SE Spanish Coast

Gibraltar to Cartegena

We left Queensway marina at about 08.30 and motored round to fill up with duty free diesel. Then we said goodbye and set of on what would possibly be our longest single passage to date, just over 400 miles.

Gib from East, flat area of Rock in water catchment system

Zero wind in Gibraltar translated to 20knts of westerly when we reached Europa point and turned east. This lasted for most of the day and we made spectacular mileage, as night started to fall the wind started to increase and the sea state quickly deteriorated soon we had 35knts and were barreling downwind through the night. We had 3 reefs in the main (the smallest it will go) and a scrap of headsail set on a pole to stop it collapsing as we surfed and rolled our way down the waves. This still proved too much sail and soon I was on deck again dragging down the remainder of the main sail.

Myself and Amanda managed zero sleep all night as it was just too rough and noisy below, we did try but as soon as we settled something would happen and we were required on deck again.

24hr mileage was about 180 which is 7.5knt average which included motoring around Gib for and hour and a half sorting fuel out so pretty impressive for a boat Magnums size, but I would have settled for a few less miles and a good sleep.

Morning broke and the wind dropped slightly as we rounded Cabo de Gata. We picked up another yacht on AIS at this point, S/V Melody, who were to stay with us for the next few hours. We also picked up our first phone signal for hours so quickly checked the weather. It wasn’t promising we had about 12 hours of SW’lys and then the wind was due to swing northerly and build to gale force.

As we were both tired we decided to cut our losses and head inshore where our chart showed a couple of small marinas. We reached the first one, Garriche at about 17.00 and radioed in we were met with static filled Spanish, I tried again but then they decided not to answer. As we were almost there we dropped sail and motored in, it was a tiny place with no room to swing a cat, there was obviously no space for us and despite hanging around nobody came to greet us as is normal in Spanish marinas. The message was clear, we had to keep going.

Our next port of refuge lie 45miles to the north of us and with the threat of gale force head winds we made best speed out to sea and onward.  It was a pretty sobering moment knowing that the wind could change any moment and it would take us between 8 and 9 hours to reach safety !

We made best possible use of the remaining favorable wind and then as it started to drop we had the engine straight on to ensure we made good time. We also picked up Melody again at this point as she had stayed offshore and we had caught her again.

It was a long evening and night and then when we were about 2 hours away from Cartagena the north breeze started to fill in. we both held our breath. All was fine until with and hour to go we had 25knts on the nose, this slowed progress but with each mile we gain more shelter from the land until about 02.00 we made out the channel lights and entered the harbor. While we were sorting out which lights were which and how to enter the harbor safely we noticed Melody had tucked herself onto our tail about 300m away and was following our every move, they obviously trusted our pilotage and were too tired to do it for themselves!!

Anyway at 3 in the morning we were safely tied up and crashed out for the remainder of the night. Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Cartagena

A lovely place for an unexpected visit and we were really lucky that the Audi Cup Racing Series was there for the week so we were treated to seeing some fantastic race boats in the harbour. 

We had a really nice walk up to park on top of the hill which gave us a really good “free” view of the remains of a Roman Amphitheatre.

Audi Race boats in Harbour

Audi Race boats along quay

Roman Amphitheatre

Also we have met some nice people over the last couple of weeks and hope that we catch up with them along the way. We were really impressed by a race boat which arrived next to us in Cartagena (3am and still being nosey at who was coming in!), Phillippa and Nick were off to Palma to start a round the worked 2 handed race, she is certainly a braver person than me! Fantastically fast boat, we are looking forward to watching their progress.  We also meet the Russell family on Tinfish whose kids Jenny and Peter are having the time of their life!

Gibraltar & La Linea

The first couple of days we stayed on the Spanish side of the boarder as we thought that the marina was cheaper, always looking to save money! Also this made it quite interesting for Abbie when the next day we walked across the Spanish/Gibraltar border which also involves walking across the runway to the airport and it was actually closed for a plane landing. 

Over the next couple of days we pottered around Gibraltar taking advantage of some home comforts including delicious muffins from M&S and I finally managed to book a hair appointment – what a luxury! Thought it would be easier to get my hair done there by someone that spoke English but the hairdresser I went to turned out to be Spanish and spoke little English but did a fantastic job at cheaper than UK prices.

