Last month I had an absolutely fabulous day out on the Optimist of London 11 a luxury catamaran based in Marina Del Este harbour. My family and I arrived at Marina Del Este and found Stephen and his boat on berth 60, opposite the Pizzeria. Having already pre booked the 3 hour cruise, which left at 12.30pm; we waited for others to arrive. There are various cruises to choose from, 3 hour or 6 hour trips or you can book the Catamaran for your own exclusive use. You can check availability on the website www.sailandstay.eu just put the date and time you want to sail and you can see how many places are left on the boat. I would suggest booking well in advance as places fill up incredibly fast. Two other families arrived and we all boarded the Catamaran and sat round the outside table to enjoy complimentary champagne and snacks of crisps, olives and fresh fruit. Whilst we tucked in, Stephen provided us with a safety talk and introduced us to Ali the crew who would be around to help and cook lunch. Then we were off leaving the bay of Marina Del Este heading towards Nerja. The catamaran had plenty of seating area options from the large net at the front of the boat to seats in the corners or the comfortable cushions placed around the sides. There were 11 of us on the boat plus Steve and Ali and there were plenty of places to make yourself comfortable, relax, sunbath and take the scenery in. You could help yourself to soft drinks, bottles of water and beer from the coolers whenever you liked; it truly was an indulgent trip. After an hour the anchor was lowered in order for the guests to take a dip in the sea or make use of the snorkelling kit on board. For those guests who were more adventurous you could take a ride out on a kayak or have a donut ride behind the rib that had been attached to the Catamaran. My daughter and I took the donut ride option whilst my son wanted to snorkel and find Nemo! I had excellent fun and so did the other guests. Whilst we were all in the sea, lunch was being prepared on board so once we were back on deck we could relax with a glass of wine and help ourselves to a buffet of various salads, cold meats and fish, quiche and tortilla. Lunch was a fabulous spread and we helped ourselves to more, more than once! After lunch we headed back to Marina Del Este enjoying the scenery and our son got a chance to bring up the anchor and then later sail the boat. Stephen and Ali were great with the kids on board which allowed the adults to relax even more if that was possible! Our family had a great day out and we will definitely do it again and if you haven’t, you should definitely book a trip now, I can’t recommend it enough.
