oops!7th-12th July
Off again
Mark+Barbara
Sun 3 Aug 2008 10:53
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37:47.720N 000:47,855W
Really felt we were getting to know these inland
waters when on the 8th just leaving Puerto de cos Mares and rounding Rondella we
came aground on submerged rocks which were not marked on our charts!!! Also the
depth gauge was reading 2.4m,we could not believe it.Mark tried the trick with
the anchor to try and get us off the rocks to no avail,he even went diving to
remove the mound of rocks that we had come aground on but it was proving too
laborious.Luckily we had met a local yachtsman and he had given us his mobile to
stay in touch whilst we were cruising these waters.After ringing him he was able
to contact the local harbor master who in due course came to our aid and was
able to tow us off the bloody mound of rocks into Clive's Marina where we tied
up for the evening to assess the damage.Contact was duly made to the insurance
agents who informed us that a surveyor would call to see us the next day.Mark
again got geared up to dive down to inspect for himself the damage.Well it looks
as if we may have gotten off lightly it looks as if the main damage is to
the bottom of the keel with no damage to the hull,
So this is a warning to anyone sailing in the
vicinity of Rondella to be on the look out or steer well clear.
The next morning the surveyor turned up with his
friend who happens to own Rondella and he actually informed us that although he
owns the island and claims to know it well he has actually come aground several
times on the exact same spot.Put a bloody buoy out I felt like saying or some
sort of marker.
Following on from the inspection it was apparent
that Rafiki would have to come out of the water to have a closer inspection.We
are now due to set sail for Alicante to have her lifted out of the water on 14th
July.Lagoon agents are also located in this area which will be very useful to
sort out some other problems re spares etc.
Rafiki is obviously still sailable and not taking
in any seawater so we will still be able to pick up Geoff ,as previously
arranged, and he will help to crew her into Alicante..
Our new found friend Clive invited us all up to his
home for a very nice curry supper.
10th July picked up Dan,Trinity's boyfriend, from
the beach, this was uneventful and we decided to sail over to Thomas Maestro as
Jimmy Cliff was fronting a concert there.Anchored in our usual place in front of
the restaurants and went ashore to have supper.Meal was probably one of the
worst we have had here,we then went on to the dive shop bar where we had
purchased our diving cylinders.The owner actually gave us two free tickets for
the concert so we were all able to enjoy the reggae music.Mark and I did not
stay too long as we were a bit concerned about leaving the boat for too long and
the wind had suddenly picked up.It was quite a wet ride back to the boat and
quite precarious getting in and out of the tender , we had quite a
gathering of vultures hoping for some mishap.
Glad to say we all arrived safely
back.
11th July
Got a rude awakening by some fishermen early hours
of the morning as they wanted to put some nets down where we had anchored,
bleary eyed we moved on back to Puerto Mares to pick up some wind surfing
equipment which we had previously ordered and anchored off the island.Later we
invited over our neighbours from South Africa for Sundowners which turned into a
very late night!!!
12th July
Picked up Geoff from the beach under cover of
darkness, we are becoming quite good at this!!! Holding is not so good here in
Santiago Ribereo so we will need to be on the alert.Tomorrow we will leave the
Mar Menor and it will be with a little sadness as we have grown to quite like
the area despite the traumas!!
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