Portals Vells 39:28.46N 02:31.35E
Red Skies
David Alexander
Fri 12 Sep 2014 15:38
| Friday 12th September. Portals Vells. We arrived here yesterday and it is probably the most crowded anchorage we have ever been in - somewhat like Newtown Creek on a bank holiday but with superyachts and cruisers. We decided to stay a couple of days for the entertainment value and it’s a beautiful place. Admittedly, most of the big motor cruisers do not stay out overnight, so anchoring techniques can be somewhat cavalier and quite a number have paid crew, who clearly do know what they are doing. We had 6 attempts at setting our anchor before it held sufficiently for an overnight stop but many here would be challenged by a sudden change in wind direction or the wind picking up unexpectedly. One of the features here are some Phoenician caves, possibly dating from 1000 BC. Unfortunately, there has been no attempt to preserve them and exploring them with a torch uncovered much evidence of human use as latrines, without any boy scout activity of clearing up afterwards. Entrance to Phoenician caves Carving just inside the entrance in previous picture Other types of caves being formed in softer rock Bow door but not on a ferry. This was one skipper’s way of getting away from the crowds. He opened his bow door, extracted his rib, got the crew to take a rope to the rocks, turned his boat around, dropped his bower anchor, reversed back to where his crew was waiting in the rib with the rope attached to the land, and then braced up between the two. All within spitting distance of the rocks to the side. |