The early bird catches lunch in the marina

We departed Garrucha at sunrise, and a stunning sunrise it was.

The reason for our early departure was a weather front moving in. We wanted to make progress towards Cartagena and had spent the previous evening reading and reviewing the weather forecast, looking at wind and swell. We knew we had to be in port by early afternoon but before that the conditions were fairly good for sailing, we had lots of discussions and made our plans and backup plans. As we departed we were happy enough and the sea was calm, we didn’t need plan C which was to return to Garrucha if conditions weren’t right.

We made our way through a field of fishing boats and then we were alone – no other boats out today. We were using both sails and the motor and we were being pushed along by the waves too. This resulted in us making very fast progress – we reached Águilas quicker than expected and our plan B to go into the marina there was not needed, we could continue.

As you can see from the photos it was cloudy but not particularly cold. The sea started to pick up as anticipated and we took turns on the helm. It took quite a lot of concentration to co-ordinate the boat with the wind and waves. At one point about an hour out of Mazarrón it gusted up to 37 knots which is one of the stronger winds we have experienced. Mind you, we also made some of the fastest speeds with the boat ever at 8,8 and 8,9 knots…..

We were very happy to make it to Mazarrón in time for lunch and we enjoyed a morrocan style grill by the beach. The early start and good planning had been well worth it. I went on a wander in the afternoon and was glad we had stuck to our plan and got into port early. It was really blowy all afternoon and as I sit here writing in the evening it’s raining! The storm front has hit Mazarrón as forecast.