Moraiva to Ibiza (at last)
Altea
Thu 29 Aug 2013 09:48
29
August 2013 38:52:55N 01:17:69E
We set off early in the morning, but fortunately were not the first
away. The Beneteau that had been close to us left before it was fully
light and had clearly not seen the fishing buoys that S had spotted the night
before.
Wherever we have been the fishermen pay no regard to the risk to other
vessels that their lobster pots and nets represent. They are unlit, and
often just marked with a black oil can or plastic bottle. Lobster
pots are not too bad, but nets strung between buoys are a real problem, which is
why we had made a real effort to leave or arrive before dark or after
sunrise. We had been lucky on those occasions when we were travelling at
night and, given the number of buoys we had seen in the daylight, must have had
some close calls somewhere on the way.
The Beneteau had not been so lucky and was now tangled in the nets.
Its engine disabled and only a few tens of metres from the cliffs they had done
well to get their anchor down. Soon the fishing boat was in attendance and
as we weighed anchor ourselves they were being towed into the marina.
There was a big swell running after the storm of the night before, but we
were happy that we could make the trip. we sailed in a good 20kn wind at
first but most of its strength seemed to be a local effect as it accelerated
around the high cliffs along the shore. As we went off shore it
dropped. We had a good sail for a while, and managed to run out ahead of
another stormy cloud formation, looking at the heavy rain sweeping in across the
shore again. We had a few spots of rain but dodged the worst of it.
We just managed to sail to the northern edge of the ship separation scheme –
heaving to for a few minutes to allow a large tanker to pass ahead of us, and
then carrying on our way.
The rest of the journey was sail, motor, sail, motor as the wind shifted
and fell. We had been prepared to sail through the night but in the end
motored in and anchored in Cala De Perroig (Port Roig?) just as night
fell. There were a lot of yachts at anchor, big and small. Large gin
palaces, classic sloops and everything in between. We picked a spot at the
edge tucked in by the cliffs, enjoyed a meal on board and retired for the
night. |