2nd August 2010. Today we moved from our berth on the town quay to Yacht
Port Cartagena. The berth on the town quay was great fun for a short space
of time as it was effectively in the centre of downtown Cartagena but did
suffer a little from also being in the area of the all night parties. The
move was always going to be a little tricky single handed as the boat was
alongside and hemmed in by a large catamaran aft and a very wide gin palace
forward. Fortunately as were getting ready to move the power boat took off
and we had an easy exit up the marina and then a reverse out. We went around
to the main port and hovered for a while whilst the fenders and mooring
ropes were arranged for our next stop. This was the fuel berth as we
intended to press up the tanks before leaving the boat idle for a while.
This prevents condensation (water) forming in the tank and prevents
corrosion and the obvious fuel contamination problems. The fuel berth is
hidden away in the corner of the port and difficult to access due to being
in a tight corner. It is also interesting in that it is automatic - i.e. you
put in your credit card and it will deliver up to 1000 litres of fuel.
Having got ourselves organised we were horrified as we approached the berth
the find the large Gin Palace that had been in front of us on the town quay
already there. Short of reversing out again around several difficult corners
we had no option but to pull in behind him where there was just enough
space. Three hours later we were still there. The power boat took 15,000
litres of fuel which could not use the automatic system. An operator
released the pump and fuelling then took two an a half hours. The owners
credit card then bounced and an interesting time was had by all as we
watched the ensuing pantomime. Language compounded and exiting problem
initially but another small yacht came in and with nowhere to go rafted up
on Osprey. The female on board turned out to be an EEC simultaneous
translator and could handle seven languages. She needed all her skill by the
time she had finished sorting our the problem. Interestingly we were
chatting after the problem was resolved and she commented that women were by
far the best at simultaneous translation as they seemed to be able to mutli
task better than men.The Gin Palace eventually departed with the owner
obviously in a foul mood as he took off using all his power and sent us
small boats bouncing all over the place - non of us were amused and it was a
good job he was out of reach! Fuelling Osprey took all of ten minutes even
though we took about 300 litres. We had used quit a lot bashing into the
weather coming here. After helping (our now famous) translator we headed off
to the berth we had been allocated in the new marina. No distance but again
a tricky place to get to - a bit like Hampton Court Maze. We had intended to
reverse Osprey up the final leg to our berth but the wind started to rise
and it proved too risky with many other boats on either side. So we exited
the maze - turned around and went in head first. A lot simpler and berthing
was no problem with Peter - the Marinero on hand to assist. Getting out
again will be a whole different game as we will have no option but to
reverse all the way - hopefully with no wind. This new marina is only just
opening up and is a wonderful facility complete with internet cafe, laundry,
showers and all mod cons. Alberto, the port captain is a great guy and
whizzes around on a golf cart. Ex Navy man of course! By the time we were
tied up it was 1400 and it took another couple of hours to get everything
re-rigged and the boat secure. The temperature was sweltering and John was
worn out by 1600 with the damaged ribs also complaining loudly. It will be
an early night tonight.