We moved the boat over to a marina (Queensway Quay) in Gibraltar as we thought it would be slightly easier with the site seeing, not sure it would have made too much difference as Mark & Abbie became experts on the buses and knew which one you needed to get on for an destination around Gibraltar!

We did a whole range of tourist activities including getting the cable car to the top of the Rock, visiting the Apes, St Michaels cave and the Great Siege tunnels (Gibraltar has a maze of tunnels that have been used by the British forces since 1700 up t0 1963) and Moorish Castle, this is all done on foot and in the heat it is quite a challenge. I will not go into detail but there is so much history in Gibraltar from the Phoenicians, to the Greeks, to the Moors, Nelson (Battle of Trafalgar) and all the battles to gain control over this strategic piece of land.  Feels quite nice that it is still British with the importance it has had over the years, worth a visit if you have not been but can see it all within a couple of days.

Ape in Gibraltar

St Michaels Cave - Mark & Abbie

Moorish Castle

The Apes are mainly confined to the Rock but we did also come across them a few times at Catalan Bay, they must know that they can get a tasty snack from the bins but it does not seem right when you see them eating McDonalds!

Mmmmm McDonalds

The museum in Gibraltar was also worth a visit we never been before, but had some great photos of how Gib had changed over the years, particularly interesting as it is now very built up with very tall apartment blocks covering any available space to accommodate the population.

We had a trip out to Europa Point which is the furthest point south in Europe and it was windy! But clear skies to fantastic view over to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

Atlas Mountains Morocco

Europa Point from the Sea

I also had a lovely girly day with Michelle who drove down to see me again, nice to be able have a good gossip!

Abbie caught her flight home from Gibraltar there were lots of tears but at least the airport was easy and a very reasonable flight price and time.

We had our final day in Gibraltar rushing around mainly provisioning, Mark rushed off to chandlery whilst I suffered yet more pain at the chiropractor, we then both spent well over an hour being overwhelmed by what we could get at Morrisons, who would of though we could have been so happy about Muesli, dried fruit, fresh milk, sweet potatoes………….. the list could go on as shown by the amount we spent!

So much more we could say about Gibraltar but we have now moved on but just to mention it turned out that the marina was a really reasonable price so we were even happier.

Andalucia

Ria Formosa to Ayamonte

Nice leisurely sail to Ayamonte, yes we have been here before but is a nice short sail east and get’s us back to Spain.  15-20knots for pretty much the entire journey so lovely sail, Abbie was lucky to have such a calm and successful sail for her first trip.

We explored bit more of Ayamonte and the Ria the second time around although did have pretty much an entire day washing (6 buckets of hand washing!), cleaning, fill taking, shopping, etc. The second day we woke early to catch the tide up the Ria, we had seen in various blogs that the Ria was supposed to be exceptionally pretty with lots of scenic anchorages so we didn’t want to miss out.  After 2 hours of motoring into the wind we were a bit disappointed, yes is was lined by fields and we did see a few cows but not much else. The thought of anchoring somewhere in the Ria overnight did not seem that attractive idea as the wind whistled down the Ria all night and most of the morning and with a strong tide would not be the idyllic stop you would hope for but we were pleased we went to have a look. We had a nice to sail back to the marina and relaxed for the remainder of the day.

Cows!

Ayamonte to Cadiz

As this was Abbie’s first big sail she couldn’t have been luckier as we had force 4/5 most of the journey without much swell although not that she knew much for the first 3 hours as she slept!  It was still a long day (Mark and I questioned why we had decided to get up at 8am for a run with a big sail ahead!) as we were unable leave until after 11am due to tides and we had around 70 miles to get to Cadiz.  We arrived into Rota about midnight, anchored off the beach at Rota and finally got into bed around 1am.  By about 3am there was a strong?????  And a swell rolling into the beach.  We tried to forget about it and sleep through it but no chance and by 5am we were all back up with tea, hot chocolate, biscuits and a beating into the wind to an alternative anchorage – Puerto Sherry – part of the Sherry Triangle.  By 7am we had found some shelter and were able to get back to bed!

