At our destination – Cartagena

We have now made it! We are safely moored in Yachtport Cartagena and have booked in for 6 months. We will fly home tomorrow – Weds 12^th October – but plan to come back here at various times over the next few months.

Our last blog was almost three weeks ago from La Linea whence we left on Friday 23 September to head into the Mediterranean. We passed south of Europa Point (above) with a fair wind but rather hazy so that we could barely make out the hills of Africa a dozen miles to the south.

The 30 mile passage to Estepona was eventful: We had rain. Indeed enough rain to put on an oilskin for some minutes. This was the first rain we had seen at sea since May! Estepona itself was uninspiring. A perfectly adequate and friendly marina set amongst buildings which looked like an iced wedding cake. However, packed with restaurants focusing on the British, and a pop concert nearby until late.

We left Estepona the next morning for a passage along the coast to Caleta de Vélez. The scenery consisted of beautiful hills behind but a continuous ribbon of hotels on the sea front.

Caleta de Vélez is a sleepy little town off the main tourist track with a pleasant small marina. We were tempted to stay there and use it as a base for a visit to Granada. However we could not have hired a car on the next day – a Sunday, there was no wifi in the harbour or town, and the weather files indicated strong adverse winds due in a couple of days. Hence on Sunday we set off just before sunrise to cover the 70+ miles to Almerimar.

With light winds to start (N1 then E2) it was a motor. As we progressed east the hotels gave way to acres of polythene sheeting covering the massive fruit and veg growing industry here. By mid afternoon the wind had strengthened a bit – but now dead on the nose – so we decided to beat for a bit. After a while of making very slow progress to windward against the typical Mediterranean short sea we decided to motor sail. After 20 minutes the engine failed on us so it was back to beating towards Almerimar whilst trying to solve the problem. With the fuel tank only half full the bouncy conditions had stirred up sludge in the tank and blocked not only the primary filter but the fuel hoses from tank to filter. With the wind now up to 18 knots a reef was needed to make the work on the fuel system possible, however 45 minutes later with a new primary filter, fuel lines blown through (and a mouth full of diesel) we were underway again. We approached Almerimar somewhat nervously, having checked a possible anchorage nearby in case we had to sail to anchor, however the engine held out and we were safely inside by 1900.

Almerimar marina is pretty uninspiring. We were surrounded by empty new apartment blocks and indeed the whole town is modern and targeted at tourism although there seemed to be no centre to it. However, on the positive side the marina was large and well sheltered, inexpensive and with good wifi, there were a couple of chandlers and the huge Mercadona supermarket was within trolley pushing distance. We therefore decided to spend some time there and hire a car for 4 days.

On our first day with the car we visited the Moorish fort – the Alzacaba – at Almeria and then drove on to the salt pans near Cabo Gata where we saw flocks of flamingos.

We then headed to Granada, driving across the Sierra Nevada with fabulous scenery and visiting Guardix with its cave houses on the way. We had booked in for a couple of nights to a little hotel on the street leading up to the Alhambra, giving excellent views from our window.

One needs to book for the Alhambra and we had not been able to get tickets until our second day there, however there was still a lot to see there, not to mention eating well in the Moorish quarter (tagines) and tapas bars (fried brains)!

It was Tony’s first visit to the Alhambra and Sarah had not been there for over 40 years. We revelled in the beauty of the place.

The Patio de los Arrajanes.

Sala de las Dos Hermanas.

The drive back to Almerimar by a different route across the Sierra Nevada was also spectacular.

Back in Almerimar we discussed our fuel problem with Ian MacKnight, husband of the CA HLR, who does boat repair work of all kinds. We decided that we had to investigate the tank with the risk that we would have to pump out 130 litres of fuel! Once we had the hatch off the top of the tank, the problem was clear! We had lumps of dead slime in the bottom of the tank – one piece not dissimilar to a dead mouse! We suspect that this was a problem left over from some bad fuel probably picked up in Sada 2 years ago. We had had one previous blockage but never properly investigated the tank. The remaining sludge must have settled to the bottom and then been stirred up when motoring into a very choppy sea. However the fuel itself was clean and after several sessions of groping and fishing in the diesel we seemed to have cleared everything.

We finally left Almerimar at noon on Tuesday, 4^th October, having filled up with fuel and hoping everything would work. A couple of hours out there was a strong smell below of diesel! Checking the top of the tank we found that diesel was leaking around the bolt holes on the inspection hatch. Having now got a full tank and being heeled whilst sailing meant that the fuel was sloshing against the tank top. More happy time was spent tightening bolts, cleaning under the prop shaft, mopping out etc. We should have replaced the nylon washers when refitting the cover – however Hylomar Blue will solve the problem at the next stop!

With the wind then easing we were not unhappy to have to motor as this would drop the fuel level in the tank, keep us on a more level keel and reduce any leakage. So it was an uneventful passage through the night to arrive off Cartagena just as the sun was rising.

We got a warm and helpful reception from the marinero as we moored and equally so from the office. Yachtport Cartagena is a new marina, opened about 4 years ago but only finished 18 months ago. It is substantial with berths alongside, on fingers and Mediterranean moorings. Excellent internet, security, laundry etc. Hence we are booked in for 6 months.

The other major plus of Cartagena is that our friends Tony & Sally Summers are living here on Ron Glas, a junk rigged schooner built for Jock McLeod in the 1970s. We first met them 4 or 5 years ago up the Aulne River at Chateaulin and have since crossed paths in Castro Urdiales and Povoa de Varzim. It has been great fun dining on each other’s boats.

Cartagena is a wonderful town for an extended stay. Founded by the Carthaginians in about 250BC, occupied by the Romans (who built the theatre, above), Visigoths, Moors etc it is full of historic sights. A very inspirational lady mayor has developed the town with attractive pedestrian areas, many museums, a theatre etc but no high rise tourist hotels. We are not short of things to do here and so will certainly return for a while over the winter.

We could go on enjoying this life!  However tomorrow we will face Ryanair to Bournemouth and thence home.

Sarah & Tony

Ione – 11 October 2011