22nd January 2017. Mazarron, Spain.

It had been rather stormy during the night but the weather had improved considerably by the morning, there was a lovely sunrise, so I took loads of photos of that and then of the old dog as he came out to lay on the beach.

After breakfast we all set off for a walk towards the marina at the far end of town

As we walked past an opening on to the beach I noticed what looked like a cave in the rocks beside the sea so we wandered down to see what it was.  Darren walked up the little gully that led to the cave and as he got to the mouth of the cave it became apparent that it was actually a man made tunnel as we could see the sea lapping against the rock.  We were trying to fathom out what the tunnel could be for when suddenly a huge wave crashed against the back of the rock forcing  water through the tunnel and cascading towards Darren, I laughed as he raced past me trying to keep his feet dry until I realised the next wave was pushing the water further up the gully towards me!  I rushed back on to the beach and then realised I’d left my handbag up on the wall at the side of the gully.

I waited for the water to subside, went back to collect my bag then scrambled up the rock on the other side of the gulley and walked up towards the top where Jane scrambled past me and sat down to enjoy the view giving me a perfect photo opportunity.  We spent a long time up on top of the rock watching the water surging through the tunnel and the waves crashing against the base of the rock formation.

We were making more and more ridiculous guesses as to what it had been made for which Jane listened to for a while before informing us there was a notice board, with English translation, which had information about the tunnel (which we’d walked straight past in our rush to be nosey).  Apparently the tunnel and the little pools were for collecting water for salt.  It’s amazing what you can learn if you are patient.

We decided to carry on walking along the beach this time and I noticed a man and his dog make a mad dash from the beach to a rocky outcrop.  We wandered over to see what it was and Darren and Steve thought they’d go up to explore.  It was quite a wide section of the beach and the waves broke against the rock then ran round and across the beach so timing was everything if they didn’t want wet feet.  They waited for a break and ran across to the steps but didn’t quite make it so I took great pleasure at the sight of them sheltering on a lump of concrete until the water had subsided.

Jane and I had a long “shall we, shan’t we” chat about whether we were going to risk going across.  I saw a break in the waves and decided I was going to risk it.  I made a dash for it and made it across to the steps, Jane said she was staying on the beach so I climbed up the steps to join the other two and take lots of photos.

It wasn’t long before Jane’s curiosity got the better of her and she joined us too (she didn’t make it across in one run either, hooray I’m the champion!)

The views from the top were gorgeous and we could see the rocks that we’d been standing on a short while before.

I was the last off the rock so I could take photos of the others running across to the beach, unfortunately none of them were considerate enough to get their feet splashed by a wave for my photo shoot.

A bit further along the beach we came to the little marina that we’d stopped near the previous day in our quest to find a suitable overnight stop.  Our quest this time was to track down a cafe so we could sit in the sun and relax.  Moments later we found what we were seeking and settled down at a table outside in the sun with a coffee and ice cream (Darren and I had the ice cream, which is probably why I’m getting rounder by the day and Jane is nice and slim!) overlooking the water.  Jane made a new friend in the shape of a cute dog (I’m surprised we didn’t hear him singing “You’ve got a friend in me”, he was smitten by her) he stared lovingly up at her for ages before laying down against her feet.  His owner gave Jane some doggie snacks to feed his dog, the little soul loved her to bits after that.  Unfortunately he turned out to be quite fickle and when another little female dog turned up he turned his attentions to her instead!  Men!!

After we’d finished our drinks we continued our walk into town and Jane’s wonderful Pokemon app helped us to find the harbour.

We walked through a gap between two walls and there it was before us.  The harbour was lovely, the sun was glinting off the water and it was full of fancy boats bobbing around.  Along one side there was a row of restaurants, perfect!  We headed towards them.

The water in the harbour was crystal clear and Darren pointed out some large fish swimming around.  While I was looking at the fish I noticed a bird paddling around on the surface, the strange thing was that it looked like a penguin!  I watched him for a while, he’d paddle along the surface dipping his head in every so often to check for fish and then he would do a duck dive (or should that be a penguin dive) under the water where I was thrilled to be able to see him in his attempts to catch his lunch.  It looked as though he was flying under the water.  It was intriguing.  Unfortunately I’d spent so long watching him that the other three had wandered off to look for somewhere to have lunch so I had to rush after them or risk going hungry!

They found a wonderful restaurant beside the water overlooking the snazzy boats and sat at a table in the warm sun, it was a Moroccan restaurant which fortunately had a menu del dais.  We had a gorgeous meal which for me included an ice cold beer, a bowl of mildly spiced soup served with flat bread and a big bowl of couscous filled with lots of roasted vegetables and falafel and more flat bread, it was brought to us by a waiter and waitress who were both very friendly and very patient!  What more could you ask for except perhaps more space in my stomach so I could have tried the dessert.

We were so full of food that we virtually waddled as we explored the rest of the harbour.  Jane took the left over flat bread with us to try to lure the fish over so we could see them but they were being fussy and she decided to move on and find some more appreciative fish to feed.  As she left loads of fish suddenly descended on the bread!

As it was starting to get late we walked back to the aire and had an early night for the first time in a week.