest port in West Africa”. Ships come and go; tugs rush up and down like terriers off the lead, and pilot boats speed to and fro officiously. Besides all that, this was a…
The dot-com officer having been busy with his A-level studies, the Mollymawk website has spent the past few months lying unattended on its moorings. Not so the vessel herself – or at any rate, not quite so much so. This very belated report describes our passage south from the Mediterranean port of Melilla down to the Canary Islands. People often write to us asking, “What special skills do you need in order to go cruising?” Well, herewith, in Part I…
Given in good faith, but not to be taken as gospel. Melilla occupies the northern part of a large man-made harbour which is shared between Spain and Morocco. The space between the two ports seems ideal for anchoring, and indeed, we spent quite a bit of time here. If you plan to do likewise, be aware that the anchorage is directly in front of the gaping harbour mouth and is therefore completely untenable in a strong easterly. We have…
We’ve all been so frantically busy, these past few months, that the Mollymawk website has been rather neglected – and since the pressure is still on, this update will be brief. Caesar and Xoë have still got their noses to the grindstone, as they study hard for their A levels. This puts the rest of the crew under a lot of pressure too, as it means that there are only three of us to do all of the chores. Most…
We now lose a small but much loved member of the crew.
It was on March 3rd that we finally left the marina. Not for the absolute, last time ever – because it’s the only safe place to leave the boat when we need to go into Cartagena – but for the last time as fee paying members of the La Manga community. We have relinquished the berth which was our home for the previous three years, and we won’t be going back to that lifestyle.
It’s February 1st… and we’re still stuck in La Manga. Those of you who know us well won’t be at all surprised at the delay, but everybody else keeps asking us, “Why…?”
Mollymawk is currently based in La Manga del Mar Menor, in Southern Spain. Cruising Notes for this region will eventually be posted… but the Log Book will not begin in earnest until we set off, again, into the wide blue yonder.