Shore based shenanigans and our final leg

A lot of fun has happened since our last blog – and our arrival home. You’ll find the last bit of the story below but first a little bit on our activities since we arrived back at the start of the month (and the reasons for the delayed blog)

The first week we were back we had a fantastic reunion with friends old and new at the annual beach party in Los Alcázares (the first time it had been held since the pandemic). There was a barbecue on the beach, a birthday celebration for our lovely friend Rosana and a flypast from the Eagles (the local equivalent of the Red Arrows). We were exhausted but very happy after a wonderful day.

The following week we couldn’t miss the opportunity to go sailing once again, this time with our friends on Hoopa we went to a place called La Azhoia to meet our friends Gunilla and Tony aboard Katarina who were on their last stop before returning to Cartagena – they had spent the season in the Azores.

The skies were gray and there wasn’t much wind but it was gorgeously warm as we dropped anchor. Less than half an hour later we were all in the water, swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding. We had an extremely enjoyable reunion barbecue on board Katarina and it was a beautiful evening view of the shore. The next day was more of the water activities and it was just really nice to all be together again after we had all sailed to different places over the season. We were even swimming between boats, the sea was fairly warm – even in the middle of October!

We hoped for wind as we headed back to Cartagena and indeed we got some – only about half an hour but it was enough to keep us smiling as we came back onto our new berth.

We had decided to go in stern to and just as we approached the berth a huge gust of wind blew Gemini J – Skipper Nigel had to use all his skills to re-approach – a bit like a 3 point turn but only with forward and reverse and a few more than three turns 😉 😉 The marineros were ashore waiting with our lines/ropes and shouting encouragement. Once we were finally berthed we heaved a huge sigh of relief and waited for Hoopla and Katarina to arrive. Luckily the wind gusts had dropped a little by the time they got in and both of them moored up expertly with no problems. Just like that all three of our boats are back for the winter season, bring on the coffee and cakes, wonderful walks and one or two boat jobs.

The final get together was a lunch with Paula, Ian and Mike who came to see us aboard. We all then headed out to the club náutico at Santa Lucía for a delicious tapas lunch – once again it was really great to catch up with friends and a good time was had by all.

Bearing all this in mind – I have been a bit remiss on this blog so now working back to the journey before these shenanigans …. here’s the last entry of the trip for you…..

It was a very autumnal morning on the last day of our trip. A definite reminder why we are heading back to our home port. We had a fairly relaxing departure and when we headed out we found choppy seas and light winds. We headed out past our old favourite “Isla grosa” and on towards Cabo de Palos.

We wanted to try to sail, it being our last day but we were scuppered by the choppy water so we had a motor along the familiar coastline and back to Cartagena.

As we approached the port we saw it was a double cruise ship day – they were obviously there to welcome us back 😉 It was a nice sight to see and we crept round behind them onto our berth. It turns out that the marina have changed our berth position – we are further along the pontoon than last time – a bit disappointing when we first arrived – but we moored up nicely. We’re still neighbours with our good friends on Hoopla which is great and Karen and Rob hopped aboard for drinks soon after we arrived. On closer inspection we are happier with our new space – it “should” be easier to get in and out when we go day sailing so watch this space for more winter adventures.

It was with mixed feelings that we left Gemini J after 1382,1 nautical miles …. 4 months, 34 marinas and many, many smiles along the way. I am sure we’ll be back for more adventures aboard very soon.