Sailing the Costa Tropical

Last Thursday, we set out with Miriam and Charlie on a 6 hour sailing trip along the Costa del Sol. Our ship, the Opportunist, was captained by Stephen, a friendly British man who has the horrible job of taking people out sailing ever day...must be a rough life! He and his Skipper, Jeff, welcomed us on board with champagne, fresh fruit, and other nibbles. We were also joined on board by another family - mom, dad, four kids, and "Nanny" (aka grandma). The family quickly settled in on the back of the ship, leaving the entire front deck for us to enjoy!


Our first order of business was to make every effort to avoid getting fried. I have been told multiple times by locals that they can spot tourists from a mile a way because they are nearly always the bright red people walking around on the beach. (Although I didn't get any pictures of them, the family who joined us on the cruise was a perfect example of this!) Determined to not become the butt of the local's jokes, we caked on the sunscreen - Jason's favorite activity!


Despite, his obvious hatred of sunscreen application, it paid off - no sunburns for these tourists!

After setting sail, we headed west, toward Malaga, along the coast. Along the way, we stopped and took turns riding in the ship's dingy with outboard motor into a cave accessed through a small opening where a cliff face met the ocean. It was really neat to see all of the interesting rock formations and colorful mineral deposits inside. Unfortunately, the dingy was not substantial enough for me to trust that it wouldn't capsize so I didn't take my camera along. You'll have to use your imagination to picture it!

Once everyone had seen the cave, we all reboarded the ship and continued on. It wasn't long before Charlie returned from a trip to the cooler (located at the back of the ship) with a serious warning that we should all "steer clear of Nanny." Apparently his visit to the back of the ship coincided perfectly with her posing this question to the captain, "If I were to be sick, where should I do it?" Awesome. I got the message loud and clear and kept my distance at all cost!

We sailed about 2 1/2 hours up the coast before anchoring near the waterfalls at Maro (which, in the dry heat of August, were more of a trickle) for lunch. The ship was equipped with lots of snorkel gear and a tube for rides behind the dingy. Miriam and Jason both got to take turns on the tube before the outboard motor sadly ran out of gas. Jason actually got quite lucky to not have to swim back to the ship as the gas ran out mid-way through his ride.


Lunch was a delicious assortment of Spanish cured meats, breads, salads, and omelettes. After eating, we hopped back in the water for a swim ashore where we explored some more impressive caves and rock formations. As we were anchored just off shore from the Caves of Nerja, many of the rock formations we saw during our swim were very similar (though smaller in scale) to those I had previously photographed while visiting the caves.

When we got back to the ship after our long swim we discovered that, due to her refusal to get in the water to cool off a bit and to get away from the rocking of the boat for a while, Nanny had finally succumbed to the queasiness she'd been fighting off all day. Oddly, no one in her family seemed the least bit concerned about her. She looked absolutely miserable and a little lonely. She sure could have used some company John!

Exhausted from our day in the sun, we all enjoyed the nice, long relaxing sail back to the marina, a little sad our trip had to come to an end.


By the end of the day, Jason and Charlie were already strategizing as to how they could swing buying a boat of their own. Good luck guys! Miriam and I are looking forward to lots of trips to sea as soon as you figure that one out.