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From Fuengirola we sailed along the coast to Puerto Caleta de Velez where we anchored outside the marina for the night. It was just as rolly as the one we’d left. The following day we planned to go to Motril and anchor inside the harbour where indicated in our (out of date) pilot book but when we got there we found laid moorings with small boats. As we circled around looking for somewhere to drop the hook we heard a two tone siren. Looking up we saw a Guardia Civil officer gesticulating to us. He’d turned his car’s siren on to get our attention to tell us we couldn’t stop there. Not a maritime sound signal we were familiar with! We tried the marina but it was full so set off for Almerimar about thirty five miles further along.

The marina at Almerimar is another Lagos/Villamoura with a large British presence, waterside residential units (many shuttered up), bars, restaurants and estate agents showing 30% price reductions. It’s appeal lay in its accessible and well stocked supermarket where we could replenish essentials, like beer. Next to the supermarket was a greengrocers that looked good but was disappointing. Fruit and veg has not been as good in Spain as Portugal and we wonder if it’s because of forced growing under acres and acres of plastic sheeting all along this coast.

The pilot book and our own low expectations put us off spending too much time here because of excessive development. So we’ve moved on fairly quickly (for us). There are some remote areas and the high, snow capped mountains are spectacular and we’re sure a journey inland would have been rewarding.

From Almerimar we had a short hop to the west side of Cabo de Gata and the end of the Costa del Sol. We anchored off Punta de la Testa, a lovely anchorage where we swam off the boat. But the flies – thank goodness for fly meshes.