Cartagena – Sailing the Costa de Blanco of Spain

October 9 - 10,  2012

The Mediterranean Sea was living up to its reputation of either having too much wind or not enough to sail so on Tuesday we were up nice and early to head further along the coast to Cartagena, unfortunately utilising the motor again. A bonus of rising early was a spectacular sunrise over the lighthouse on Cabo del Palos that produced a constantly moving tableau of colour over about 30 minutes.  Very nice, but somehow lost on Karen and Marc who would much rather have stayed in bed and just seen Rob’s photos later.

Some sunrises evolve through many stages. This one at Cabo del Palos did.

We had a fairly uneventful slog against a reasonable sized swell along the coast but did pass a massive fish farming set up in one of the bays that provided some interest.  

This bay was packed with pens full of tuna being farmed

The large natural harbour of Cartagena has been a big attraction to civilisations dating back thousands of years and has seen battles for control of this strategic site rage through the millennia. It was a major centre of Hannibal’s Carthagean  Empire and the Romans later built a major trading port and town on the site. Like most of the Spanish Mediterranean coast, Cartagena was controlled at different times back and forwards by the Moors and Christians. As recently as the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, the Republican loyal port was the target of a massive bombing campaign by Franco’s allies, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

 It is now Spain’s major Naval port in the Mediterranean and we followed a large war ship into the harbour being very careful to stay out of its way. Anchoring is not permitted anywhere in the entire bay so we had no choice but to moor in one of the port’s two marinas. Having visited here on Moksha back in April we were familiar with Real Club de Regattas and had phoned ahead to make our booking. As we entered the harbour proper we radioed  on Channel 9 to get directions on where we were to tie up and were instantly answered by the opposition marina Moor directing us further into the bay to their establishment. We said thanks for the directions, picked up the mobile and phoned ‘our’ marina who apologised and said they’d been trying to reply via VHF but the opposition had got on the transmit button faster. Competition for clients must be tough here. At just under 40 Euros ($49) a night for our 43 footer we wouldn't call it cheap but it is a lot better than the 153 ($190) we'd paid for a hell hole marina at San Antonio on Ibisa.

Alcheringa moored in the centre on the town wall at Cartagena

We were directed in and soon found ourselves tied up against the actual town wall in almost the identical spot we had been with Moksha back in April. As when we were with Moksha,  Karen headed off to the Laundromat with piles of washing while the boys got stuck into making the most of unlimited fresh water with a major bow to stern clean up job on the boat. Rob even took each of the fenders off one by one and gave them a big scrub up just as he had done six months ago. We were left with a very spic and span boat attracting plenty of admiring glances from tourists and locals alike as they promenaded past.  It did all feel a little ground hog dayish and brought back memories of our departure as crew on the big Shipman 72 and the start of our path to buying Alcheringa.

We should charge photographic fees Alcheringa is used as a backdrop so often

Wednesday was dedicated to being a tourist day as we did a museum crawl starting with an excellent Spanish Civil War museum located in an air raid bunker that had been excavated into the solid rock behind the harbour. It contained the usual historic artefacts but also had a range of excellent audio visual presentations with ordinary people who had lived through the intense bombing  the town was subjected to telling their stories of how they had got on with their lives during the conflict.

Cartagena's civil war museum is located in an original underground bunker

The Spanish are all style even during a civil war

One old timer told the tale of the city’s most effective defence from the early night raids that marked the start of the aerial assault. A massive grid of lights was set up in empty fields just outside the town and when the bombers were on their way the power to the town was cut off and all the lights in the field illuminated. Night after night the fascists bombed an empty field. Unfortunately in the face of no opposing aircraft and very ineffectual anti-aircraft fire they soon switched to extremely destructive daylight raids. It was the very first aerial campaign in history directed at a civilian population and cost many, many lives.

The old bull ring is one civil war victim not yet brought to back to life.

From there we went to the top of the hill overlooking the harbour and the La Conception Castle. Here the city has made the most of the remains of a castle that dates back to the Moorish era with a museum that takes visitors through the complete history of Cartagena in a mix of the original structure and integrated new build. The views from the top are extremely impressive and well worth the visit alone.

