38.41.120N 0.08.221E

Monday morning we were up bright and early to get to the Supermarkets when they opened. Once back at the marina we prepared to leave. We waved farewell to our departure committee (Richard & Karen from Pyxis and Mark & Barbara from Rafiki) and set off to Moraira.

Leaving Cartagena was a bit bumpy but once we were round the first point it all settled down. We actually managed to sail for the afternoon and early evening doing 5 knots in 10 knots of wind with just a reefed mainsail (we are experimenting now and quite proud of the speed considering the lack of sail used!!) The wind then dropped to a measly 2kn so we had to motor onwards.

We had an eventful night sail.

The NATO war ships were questioning every commercial vessel in the area. One reply of “this is outside your jurisdiction” had an interesting response. Another commercial ship anomalously radioed for the warship to open fire. However the “firework display” did not materialise. The NATO warship also spotted some stowaways on a towed barge. They radioed the captain of the towing vessel. After a long far fetched story of how he “found” the stowaways (which even amused us) we were not surprised with the NATO response of uncontrollable laughing down the radio. To be fair the NATO warship did make sure the stowaways had been watered and fed before leaving.

We came across our first unexpected Tuna net during Anne’s night watch. It was about 6 miles long – we did have to alter course slightly to ensure we didn’t go over it (Tuna nets can stop a small freighters so we would have no chance). It was marked by a flashing white light every one mile. Oh and there was an odd lobster pot to keep us on our toes.

Anne then came across what appeared to be the whole of the Spanish fishing fleet (there must have been 20 plus boats) spread out in a line blocking our way. At first she thought it was a town on shore as there were so many lights – after checking the radar she realised they really were boats as they were getting closer. It’s at this point that we wanted the NATO warship back in action!

She called Stephen up who had a look and said “those are lights on the shore” - he then realised they were actually fishing boats. Once we passed the first line of them we saw the next line. Once safely passed the fishing boats we motored on into Moraira.

We won’t be staying here long as it’s very expensive.