Mir, Mandy & Me

Well it's not exactly cold here compared to the UK. I just need to wear long trousers and it gets dark earlier.  We left Alicante after the new year with the intention of meeting some old friends, Christine and Nick, in Mallorca. They were only there for a week and the weather was not on our side so we had to abandon our meeting until next time. Sorry guys. So we tootled past metropolis Benidorm, quite a sight from the sea with it's skyscrapers and mountains in the background. And we found some free mooring balls off a small holiday town called L'Albir where we stayed for 3 days while Mandy worked. It looked like it was off the beaten track but there was a path onshore that went up to the Albir lighthouse which we discovered later. After 3 days another storm rolled in and we had to go and shelter in a marina in the close-by town of Altea, 1 mile from our mooring buoys. Saw another Nauticat 42, Salino. They only made about 80 of these boats so it is a rare sight to bump into...

  I love Alicante, we've been coming here for yonks to see Carmen and her family and we always have a great time. Here's some photos from 20 years ago, 2004. So for us to sail our boat here, park up staggering distance from all the action and let the new year in with Carmen and her buddies was a real blast. Carmen's mates are such an interesting and diverse bunch of folks. English, Spanish, Argentinean, Welsh, Spanglish, Scottish. She's from Asturius and her Spanish mates are from all over Spain. Such an mad mix. And of course they know how to party. Then there is the crazy grape thing. At each of the 12 tolls of the bells at midnight on new years eve they eat a grape. 12 in all. These days they have started doing it at midday instead of midnight. Probably so the kids can join in. Anyway all the locals get these tiny grapes but Mandy got us some giant grapes so we couldn't speak for a while as we had a gob full of grapes. The city was buzzing all day, you couldn...