Great view of Cartagena harbour from La Conception Castle

Now that's a serious mast on the boat in drydock

Next we descended into the main town centre and took in the Roman era museum and linked Roman Theatre.  Here visitors enter opposite the stunning town hall building and make their way through a series of display rooms spread over a number of levels and emerge through a tunnel into the Roman amphitheatre itself. It is extremely well done and one of the most impressive attractions we have visited in Spain, probably only topped by the amazing Alhambra in Grenada.

Cartagena's Roman Theatre is an excellent museum experience

The Roman Theatre as it is today

As it was. The seats closest were for the political powers and wealthy, next
were the citizens, with slaves and visitors behind. Women were restricted
to standing room only right up the back. Karen was not impressed.

We’d had a very full, very interesting, and very enjoyable culture filled day. Cartagena did a marvellous job of rebuilding with soul after the carnage of the civil war and is now working extremely smart and hard to position itself well as a major heritage tourist destination set far apart from the usual, ugly high rise slums of much of the Costa del Blanco and Costa del Sol.

However, there’s only so much culture a body can take so rather than the excellent regional fare offered at many wonderful Cartagena restaurants that we’d enjoyed the previous night, this evening we dined in style at a fantastic Hot Dog stand in the old town. The deluxe deal even came with a beer along with the best, and only, hot dogs we’ve eaten in all of Spain.

We loved Cartagena.

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Torreviejo and Mar Menor – Sailing the Costa de Blanco of Spain

October 5 -8,  2012

While the weather was staying mild rather than wild, our plan was to continue day hopping in no particular hurry along the Spanish coast towards Gibraltar. We now had the rest of October to cover only a few hundred miles so we were out to make as many stops as we could while the sun shone but prepared to hole up somewhere safe for a while if the weather turned nasty.

From Alicante our next stop was only a couple of hours sail away at Torreveijo, not far from where we had stayed for a while in our friend Sally’s apartment in late April at the end of our road tripping around southern Spain. 

Our Friday sail to Torrevieja turned into another motor for much of the morning as weather forecast grib files we’d downloaded proved totally wrong in both wind strength and direction. Thankfully we were able to get the sails out for a couple of hours in the middle of the day putting us in a much happier frame of mind  as we entered through the large breakwaters of the harbour.

Torrevieja is one of the few totally secure anchorages on the this section of the Spanish coast. Although it features two large marinas there is also plenty of room to anchor in the outer harbour well protected behind the walls. Alcheringa was soon resting quietly, oh so very nice and smooth and we were all looking forward to replenishing the sleep bank after the rolly polly of Alicante.

Torrevieja is one of the best anchorages on Spain's Costa del Sol

As we settled back in the cockpit to relax after our trip Karen spied something happening on the Belgian yacht anchored in front of us that almost made her spill the G and T. She was questioning her own eyes and had to seek the boys confirmation that she was really seeing what she thought she was seeing. Now we’ve got very used to naked bodies all over the beaches here in the Med and yachties showering on deck is common place, at times even in marinas, so by now we sort of just go with the flow. However this was a first.  As a low howling noise reached across the short distance between the boats, we faced our first ever case of legs high in the air, bonking on deck in broad daylight. We’d love to be able to report that the couple looked like Venus and Adonis but unfortunately they were more like naked versions of Mr and Mrs Michelin going at it very energetically and vocally. We quickly decided we would be moving the boat in near the beach in the morning and well away from our Belgian neighbours in case of possible encore performances.

Late that afternoon we watched a very nice yacht approach the entrance to the harbour, turn into the wind just outside before dropping its mainsail very quickly and completing their turn through the breakwaters. Rob commented on how smoothly their whole process had been despite just two people being aboard. Then as the yacht drew closer he realised he recognised the boat.

