Diary of a live aboard during lockdown - CV Week 10

Sunday 17 May to Saturday 23 May 2020

Hurray, we've entered Phase 1 of de-escalation from Spain's Coronovirus lockdown. So, what does that mean in reality?

For us it means that we can go sailing with friends, but staying in the boundaries of the Malaga province which is south to Duquesa (12 miles) and north to Malaga (50 miles).  It also means that we can go out on our friends boats, which is exactly what we did on Thursday to celebrate our friend Richard's birthday.

Back on the sea at last!

Richard and Edita are moored next to us and over the last year have become good friends.  They own a 26 foot motor boat so when they invited us out for a whizz up the coast and supper at sunset, we jumped at the chance to get on the sea. 

It was a beautiful evening, perfect for an evening cruise and oh my did it feel good to be out there, with the wind blowing in our hair, spray on our faces and grins that a Cheshire cat would be envious of.  It made us both realise how much we miss the freedom of the sea!

Birthday girl!

We also celebrated our granddaughter Millie's 4th birthday.  We video called early in the morning so that we could sing 'happy birthday' and see her opening her presents from us.  Apparently she'd been up since 6am, but was still going strong.

It was lovely to see her so happy and I think it's safe to say she liked the Playdough Kitchen we bought her as we had to watch as she made us cookies with it. 




I'm really hoping that we'll be able to get back to England sometime soon, as much as I see the grandchildren on facetime, it's just not the same as having those little arms around your neck giving you the biggest hug.

Estepona comes back to life 

Moving into Phase 1 also meant that shops could open, albeit with strict distance and hygiene rules in place and bars and cafes could open if they had outdoor seating and could maintain the 2 metre distance rule.

Monday morning I headed off for my usual walk, but this time I could legitimately go into the town centre.  There were a number of shops open, but for me the best sight was seeing people sitting at the cafes having breakfast and talking as if nothing had happened.  Back at the marina, that too was full of life as fishing boats came in and unloaded their catches and large motorboats arrived at the boat yard.

The marina was bustling and noisy and by the end of the day, I was a bit emotional after seeing our beautiful Estepona slowly coming back to life and feeling a sense of comfort that things will get better.

Getting ready for the off!

Back on Offbeat it was time to check out the repairs we had done to the Ghoster sail - our lightweight, light-wind genoa.  Luckily we had a number of days with no wind (although by mid afternoon the heat was suffocatingly hot) so Mark could get it raised and check it thoroughly.  He also took the opportunity to fiddle about with its fittings so it raises and drops more easily. This sail is 40 years old - we inherited the original receipts when we bought Offbeat- and still works well for us. It was a beautiful sight to see the sail up and spurred us on to sit down and revise our plans for the summer so that we can get our fix of sailing and sightseeing. 

Our highlight of the week has to be our long lunch at our favourite restaurant La Escallera.  It is a fresh seafood restaurant set just behind the fishing dock and fish market and is always packed full of locals and some tourists.  It is so popular that you can't book a table, you turn up, put your name on the list and wait! 

When the wind did arrive at the tail end of the week, it was blowing a Levanter.  This is a problem for us as it means that the wind blows the smell of cooking from La Escallera straight over to our boat.  You may think it would be a fishy smell, but I can assure you it's not.  It is the most mouthwatering combination of fish, shellfish, herbs and cooking which, in combination with the happy chatter of diners, makes the place irresistible.  As we hadn't been out for 10 weeks, we owed ourselves a treat and boy did we have one. Octopus, squid and baby sole washed down with chilled Albarino.

If ever there was food porn, this was it!