38:21.565N 00:26.332W Alicante

Ariel of Hamble
Jim and Valerie SHURVELL
Mon 14 Sep 2009 10:18

38:21.565N  00:26.332W   Alicante

 

9.9.09.   54 miles sailed

 

After a very pleasant 3 days in Mar Menor and the tranquil calm waters we broke out into the choppy sea of the Mediterranean and continued our passage North East.  The wind to start was coming from directly where we wanted to sail, so we motor sailed for a bit then we were fed up of the short chop confused sea so we began to sail to windward making much better boat speed and a more comfortable motion to the boat.  The wind as it has done on previous days then changed direction as the morning wore on and the afternoon approached and it changed from a nearly North wind and it gradually moved by the end of the afternoon to a nearly East wind.  We long tacked up the coast past the delightful scenery of Torrevieja (what a mess), past the headland at Cabo de Santa Pola.  Off of this headland is the small island of Tabarca.  The island was once a pirate base, it is 1¼ miles long by a ¼mile wide. A fort was built, Spainsh troops were garrisoned there, who then rid the island of Pirates and prevented their return.  The whole area is now a marine reserve.  We sailed on into a small bay at the end of the bay past Alicante town.  We anchored at San Juan.  It was quiet and peaceful but a bit rolly from the swell. The view back to Alicante once it was dark was beautiful as we had a fantastic panorama of the floodlit Alicante Castle.

In the morning we moved back some 4 miles to the marina at Alicante to be able to go shopping and catch up with Valerie’s friend Stephanie who lives near Orthuela and travelled the 50 miles to see us. They spent the day catching up and filling each other in on things and people from home.

A large marina with a huge number of the rich peoples play things, the super motor yachts.  After recovering from the shock of the overnight fee of 86 euros we were allocated a berth as per usual the longest distance from the entrance/exit to walk in the far corner amongst the super yachts.  It was interesting to watch the staff clean the yachts in preparation for the owners coming down for the weekend.  The staff even turn up on Saturday morning with the fresh bread and get into the galley to prepare the breakfast for those on board.  In the marina we found an old style white left hand drive Austin mini that had 58,000 kilometres on the clock.  It was as if it had come out of a showroom.

10.9.09

We spent a lovely morning exploring Alicante castle which is being restored to its formal state.  The views from the top were wonderful.  You could see the beautiful beach directly in front of the castle, the promenade of wavy tiles and palm trees, the bull ring and the mountains all around us.

Alicante for a long weekend ticks all the boxes for beaches, places to walk, -things to see, nice hotels, shops and lots of restaurants and ice-cream shops under beautiful blue skies.



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