Cartagena to Gib (er no Motril)
3:45 is always a good time to get up when you have had a disturbed night, however we were planning our "Big Push" and that was go go all the way through to Gibralter and of we went non-stop our ETA would be 11am on the 27th.
We motored out of Cartagena under the glare of lights all around the very busy harbour. We did not depart alone there were ferries, fishing vessels and lots of ships at anchor all illuminated like football stadiums. Why you mighty ask were we doing this, it was not really the plan to provide our friends with an exercise in endurance but Gibralter is a gate and the wind either blows in or out and today it is blowing out and tomorrow it will change and blow in and so it is important to try to arrive before we are headed.
Everything went to plan, we were soon making over 8 knots and it looked like a very good passage. Soo I was being text'd by my friend Keith Jones who clearly has me tagged on Marine Traffic. As afternoon gave way to dusk the wind increased and we shortened sail, but it made no difference we were flying. After an hour we decided to head up and furl the main sail and just go on genoa alone. Now we had 32-34 knots of wind behind us and we were screaming down the huge waves. The boat felt completely safe in this direction and under control. passing Carbo de Gata the sea suddenly calmed down and the wind moderated, we were all pleased as we were still making excellent progress. This was short lived and soon the sea was as big as it was before.
The wind dropped further but the swell was still the same, and then wham we had 17 knots on the nose. A complete reversal of the winds. We were still 11 hours from Gibralter and with the sea conditions the way they were and the unknown wind (was it going to increase, would the wind over the swell flatten it or rough it up, we don't know it is a learning curve for us. The Med is not quiet like other places. It was not a difficult decision to call it a day and try to find a harbour for the night. The difficulty is finding on e we will fit into. Motril was the obvious choice, the pilot book said that the phones would not be operating but I gave it a go. "Roberto answered on his mobile from a bar, it was 00:30. "What is your size"… "We are 16.5m x 4.73m" … "16m no you are too big, try somewhere else" .. "it's not very nice out hear"… "Ok I have a place, I will move another boat. I will put you on the fuel pontoon.".
We proceeded in a as we entered the basin there were two flashing lights over in the corner. Two people with torches were signaling. We tied up to a very flimsy pontoon that had been pulled across the travel hoist lifting bay trapping a boat inside; it was 1:40
We motored out of Cartagena under the glare of lights all around the very busy harbour. We did not depart alone there were ferries, fishing vessels and lots of ships at anchor all illuminated like football stadiums. Why you mighty ask were we doing this, it was not really the plan to provide our friends with an exercise in endurance but Gibralter is a gate and the wind either blows in or out and today it is blowing out and tomorrow it will change and blow in and so it is important to try to arrive before we are headed.
Everything went to plan, we were soon making over 8 knots and it looked like a very good passage. Soo I was being text'd by my friend Keith Jones who clearly has me tagged on Marine Traffic. As afternoon gave way to dusk the wind increased and we shortened sail, but it made no difference we were flying. After an hour we decided to head up and furl the main sail and just go on genoa alone. Now we had 32-34 knots of wind behind us and we were screaming down the huge waves. The boat felt completely safe in this direction and under control. passing Carbo de Gata the sea suddenly calmed down and the wind moderated, we were all pleased as we were still making excellent progress. This was short lived and soon the sea was as big as it was before.
The wind dropped further but the swell was still the same, and then wham we had 17 knots on the nose. A complete reversal of the winds. We were still 11 hours from Gibralter and with the sea conditions the way they were and the unknown wind (was it going to increase, would the wind over the swell flatten it or rough it up, we don't know it is a learning curve for us. The Med is not quiet like other places. It was not a difficult decision to call it a day and try to find a harbour for the night. The difficulty is finding on e we will fit into. Motril was the obvious choice, the pilot book said that the phones would not be operating but I gave it a go. "Roberto answered on his mobile from a bar, it was 00:30. "What is your size"… "We are 16.5m x 4.73m" … "16m no you are too big, try somewhere else" .. "it's not very nice out hear"… "Ok I have a place, I will move another boat. I will put you on the fuel pontoon.".
We proceeded in a as we entered the basin there were two flashing lights over in the corner. Two people with torches were signaling. We tied up to a very flimsy pontoon that had been pulled across the travel hoist lifting bay trapping a boat inside; it was 1:40
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It looked lovely when we left.