One night in Garrucha harbour was enough as it was a busy industrial port with poor facilities. There was a constant stream of lorries loading sand onto massive ships and the bathing facilities were poor so we were pleased to be at sea again early the next morning.
Our course was set for Cartagena, one of the oldest cities in Spain and it turned out to be a fabulous natural harbour with wonderful Roman remains in the city that had only been discovered in the 1980's. A magnificent amphitheatre had been uncovered and through its discovery the history of the area had been traced back 3,000 years. The town had a great feel of traditional Spain with lots of decorative old and new buildings. Apart from plenty of money being spent on marketing its Roman treasures, spacious palm tree lined promenades had been built all around the harbour, a large section of which was reserved for the Spanish navy.
Cartagena harbour and the Roman amphitheatre in the town centre
Cartagna Royal yacht club facilities were also open to us so we took a refreshing dip in their swimming pool and managed to connect to their wifi facility – a rare experience as half of Spain has never heard of it!
We left Cartagena at lunch time with the aim of making for the inland lake Mar Menor just 25nm away. As we approached it on a very hot afternoon we rounded the Cabo de Palos lighthouse and saw a number of yachts moored in the bay – a perfect place for an afternoon swim. The anchor was down very soon and we took a number of dips before hitting the cold beer and crisps. We then decided to spend the night at anchor in this bay together with an American yacht who we make contact with. It was a Hans Christiansen from 1978. Hull number one – of a very seaworthy sort. The couple had sailed it for 6 years and it was their home and they were on their way to the Canaries.
This is very much what sailing is all about. It is very much a voyage of discovery as quite literally you never know what is round the next corner. The anticipation of all these new experiences is what drives us on. There are those magic moments in quiet anchorages when you sit in the cockpit after a long day's sail sipping wine after a dip in the azure sea Your body tingles with the coldness of the dip and you feel you are in heaven. Then there are those hot, dusty moments when sweat pours off you and you would do anything to be cool!
It was very much back to civilization when we arrived at Torrevieja – a typical overpowering Spanish holiday resort but with an excellent marina called Marina Salina with good facilities. The young girl at the reception was the first person we had met who spoke good English. We were also starting to look for a harbour where we could leave Moonshadow for a week so we were keen to negotiate reasonable fees. Fortunately, Robert the commercial manager was Swedish which also helped!
We did a long sail the next day to Puerto de Campello which would have been a perfect place for commuting to Alicante. We were squeezed into a very narrow mooring rather late at night and although it was a quiet and peaceful harbour they did not have space for us to stay more than a few nights.
The next day we returned to Torrevieja. It was in the wrong direction but the bonus was that the wind was aft of the beam and for the first time we could use our colourful cruising shute which helped us to skim through the water at 7 knots in a lovely keen wind of about Force 5. On arrival at Torrevieja we anchored within the large and sheltered harbour as we had seen many other yachts there on our previous visit and knew it was safe. We spent the next day on boaty work and washing – two things that are always with you even if you are on holiday!
Our colourful cruising shute
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