As was expected we were all exhausted the next day but did manage a swim off the boat.  By 5pm as we knew the wind was only going to increase and we didn’t want another sleepless night we sailed over the Bay of Cadiz to the marina in actual Cadiz, only about 4 miles but spirited sail in over 30 knots of wind.  It was nice to be tied up safe in the marina with the wind howling all around us but earplugs went in and we all settled down to good nights sleep.

Cadiz

Cadiz for the second time was just as interesting and still did not get to see everything I would have liked to.  We were lucky that the Cathedral was open although only a very limited area it was very impressive.  We had another trip to the Archeological museum I am still amazed with the artifacts that have been found, there are 2 sarcophagi which are from 5 BC and are fully intact, amazing.  On the site of Cadiz there has also been a roman town, Gades  and there are some amazing fully intact roman statues. All very interesting.  The only problem is that Cadiz marina is a bit of trek to the town and with Cadiz being so hot it is a bit difficult with the food shopping!

Cadiz to Sancti Petri

Left Cadiz in the cloud with a few spots of rain and headed into the wind, first up wind sailing we had done in some time and what was supposed to be 15 miles quick sail was a bit longer than expected – almost double.  Abbie slept through it all and we managed to dodge the rain and arrived in the sunshine.

Sancti Petri

Sancti Petri is really pretty estuary, the pilot booked had described as deserted and Caribbean like beaches, it was a lot busier than we expected with mooring buoys and a range of watersports from the beach – kayaks, windsurfing, kite surfing, dinghies.  We managed to find a nice spot to anchor away from most of the activity although we enjoyed watching the newbies learning to waterski.  We all attempted to swim off the boat which was fun as the tides were so strong it was like an endless pool and you went nowhere and if you were lucky you did not get swept away from the boat.  We managed a trip ashore where it was easy to tie up in the marina but there really was nothing other than the watersport centres, one café/bar and not even a shop but our stay was short so this was not a problem. 

Anchored at Sancti Petri

Sancti Petri to Barbate

Leisurely start and a gentle motor to catch the last of the ebb tide out of the lagoon. It was a beautiful morning sunny and clear with a light breeze, we sailed for a couple of hours until Cape Trafalgar should have been in sight, but we were “treated” to our first taste of fog which was really no fun at all. There were thick banks of the stuff and it was eerie drifting into the wall, through and out the other side, especially as it was still sunny, but visibility was down to a few 100 ft. At one point a local fishing boat hove into view and made a bee line straight for us. We were aware that it can be rough along this stretch of coast and the swell had been getting steeper as the sea shoaled near the cape. The fisherman was quite animated and seemed to be shouting a warning about rough seas ahead and telling us to alter course. He hung around until I altered course further out to sea and then seemed content to leave us to our own devices.  An hour or so later the fog lifted and there was our destination Barbate.

Barbate

There was a really nice beach 5 minutes walk from the marina so we went for a cool down as soon as we arrived.  The beach was backed with pine trees which is typical of that area of Andalucía – as in Tarifa further down the coast where we have been on holiday. Barbate is actually quite a large fishing port luckily the fishing port is not too close to the marina so you do not get the wash from the early morning fishermen.

We never had time to see much of the town, Mark and I had a bit of a run in the morning and what we saw along the sea front was very Spanish and not very touristy.  We made the decision that we should leave in the afternoon to make progress before the Levante set in (strong wind from East) as it was rapidly approaching when we needed to be in Gibraltar for Abbie to catch her flight home.

Barbate to La Linea/Gibraltar

We set of aiming to reach Tarifa to anchor for the night, as we left the wind was 5 knots within about 20 mins only just out of the harbor and sail up we had 20 knots on the nose and this only increased.  After about 3 hours of making very slow progress into big swell and increasing winds we did what we never do, turned and ran back to the marina.  By the time we returned we had time to shower, eat and get to bed before getting up to leave again on the next tide at 3am! This seemed to be our best chance of getting to Gib as once the levante winds set in they blow very strong during the day and sometimes for up to 10 days in a row.

