Cartagena, The Cape of Palos and three attempts to cross to the Balearics.

Initially we set sail from the anchorage to round The Cape of Palos to Torrevieja but for a number of reasons once underway we changed our minds and sailed in to the historical port of Cartagena. We had had mixed feelings about stopping here, the history interested us but the pilot description of the marina's shelter had not been favourable. Approaching the marina we were 'shooed' away and informed that they had no room for visitors due to a forthcoming Regatta, we were pointed in the direction of the next basin, the Super-yacht basin, designed for yachts 25m plus! We were welcomed alongside a high concrete quay, designed to take a large yachts bow or stern to. As you can imagine everything in this marina was super-sized, fortunately, so was the service but not the price. The lazy-lines were enormous around our cleats, the water and electricity connections were massive and there were no shower facilities, as super-yachts have 'his n hers' bathrooms no doubt, but with foul weather coming in we were grateful for the shelter. We had permission to use the Club Nautico facilities a short walk away and the staff did their utmost to get us connected where possible. In the end we enjoyed a whole week here, the city is very nice, cosmopolitan but friendly, steeped in history, a confident blend of old and new, in-fact we struggled to leave if the truth be told, maybe we should be thankful the marina was full and does not offer good protection?

So, after safely rounding The Cape of Palos to the anchorage in Torrevieja, two days later with a favourable forecast we upped our anchor from mainland Spain and set sail for the Balearic Islands, 110nM. Oddly, the wind in the anchorage was blowing from the east and not the south as forecast, but we set sail anyhow assuming it was being bent by a land effect. After motoring into a strengthening easterly for four hours we miserably resigned ourselves to the fact that it wasn't going to shift to the south. We bore away to port, heading north, and with 17-18 knots on our beam had a cracking sail for the following four hours making 6.5 knots. The wind shifted to the south as we closed in on the land approaching the port of Villajoyosa. The following morning we were confronted with similar weather conditions, a forecast for S/SW but blowing easterly in the marina. We made the decision to sail further up the coast in a north easterly direction and across the meridian line to Morayra, further reducing the mileage to Ibiza or Formentara. Two days later and 'third time lucky', we successfully crossed to Ibiza in just under twelve hours, making landfall in the North. Anchored in a breathtaking cala, we enjoyed an emotional reunion with American friends Jack and Patricia aboard their beautiful yacht 'Whoosh'.

The Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca can be challenging coasts to cruise. The weather is temperamental and unpredictable, open anchorage's offer little shelter and many of the marinas are either too small or too bloody expensive. We found this area very tiring with little reward.

Next Page > Balearics: Three, sun baked weeks cruising three beautiful islands.