She was Distant Shores 2 which is sailed by Canadians Paul and Sheryl Shard who produce a television series about their cruising life. They’ve been sailing two up since the mid-nineties and it shows. We had obtained DVDs of their first five series and watched them all when we were at home planning to begin our own cruising adventures. Their first couple of series covered their time sailing the Mediterranean on their earlier boat Two Step and had proved very informative and quite useful to us even now. After giving them plenty of time to get settled into the marina, we took the dingy over and introduced ourselves. They were both most welcoming and we had a good long chat about cruising, television and future plans. They also were heading for Gibraltar but only as a staging stop before making their way down to the Canaries and then on to the Caribbean with the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. You can find out more about the Shards and their excellent TV Series ‘Distant Shores’ at www.distantshores.ca or their facebook page.

Next morning we were preparing to up anchor and move in close to the beach away from our Belgian bonkers when Paul and Sheryl swung by our boat on their way out of harbour to say goodbye and wish us well on our travels which was a nice touch.

Paul and Sheryl swing by on Distant Shores II on their way west.

We did move the boat and then went in to shore and had lunch with Sally’s mum Joan and her friend, also Joan. Being a local, Joan certainly knows all the best places to eat. 7.90 Euro for a very large three course meal makes it no surprise that so many Brits retire here. We’ve been told there’s also many Brit pensioners who take advantage of very cheap off season apartment rentals here because it’s cheaper for them to fly over with a low cost airline and stay in Spain for the winter than to pay for the heating at home. After lunch we took Joans one and two out to the boat for a cuppa so they could have a look over her and had a very pleasant afternoon.

Joan, Joan and Karen aboard in Torrevieja

Sunday October 7^th saw unreformed petrol head, Rob, up at 4.00am following the Bathurst 1000 race (Australia’s equivalent to the Daytona 500) via the internet on Karen’s IPad. There was no online broadcast but only a lap by lap text update on the V8 Supercars site that had him hitting the refresh button with great regularity to get the latest news and positions. That might explain where all the 3G download disappeared to. What some people will do to get their fix.

After his favourites, the Triple 8 racing team, had claimed first and third on the podium we went in to a marina café and enjoyed a 3.80 euro big breakfast and took advantage of their wifi to skype the family for much of the morning. The whole clan were at our daughter Yasmin’s house to celebrate her younger sister, Felicity’s, 25^th birthday. We worked our way through kids, grandkids and Karen’s parents chatting for ages. After finally saying all our goodbyes we headed back to the boat feeling decidedly homesick.

Locals at play in Torrevieja

After lunch we made our way a short hop west along the coast and anchored off the beach at Puerto Thomas Maestre.  Here a one and half mile long canal connects the Mediterranean with Mar Menor, an extraordinary inland sea 12 miles long and 6 miles wide, about 20 by 10 kilometres. It’s separated from the Med by a narrow strip of sand, La Manga, which has been well and truly over developed with high rise apartments and resort. Most of the water is five to six metres deep with five islands dotted throughout and Mar Menor even features a Naval Air Wing base at San Javier Harbour in the north west corner. There’s a lifting road bridge over the canal with set opening times just twice a day and our plan was to head in to spend a day or so exploring this unusual piece of water. We’re sure most cruisers simply sail on by so we thought it would be cool to go in and have a look at something very different.

The inland sea

Our calm anchorage off the beach at Puerto Thomas Maestre

Our overnight stop waiting to enter Mar Menor was a very nice calm anchorage off a deserted beach completely lined with very new, very empty high rises. There was not a single light on in any of the buildings after sunset. From what we’ve seen so far the occupancy rate of holiday accommodation in Spain must be well less than five percent. Almost everything is empty. We did enjoy another great sunset though.

As the lifting bridge was scheduled to open at 11.00, after breakfast on Monday morning the anchor came up at 10.30am to give us time to get around the breakwater and in through the canal to Mar Menor. The channel in the canal is supposedly dredged to four metres but three or a bit less in places proved to be closer to the mark so we were taking things fairly carefully. As we approached the very swoopy, modern looking bridge right on 11.00 hours there was absolutely no sign of movement. We checked the exact time on Rob’s IPhone and made sure we weren’t early but as we idled very slowly closer there was still no sign of life. Our pilot guide book listed VHF Channel 9 as a contact for the bridge operator so we called it up asking for access and received a speedy reply in broken English, ‘English sailboat, bridge broken. Don’t know open today, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow.’

