On 9^th August we left Cartagena to a place called Mar Menor, this is an enclosed piece of water about 12 miles long with one main entrance via a canal. 

 

On the way from Cartagena:

 

To enter the Mar Menor you have to pass under a lifting bridge which is raised every two hours.  When planning the trip we found that every piece of information had different opening times for the bridge, so we used our engine to get there in time for a 17:00 opening which did not exist, we had to wait another hour for the bridge to open.

 

In the channel to enter the Mar Menor,  notice the lifting bridge in the background:

 

The entrance to the Mar Menor:

 

Another perspective of the entrance in the Mar Menor:

 

Tereza sailed the boat around the Mar Menor and we decided to anchor behind an Island called Isla Perdiguera.  This was a wonderful spot and after finding ourselves aground when we tried anchoring to close to the island we settled for a spot a bit further out.

 

Tereza Sailing:

 

 

A picture of Lady Drake at anchor taken from the beach:  

 

Relaxing after a long hard sail:

 

A view from the island across the Mar Menor:

 

Unfortunately the warm water in the Mar Menor had bought a plague of jelly fish with it which had grown to the size of about a dinner plate.  These jelly fish were moving along in packs of about 30 so we did not do any swimming:

 

A jelly fish in the water:

 

We caught two to prove the size:

 

There was also a restaurant on the beach on the Isla Perdiguera.

 

On 11^th August we sailed back to civilization to Alicante.  Although expensive, the marina was well organised here with many bars and restaurants and even a kebab shop for us Brits.

 

A view of the marina from the castle.  Lady Drake is the front sailing boat on the waiting pontoon in front of the Marina building.

 

A view of the Santa Barbara castle from the marina.

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On the way to the ‘Santa Barbara’ castle:

 

Some views from the Santa Barara Castle:

 

 

Inside the walls of the Santa Barbara Castle:

 

Some views around town:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another boat from the Rally Portugal is here ‘Mary Lou’, the owner/skipper of this boat is from Austria and heading for Turkey.  We met last night for a drink and hope to see him again before we leave.

 

We are leaving in the morning so time to party in Alicante!!!