Last blog of 2011
Minka of Southampton - Cruising Log
Edmund Wigan
Fri 25 Nov 2011 18:31
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I have been a bit lazy about blogs lately so a bit
of a catch up. This is the last blog for sometime as I am leaving Minka here for
a while and won't be setting off cruising again until the end of
March...........well that's the plan at the moment.
After my last blog I worked my way back to Mazarron
where I had a great few days with friends. Tina and Tony from Tioram 4, a
magnificent Jeaneau 54ft yacht are here. We went out once or twice and sampled a
very designer bar with gold furniture
 Tina kindly cooked a wonderful meal on board after
drinks on Minka. Tony and I spent some time checking on the quality of local
wines and I left at midnight whilst I could still walk the plank. I had just got
back on board Minka when another English friend came and dragged me out for a
drink. Between us we throughly checked the quality of whisky in the local bars.
By this time it was 4.30 am and I managed to go straight to sleep despite the
very loud night club which was 20 feet from Minka. A very good night but the
next day had its drawbacks.
By lunchtime I had recovered sufficiently to go
sailing with Manuel and one of his friends on Florence May
 As you can see she has beautiful lines and we had a
great time sailing her around the bay in about 15kts of wind.
 This is Manuel on the helm. We had a great sail and
Florence May clearly has a good pedigree as she behaves beautifully and ignores
rude elements such as gusts of wind which makes less well bred lightweights
to put reefs in.
I moved up to Cartagena last Monday and met a
submarine on my way in.
 Although these things are quite large because of
their colour and low air draft they are quite difficult to see. I only saw this
one about 500mts off and passed about 50mts apart. Fortunately the
torpedoes don't fire sideways............or do they?
The Yacht Club in Cartagena decided to put me on
the wall rather than the pontoons.
 Minka is in the centre behind the catermeringue.
Whilst this is a great spot for getting to the bars it is not very
secure.............although the mooring cleats are reasonably
strong.
 When I explained I was staying for a few months
they moved us onto the secure pontoons in the main marina. Since then I
have been tidying Minka up ready to leave her when I fly home.
As I explained at the beginning this will probably
be my last blog until the beginning of April. Happy Christmas and New Year to
all our readers
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