Drug boats, super yachts and little old us

Its hard to believe so much has happened in only a week since we left Gibraltar.  

We are currently one of only three visiting yachts berthed in the port of Malaga right in the centre of the city.  Earlier this week we cycled 50km on our Bromptons from Benalmadena to Malaga and back because the pilot book said there isn't a marina in Malaga ...its a commercial port.  But when we cycled past the port we spotted a few boats...all Spanish and on what looked like permanent stern-to moorings.  Just out of interest Greg spoke to some people from a company who were selling day trips on their commercial catamaran and asked whether it was possible to moor here. The very kind man said that you have to talk to the port police....he then offered to ring them and speak in Spanish for us.  Lo and behold we managed to secure a berth for the next day, so we cycled back to Benalmadena and set out in Viridian for Malaga, hardly daring to believe they would let us in when we arrived....but hey presto, they saw us approaching on the AIS and were expecting us.... and here we are - Greg has their phone number securely in his contacts list in case we need it for the future!

Moored up in Malaga

Puerto Malaga at night

We decided to visit the castle ...along with other tourists out in the 37 degree sunshine including a half hour walk up a very steep hill! At the ticket office I noticed a sign that said concessions with the correct documentation.  So fully expecting it not to count, I got out my senior railcard which I bought on my recent trip back home; it doesn't even have my picture on it but when I showed it to the cashier, she charged me only 60 cents for the concessionary ticket and looked at Greg and then gave him the concession as well.!!! I almost laughed out loud...he was wearing a 'wife beater' and was looking quite muscular but clearly his toyboy days are well and truly over!   

The castle was worth the visit; it is very well preserved and has beautiful gardens within it.  The views are stunning and we could just see our boat looking tiny down in the harbour. 

Great view of Malaga from the top of the castle

Old folk having a rest at the top

Earlier this week we had a bit of serious excitement in Fuengirola.  

We were on deck and moored on the waiting pontoon because there wasn't any other space in the marina, when a tiny fishing boat came into the marina towing a massive black rib with three 350HP Yamaha engines on the back.  The Capitan helped him to moor it alongside us and then the excitement began.  It drew crowds of people for the next few hours on boats and on the pontoon.  You can probably see why from the pictures.  Greg did some research while we were waiting and discovered that never mind the cost of the boat, the engines alone cost £25,000 each!

Who needs 3 350HP engines and why?.....

The fisherman turned out to be quite a fragile old man, so he sat on our boat and had a drink whilst waiting for the police and to make his statement.   When the numerous  police arrived we got talking 
to them and it turns out they believed it to be an abandoned drug runners boat.  They stayed and guarded it in shifts until it was finally towed away in the dark. We then saw it being shifted by lorry the next day.

When its on the low-loader you can see how big it is!

Hopefully the fisherman will get some of the salvage value....  

Our biggest mistake this week was deciding to moor in Puerto Banus.  As we sailed past up the coast on our way to Marbella, we spotted the superyacht Yas at anchor outside Puerto Banus, presumably because it was too big to get in....apparently it is based on a naval frigate and owned by Sheik Hamdan bin Zayed (half-brother of the Emir of the UAE). At 141 metres she is the 6th largest yacht in the world!

Superyacht Yas

When we were in Marbella there were endless ferries going to Puerto Banus so we decided to go and see what all the fuss was about.  In hindsight we should have stayed in Marbella and cycled there but instead we went on Viridian and moored there at an extortionate cost. Several people had been telling us how brilliant it was, so perhaps our expectations were too high. There were a few slightly larger yachts moored up, but certainly nothing on the scale of the superyachts and glamour of the marinas in Sint Maarten or Juan-les-Pins - and there were very few sailing yachts there....they were nearly all motor boats.  

Relaxing in Puerto Banus - its much cheaper to drink on board

Yes, the shops are all designer but no-one seemed to be shopping in them; there was just an endless trail of ordinary people (us included) gawping and who had come from other resorts for the day. We saw quite a few very expensive sports cars, driven by young, tattooed males and numerous Arthur Dayley look-alikes driving Bentleys.  I couldn't get over the fact that when we had been cycling on the outskirts of Marbella we had spotted a place where you could hire a Ferrari or a Lamborghini for a day; is that where the cars were from or do the very rich really roar round the streets of Puerto Banus showing off to tourists?  Happy to stand corrected. We won't be returning to Puerto Banus.