Winds were light when we left the marina so we had to motor and unfortunately this continued into the morning.  Then the fog appeared, this made it damp and cold.  It was the worst fog we have ever been in we could barely see Magnums pulpit lights and resorted standing on the bow and blowing our fog horn every 2 mins, scary stuff. Abbie got up to join us for a bit a 5am but after a couple of hours she was back to sleep. I then deserted Mark and had to have a nap.  We passed to Tarifa lighthouse and could only just see the light, no land or actual lighthouse but we could here the fog horn.  It was a long morning but it was pretty spectacular approaching Gibraltar from the sea.

This was our last sailing day with Abbie and still no dolphins L

The fog!

Gibraltar in the distance

Here we are again in Portugal!

Cadiz to Ria Formosa & a few more days

Yes it might seem odd and no we don’t plan to return to many places but we had good reason, we were off to pick up Abbie from Faro airport.  It was not ideal but we had booked Abbie’s flight to Faro and then Alan planned his Med cruise and it would have been such a shame to have not seen them when they were so close.  So we did everything we could to make both plans work.  It was a big sail back to Portugal almost 100 miles and we were lucky to get a pleasing forecast for 2 days after meeting Alan so we would be back in plenty of time.  As we had already had a night at anchor in Cadiz Bay close to the docks we decided that would be a good option but as is typical just when we desperately needed the sleep the night before a long passage the wind and tide had different ideas and we were up having tea at 4am!  So a good start to the day!

Sunrise over the Atlantic, leaving Cadiz

We were lucky that we had wind for the first couple of hours but mid morning the wind dropped and engine was on! The only good point was that we both decided we would have a sleep (at different times) so at least we caught up a bit as it was a long day.  By early afternoon the wind was back and we were speeding along dodging the fishing boats.  Were spent the entire day hoping we would see Dolphins or possibly Whales as we were on the Ballena (Whale in Spanish) coast but nope nothing!  Day went on and sun went down, I watched a stunning sunset whilst Mark had a nap and then we both were amazed by the huge number of stars – “amazing” as Brian Cox would say.

Sunset approaching Faro

Luckily we had been to the Ria before as channel marking once inside the entrance were limited, we crept into the anchorage and 16 hours after leaving Spain we were back in Portugal and asleep within minutes!

The next couple of days spent in the Ria were relaxing although managed to also get some chores done on the boat, it is not all fun, fun, fun! We also managed an early morning run which is always nice but just way too hot even by 9am.

We headed back up to Faro a couple of days before Abbie’s arrival again to catch up on a couple of bits, we have found a bar good wifi so gave us an opportunity to book Abbie's return flight (she is not even here yet!), order couple of birthday presents and generally catch up online with no cost apart from a couple of drinks.   The Ria is a good cheap option in Portugal where marina costs are so high, also there is a safe place in town to leave the dingy although it is a bit of a trek from the anchorage to the marina (not suitable for sail/large boats).  The only other issue is that it is directly under the flight path and feels like plane landed on the boat at 7am on our first morning there! No a nice wake up. Also here at Springs and tide really very strong luckily we have faith in our anchor.

The day Abbie arrived was a bit concerning we dindged into Faro for a couple of hours, dodging the rain showers we arrived back to Magnum and the wind whistled into action! Suddenly the boats were getting blown all over the place by the wind whilst the tide pulled them in the other direction, no consistency between your boat and your neighbor so after a couple of very close encounters with out neighbors we had to up anchor and move Magnum down stream.  We now had lots of room but wind of over 30 knots blowing us around and Abbies flight time rapidly approaching!

We safely managed to pick up Abbie after having to dingy into Faro in our wet weather gear get both wet due to the wind and it started to rain! Thankfully by the time we had picked Abbie up at airport and dingyed back the wind had calmed and the rain had stopped.

We spent one more day in Faro showed Abbie round the old town and then caught the bus out to local shopping centre (only about 30mins walk but trying to break Abbie in gently).  We stocked up on as many essentials as possible and Abbie learned experienced the difficulty of shopping with no car.

We headed down to the other end of the Ria Ilha Da Culatra for the evening, only about 8 miles but it felt like a long day once we anchored their in the dark but as it was our third time anchoring at least we were familiar with the surrounding and also knew of the dangers after our first night there when our neighbour unexpectedly dried out.

