38:11.3N 00:33.6W

Saturday 19^th July

Blisteringly hot again today which made it hard to get going!

Cartagena is actually a really good place to visit. Clearly it has had a chequered past, but they have made huge efforts and spent some considerable amounts of someone’s money in restoring it to its former glories. It is rich in history from both the Romans and the invaders from Carthage, a lot of which still remains and more is constantly being found. It has some very interesting sounding museums and generally would provide plenty to see and do if you could spare the time. Our catch was that it was Saturday, so most of the museums etc. shut at lunchtime, coupled with probably the world’s least co-operative or helpful Tourist office! We only discovered about all the places to go from a Brit who has been living here on his boat for 4 years and that was just as everything was closing. But a good wander round revealed some fantastic buildings and renovations along with a completely restored city wall and in the heart of the city, a Roman amphitheatre.

Sarah found herself beguiled by the thought of shopping at El Corte Ingles (a large department store) and then had to cycle back to the boat down some very unsuitable roads, with the heaviest backpack known to man.

In the afternoon, we watched some wonderful dinghies racing. They seemed to be mini Feluccas (photo on www.rhbell.com) but were well matched and looked to great fun to sail.

In the evening we had a Dutch couple on board for drinks. We had passed them whilst sailing here yesterday and taken some photos as we went by, which we gave them on a memory stick. Their boat is a Regina 43 also built on the same island in Sweden as Serafina. They bought the boat second hand , planning to circumnavigate the world and crossed the Atlantic last winter, but had a dreadful crossing, not helped by bad weather and the forestay breaking on the 3^rd day, so they only had the use of their mainsail. Harriet decided that this was not what she wanted to be doing as it had of course frightened her, so they re-crossed back this summer (a very good trip by all accounts) and are on their way to Greece and Turkey. They left around 11pm but the disco over on the town quay stayed in business until 4.00am.

Sunday 20^th July

Left Cartegana at 8.00am and were genuinely sorry to be leaving, but it would have been a waste of a day staying on, as everything was shut. Met the Greenpeace ship ‘Arctic Sunrise’ on station outside the entrance to the harbour, so we need to make a visit to their website to find out what they are doing there. Clearly something not good going on!

Little or no wind to start with, but a strange long swell remained around the headland. In due course the wind got up a bit, but we were still only motorsailing, so to lighten the day up, we set up the fishing rod again, this time with the larger lure (plastic squid). The worry though with this is that it will take a big fish to go for this bait and we are not too sure if that is quite what we want at this stage. No need to worry though, as nothing happened. However, after an hour or so, I saw a swordfish leaping about 100 metres ahead of us. Minutes later it was leaping again only 50 metres from us and then finally we saw it jump clear of the water twice more, off our starboard quarter. Obviously it was taking the mickey, teasing us and saying, ‘I didn’t get to be this size by falling for the old pink plastic squid trick!’ In fact full marks probably go to the nice man on a fishing stand at the Southampton Boat show who knows how to sell lumps of plastic to gullible sailors!!

Wind finally raised enough effort to allow us to sail properly for a couple of hours, which was bliss with the engine turned off. Sadly it was short lived and we ended up motoring the final leg of the 50 odd mile trip into Santa Pola.

Santa Pola seems to be a nice resort and although the old marina is full, they have just completed a brand new marina which had plenty of spaces left. Proper pontoon fingers to moor on, which caught us out for a minute or two as we were all set up to moor stern-to with lazy lines. Brilliant facilities, but at a price. They charge 54 euros a night, which is the most expensive we have come across since leaving UK. Power and water would be extra. Must be the proximity to Alicante, so we are only staying the one night and pressing on in the morning to Marina Greenwich (You might be able to guess why from the East West position.)

From there on, we are hoping to head across to the islands and eventually Mallorca to get the generator fixed. Chances are that we will be lying to an anchor for a few of these nights, so updates to the log may become haphazard.

Photos are added to  www.rhbell.com whenever we get a good connection.