Marc was a very unhappy meerkat not to get through to Mar Menor
The very closed bridge is in the background

Fantastic. Only in Spain. We thanked him for the information, performed a careful u-turn in the very narrow channel and disappointedly retraced our steps back out of the canal. OK! Time for a plan B, except this time we hadn’t thought about a plan B because Mar Menor was totally sheltered regardless. A quick check of our pilot guide and we motored eleven miles west and anchored in another nice calm spot  just off the beach in the lee of Cabo de Palos.

Alcheringa off the beach at Cabo de Palos

The outboard was soon on the dingy and we were away to explore the town which proved to be a  little gem. It featured a small harbour and marina catering mainly for local fishing and dive boats. An Italian passenger liner had been torpedoed nearby in World War One and then ran for shore before sinking in shallow water just off the coast. It has since become a very popular dive site supporting a healthy local industry.  

Part of the harbour at Cabo de Palos

We had really been looking forward to sailing Alcheringa on the inland sea of Mar Menor but consoled ourselves with a nice lunch overlooking the harbour entrance. On our way back to the boat we also stocked up with goodies from a great little bakery. Good food and drink helps you get over all sorts of life’s disappointments.

Cabo de Palos

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Alicante – Sailing the Costa de Blanco of Spain

 

 October 3-4,  2012

We left about 9.30 on Wednesday the 3^rd and motored in almost zero wind around the spectacular Punta del Albir towards our next stop at Alicante.

Goodbye Altea

 

The high cliffs of this cape were clearly thrust upwards in a massive movement of the earth’s crust tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years ago exposing their many strata layers to view. The sea, wind and rain have been hard at work ever since wearing  the rock down into sand to return it to the Mediterranean.

The forces of errosion have been working on the cliffs of Punta del Albir
for thousands of years

 

The lighthouse of Punta del Albir atop more stunning cliffs

Click any image to see larger versions

Cruising along the base of the cliffs with the old lighthouse being the only visible sign of civilisation gives you the feeling of navigating some remote and unspoilt corner of the globe, far removed from the hurly burly of 21^st century life.

That is until you clear the western point and the town of Benidorm shatters the illusion in the most evil way. Benidorm is the most graphic example of Spanish tourist development gone absolutely mad. Its never ending jumble of ugly high rise after even uglier high rise stretches from its beach infested with mainly obese white bodies rapidly turning bright red, all the way back into the hills well behind the coast. This is the town made famous in the UK and beyond as the setting for one of lowest points in television history, the reality series about Brits behaving badly abroad.

Benidorm - the height ugly can reach

It brought to the screen the ‘reality’ of Benidorm as  the home of bar after bar filled to over flowing each summer with foul mouthed, drunken slobs exposing way too much sunburnt beer belly, loudly abusing the manager for not serving ‘proper’  fish and chips while at the same time trying to convince the cute, longsuffering waitress that she really would be mad not to accompany him back to his palatial apartment for a night of unbridled passion. After his silk smooth seduction attempt is rebuffed he’s last scene as the credits roll, heading for bed arm in arm with an equally drunk matron from Manchester who lost her dentures when she threw up in the garden bed. The sad news is the show wasn’t far from the truth.

Keeping well off the coast, the nearest we went to the place was sailing close by the attractive little Islote de Benidorm that is unfortunate enough to share its name with Spain’s Gomorrah.

Islote de Benidorm has avoided being wrecked so far

Like many places on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, Alicante has a very good but expensive marina. We had stayed at it on Moksha back in April, but as the winds were predicted to remain very light we elected to anchor Alcheringa outside the harbour, just off the beach with a great view of the castle on the hill and where the price was far better. Free.