We spent 2 days pretty much relaxing, we popped over to the island and headed to the beach but just too hot to stay for too long.  The island only really consist of really small fishing port, a few café/bars, a couple of shops to get your basic provisions and a long sandy beach (no cars!), ideal for some relaxing although Mark and I managed to get ourselves up early one morning and have a run, any time before 9am and it just about bearable in the heat!

100's of little fishing boats on Ilha Da Culatra

 

Onto Spain (yes again!)

Ria Formosa to Ria Gaudiana (Ayamonte)

A nice leisurely sail east, we had south easterlies when they had forecasted northerlies but winds were light and sun was shinning.  Was quite interesting to come across our first tunny (tuna) nets, they stretched for miles but were thankfully well marked and visible so we were able to stay well clear.  We arrived in the Ria on a rising tide and it was running fast, as always we were looking to save money so attempted to anchor in the Ria, after successfully anchoring with a tide of 4knots running we settled down of the night but wasn’t a quiet one, the wind got up to 25 knots and the turned so we had wind over tide and the boat rocked all over the place for the entire night. We were glad when morning arrived and we moved into the marina ASAP!

Almost as soon as we arrived at the marina we were approached by some fellow cruisers who we had seen both in the Lagoon anchored behind us and sailing the previous day on route to Ayamonte.  They were from a boat called Cosmic Dancer and funnily enough about 10 minutes earlier Mark had mentioned that he recognised that name and was sure we had looked around the boat when looking to buy Magnum.  The owner of Cosmic Dancer had realised exactly the same, he had looked around Magnum when buying his boat! What a small world that 2 boats bought from Berthon in Lymington, England would end up in a small Spanish marina on the same day! It was really nice to exchange stories on what the boats had been doing since bought and plans for the coming year.  Cosmic Dancer was actually going to participate in the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) for those of you not sailors basically this is an organised crossing of the Atlantic which takes place every year, leaving the Canaries in November.  Also as the boat was British flagged and had looked lovely sailing with her spinnaker up, I had taken a photo and it was nice to give this to them as always difficult to get a photo of your own boat sailing without having to pay a professional.  I now wonder if our paths with cross again.

Cosmic Dancer

Ayamonte was only a day stop and because of the awful nights sleep we never managed much exploring just off to the Supermarket and quick look online – had wifi but limited, as always! 

Ayamonte to Rota

With a forecast of north westerlies and no wind for the remainder of the week we rushed off to get to Rota and Cadiz, excited that we were meeting Michelle and Ziggy at the weekend (it was only Tuesday when we sailed) and Alan, Karen and Daniel the following Tuesday (26^th July).

We sailed 70 miles with variable amounts of wind so did have to motor for a couple of hours and Mark attempted the spinnakers 3 times, glad that we still arrived in exactly 12 hours.  We were both pleased it was a dolphin day and saw a pod of over around 50, kept us going for a while. 

Good news was that the Rota marina was one of nine marinas along the South coast of Spain that are subsidised by the government so only costs around 25 euros much better than the 45+ euros in the Algarve.  Rota is on the South West corner of Cadiz Bay and is a bit of a Spanish holiday resort but also has a large Naval Base which in the past was US but more recently is more Spanish.  Even though a tourist resort the town maintains a lot character and has not been developed in the same was as many of the Andalucía tourist resorts on the Mediterranean coast – where you find lots of Brits. .Again our travels took us along the promenade and then into the old town!

Rota Castilla 

Trying to stay cool in my BIG new hat

The volume of Spanish tourist was quite unbelievable and the beaches were absolutely packed, we were glad just to walk on by! 

After a hot night in the marina and the chance to use a washing machine – hurrah all my bedding is nice and clean!  We headed out into the bay to anchor just of the beach unfortunately for us due to the direction of the wind we were not very sheltered, winds were only very light but meant that we had a bit of a swell and yet another awful nights sleep!  We spent the day at anchor and enjoyed swimming off the boat; the water was the warmest yet. We also had a show from the Navy, it was obviously practice day and the helicopter initially went very low overhead and into the base. Then it came out into the bay around 200m away from us and started dropping people into the sea!! They were promptly picked up by a rib taken into the beach and the next lot were then collected from the base & it happened again, about 6X in total, no exactly a quiet morning in the anchorage but spectacular!

