40:35.951N 00:36.372E Bahia des Alfacs

Ariel of Hamble
Jim and Valerie SHURVELL
Sat 24 Oct 2009 21:04

40:35.951N     00:36.372E   Bahia des Alfacs

 

23rd October, 2009.

 

The facilities at the Club Nautical marina at Costello were not good. The pontoon we intended to pull into we were told not to as the bollards were rotten and we were ushered forward.  “Thank you” we said to the marina guy who told us we had electricity. No, wrong, no one on the pontoon had any electricity.  When Jim mentioned it to him later when he went to pay for the night he just put his arms up in the air and said “Sorry”. Forget wifi.  We were told to use the club facilities for showering as this was the only facility available to yachts.  The club had tennis courts, a swimming pool not filtered and you couldn’t see the floor of it, a gym for their members and lousy shower rooms.  Unfortunately, two out of the four showers in the ladies didn’t have a shower head!!!

Friday we wake up to beautiful sunshine and not a lot of wind.  The Spanish Met. forecast said WNW 3 to 4 going variable 2 to 3. We managed to sail a third of the way until we were just reaching Bahia des Alfacs the death rattle of the last wind allowed us to do 7 ½ knots as we pulled into the lake. The large lake is caused by the river delta, similar to the area around Faro.  We had decided earlier if it was safe we would anchor for the night but as we neared our chosen spot the sea was looking a little unwilling to give us a peaceful night. So we decided to throw the anchor, cook the lamb chops and see how the evening progressed. We still had the MDL Marina “Sant Carles” in our sights in case of a quick move to the marina was needed. We were very pleased when the wind dropped to nothing and we had the most peaceful night of our whole trip.

On the way to Bahia del Alfacs Ariel managed to attract hundreds of black fly. You can’t imagine how annoying they are especially when you think you have killed the last one and more appear from no where. We think it was probably due to the weather being warm and sunny and the sea temperature was 25 degrees and Ariel’s white sails and topsides attracted them.

Bahia des Alfacs is an inland lake blocked off to seaward by a spit formed from the wash out of the Rio Ebro (Ebre).  It is 6 miles long and 2 miles wide.  The entrance has the town of Sant Carles de la Rapita on its north side.  The area offers considerable scope for boats to anchor or for sailing in sheltered waters.

On our way from Castello we stayed about 2 to 3 miles out to sea and passed Copfre, Les Fuentes, Peniscola, Benicarlo and Vinaros all on the Costa Del Azahar. The views with the mountain ranges always in sight were wonderful.

We had a great view of Peniscola which stands out like an off laying island as you approach it. Peniscola is overlooked by a Knight’s Templar Castle (Da Vinci Code) which is one of the most visited sites on the east coast of Spain. The Phoenicians called the harbour Tyriche, because of its resemblance to Tyre.  The Greeks renamed it Chersonesos.  Carthaginians and Romans followed and later the Moors.  The Moors were driven out by Jaime I who gave the site to the Knights Templars.  The castle was completed by the Montesianos in the 14th century. Pope Benedict XIII, the last of the schismatic Popes, retired here from Avignon in 1417 and remained until his death in 1423 at the age of 90.  After a spell as part of the Holy See it reverted to the crown of Aragon, withstanding an 11-day siege by the French during the Peninsular War. As you can see from the photographs it is quite a castle with a view.

We left Castello about 10 o’clock and arrived around 6.30 p.m. having covered 47.4 miles.




JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image