We anchored off the beach to the right of the harbour at Alicante

Rob had been busy catching up on the blog so, despite it already being a little late in the day, was keen to go ashore and get the latest chapter updated so he and Marc launched the dingy and headed for the shore while Karen relaxed on board enjoying a 'boy free' zone for a change.  On their return they assured her that they only chose the Ugly Coyote Bar in the marina because of its excellent wifi signal. The aesthetically pleasing waitresses had nothing to do with their choice. It was all for the ships blog after all. Karen couldn’t quite understand why, if the wifi was so good, did it take two hours  and four glasses of red to post the chapter. Well there were lots of photos to upload after all.

Alcheringa anchored off the beach at Alicante

The wind may have stayed away but a reasonably sized swell made its way through to the beach all night. We would have been far more comfortable if there had been a bit of wind to keep us pointed into the swell but instead we tended to drift around beam on and rolled like crazy. We all rose next morning fairly tired but wanted to make the most of this very attractive town.  We’d only had time for a quick trip to the castle on our last brief stop here with Moksha and were keen to see more of the many historic features on offer that Karen had discovered on her google research the previous evening.

Marc was going to head up to the castle first. Karen almost let him embark on the same route as our exhausting climb to the top back in April but at the last minute her conscience got the better of her and she called him back and told him about the lift that went all the way to the top she’d found out about on the internet. No fair. Why shouldn’t he ‘enjoy’ the walk that we did?

We'd walked up there. Marc took the lift.

We embarked on our own cultural walking tour of Alicante, taking in the art gallery, and old church and then the town hall which was surprisingly a very cool place to visit with some great art and architecture. Next stop was the cathedral which like so many in Spain are surrounded by high buildings so you can’t really appreciate their exteriors however it was impressive enough inside.

The Alicante Town Hall is very cool to visit

Salvador Dali in the foyeur

Great art at every turn

A chapel for divine guidance

Who could possibly make a bad decision in these Council Chambers

Yep. Another Cathedral

Wandering the through old part of these towns is always a favourite with us. Narrow streets and tiny lanes lined with small shops, houses and old apartments often featuring ornate balconies or colourful window boxes.

We were making our way up to the  Chapel Santa Cruz which was built into the ancient walls and Karen assured looked extremely interesting from what she’d read. The city's Easter Parade culminates here after the faithful have manouvred an incredibly heavy float through the impossibly narrow route to the top. So we wound our way up between the houses, up some stairs, up steep lanes, up more stairs followed by some more stairs and finally came to the tiny courtyard in front of the chapel just under the castle itself. Rob suggested he may have enjoyed his visit to the lovely Chapel Santa Cruz high, high, high above Alicante a bit more if it wasn’t all bloody locked up.

Up, up and up some more. The exercise program is on track

Then it was all locked up.

Back down, down, down we went and made our way back to the square in front of the town hall for a rest and bottle of vino blanco at one of the open air cafes. After regrouping it was Rob’s turn to pick the next stop on our search for culture and his choice was obvious and instant.  We really enjoyed the Volvo Ocean Race Museum located in the marina with a wide range of interactive audio-visual displays providing a very good insight into the history of the round the world races right from the original won by Robin Knox-Johnston to the stars of the current day.

The Volvo Ocean Race boats are impressive beasts

Check out the canting keel totaly out of the water.

It was then time to meet back up with Marc after his wanderings so it was just a short walk to the Ugly Coyote. Where else would we meet. Rob had yet another blog chapter to post.

She's still rolling out there

When we returned to Alcheringa we found she was still rolling beam on to the swells. Not wanting to spend another uncomfortable night we lassoed one of the big buoys that mark the swim line off the beach and ran a line around it back to one of the winches. We were then able to winch it in tight to pull the stern around and hold the boat with her bow into the swell. We crossed fingers that an irate representative of the harbour master’s office wouldn’t suddenly appear and that it would all hold and give us a better night’s sleep before we continued our travels west along the coast.

Shhhh! Don't tell the harbour master.

Bingo. Much less roll through the night. We love a plan that works.

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