If you look closely you can see someone dropping into the water

We were back into the marina to get some sleep and also for the arrival of Michelle and Ziggy, we had not seen anyone we knew since April so this was fantastic! We had dinner on the boat whilst we warmed Michelle up to the idea of having a sail later in the weekend.

Dinner on boat

The following day Michelle picked us up to visit her luxury hotel and sit by the pool, unfortunately the sun had been scared away but there was still no stopping Ziggy getting into that pool! We had a lovely day catching up, entertaining Ziggy and basically relaxing, we even managed to go out for some Spanish food in the evening – a rare treat. 

Ziggy enjoying himself

Ziggy smiling (as always!) on bumper car

Then another rare treat Michelle came out for a sail, winds were light and we just stayed within the harbour but Ziggy loved it and it was really nice to enjoy time on the boat with other people.

It was sad to say goodbye but still hoping we will get to see them again when we reach Gibraltar.  Thanks so much to Michelle for such a big effort to visit, it was very much appreciated and so so lovely to spend time with them.

Rota – Cadiz

We were already in the Bay but we had short hop over to Cadiz on South West coast to wait arrival of our next visitors.  We had a day to get ourselves organised and after a long walk from the marina explored Cadiz town.  Cadiz is supposed to be one of the oldest (if not the oldest) cities in Europe, founded by the Phoenicians Full of history including the fact that the English have not been too kind to it in the past, we burnt the city down twice in the 1500’s. But lots of the old walls and fortifications remain.  Also the parks and streets have a large number of really old trees which were originally brought back to Cadiz by explorers such as Columbus and they have thrived in the Spanish climate.

Pretty park, spectacular old trees and parakeets!

City walls

Cadiz Cathedral

Alan, Karen and Daniel arrived on the cruiseship Oceana (July 26^th) their first stop on a 2 week Mediterranean cruise. We had a really lovely day having a walk around the town, a trip to the beach (where Dan was turned into a girl!) where we all went in for a swim and a good catch up.

Dan is a girl!

Alan & his wonky hat

Dan getting tall!

Algarve hot & sunny

Albufeira   

The wind had abated so we had a short sail east to Albufeira.

Another expensive marina so we did our usual trick of arriving late and anchoring just outside, then heading in 1^st thing in the morning to make sure we get our moneys worth.

Magnum at rest in Albufeira Marina

We arrived on Sunday the day of the British F1, had a bit of a wander and the camped in a bar to watch the action. Unfortunately the bar served cheap beer so the afternoon is a bit of a haze but an enjoyable way to while away a few hours, we also ate out in the evening which is the first time since we left. Budget Blown !!! but not too bad as restaurants are good value in Portugal even in the marina.

Albufeira to Ria Formosa (Faro/Olhao)

Another short hop to the tidal lagoon at Faro. This is huge, think Poole harbour but maybe 3 times the size.

For the first few nights we anchored near Ilha Culatra and dingyed up To explore Olhao and the island of Culatra itself.

    

Olhao was small tourist resort seemed nice enough but difficult for us to really get to look around much with the pressure of the food shopping to get done and delivery back on the dingy before the tide dropped to low and we were unable to cross the Ria – Olhao one side and Magnum the other marsh land in between! 

We also took a trip up to Faro which is the other side of the lagoon, it was a bit twisty and turny to navigate, similar to Beaulieu river with withys (sailing term for tree branches) showing us the way. Managed to anchor just outside the channel at high tide and by the time the water dropped we were surrounded by meter high river banks and a range of seabirds (mainly herons and egrets), we were a bit disappointed not see any flamingoes but we had seen them flying overhead the previous day.

Our night at anchored proved to be interesting, one because we were only about a mile from airport and we plane spotted as they almost touched the mast – mainly Ryan Air – would not be my choice! Also because of the number of flying creepy crawlies, spent most the night scratching and worry about what might have found it’s way in!

We dingeyed into Faro the next day, pretty town particularly the old town. Funnily it was over-run by motorcyclists there was a rally and there were 100’s of bikes and bikers everywhere, funny to here so many English voices – long ride!

We celebrated our wedding anniversary that evening with a bottle of champagne with our dinner and a game of Connect 4, we know how to live it up!!

Mark in the moonlight