Moraira 38 41.07 N 00 08.8 E
ALKIRA
Charles & Maggie Bevis
Sat 14 Sep 2013 07:45
A short motor/sail along the coast to Morayra where we have spent a couple of days at anchor, something very rare in this region.
Morayra is a small attractive town of villas and a few small holiday apartments located some 20 miles east of Benidorm. To the east of the town and it's marina is one of the better sheltered anchorages on this coast with the bonus of clear clean seas and a sandy sea bed. Around the bay and on the cliffs closest to the anchorage, are a large number of very big and exclusively designed villas, most are 3 or 4 storeys high built into the rock-face, all in immaculate condition and with beautiful landscaped terraces, very attractive and very expensive. Not all appear to be occupied now that the holiday season is over, the owners having gone back to work in Madrid or Barcelona perhaps, but nice holiday homes!
The Costa Brava appeals to neither of us, the coast is very developed and mostly characterless, with only one or two exceptions. There is little option but to sail from one marina to another as there are very few anchorages, the only choice being which Marina. They are all very similar, comprising rock boulder seaward walls enclosing 2 or 3 rows of piers with pick up lines - no finger berths here! So far the port operators we have encountered have all been highly efficient and helpful and the facilities ( toilets and showers) have been clean and first class. At Altea we even had a swimming pool complete with lifeguard - we were the only customers. The appeal of the area has to be the climate and that is probably why so many expats have moved here; rather them than us, especially after witnessing what's happened in Benidorm!
A lazy day on board on Thursday with Charlie swimming down to check the hull and scrub the propellor. We've been surprised at how little growth there is on the hull considering how warm the sea is, so the anti-foul has done its job well, but the prop attracts a lot of growth and barnacles etc seem very attracted to it, but it's nice and clean again now. The anti fouling is a little a braided on the forward edge of the keel after Charlie's dredging operations in norther Spain - should have listened to Maggie.
There are just two restaurants here. One is located by the very small shallow beach and is open all hours, always busy and doing a roaring trade. The customers all seemed to be from UK. The other, is more exclusive with terraces of tables overlooking the bay and anchorage and only seems to open in the evenings. With a menu starting at a mere 78€, we haven't been to that one!
We rowed ashore for lunch on Friday and after a quick look around the town and not finding any shops, we rowed back. Fortunately we have sufficient provisions on board to keep us going until we arrive in Dénia.
The weather now seems to be changing. The fans are off at night and as Its noticeably cooler. We are on the cusp of resorting to duvets once more. We had some light rain and a lot of cloud cover for most of the day on thursday with a noticeable drop in temperature to about 24oC. Friday was warmer although cloudy most of the day, at around 27oC. Looking at the weather forecast for the next few days it seems we may be in for more cooler days and some thunder.
Later this morning we will be leaving and progressing up,the coast to Dénia just some three hours away. We turn the last corner at this point and from thereon it's Northward up the coast to Sant Carles with very few stops remaining.