We woke up early to a bright, beautiful Mazarrón sunrise.
The first order of the day was refuelling and shortly after we were on our way. The swell was about a meter and the boat was rolling along on the way towards Cartagena. It was a lovely bright sunny day after the rain of last night. We had a fabulous final motor sail round cabo tiñoso and towards the tankers on anchor just outside the port.
As we approached the port we weren’t alone, we were on course to reach the port light at the same time as a massive container ship. We never argue with other vessels travelling at speed so we slowed down and followed it, and it’s tug boat into port. We rounded the pontoon and entered our home port of Yacht Port Cartagena – we got on berth perfectly – but soon realised there was a problem with the lazy lines (the ropes that hold the boat anchored to the bottom of the marina). The marinero was scratching his head, we were puzzled and between the 3 of us we had to move the boat to the next mooring space along in order to secure the boat properly. It is a mystery as to what the problem is, but it gave us a final challenge to end our trip !! We had a fabulous time and we were sad to leave the boat but happy to find our cats in good health to welcome us home – in time for tea too 🙂
p.s. Skipper Nigel has promised to write a blog too …… watch this space 😉
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.
We had a great day and now we’re just one journey away from Cartagena. Perhaps tomorrow we’ll make it back – weather permitting of course 😉
I wandered along the seafront one more time to take in the sunrise before we departed Aguadulce. It was a beautiful morning although the forecast told us to anticipate changeable weather so we were prepared with our life jackets and warm gear at the ready.
In reality we set out in much calmer conditions than we anticipated and they stayed with us all morning. In fact for the first time this trip we didn’t even try with the sails, we simply motored across the gulf towards Cabo de Gata. It was quite cloudy but towards lunchtime it got warmer and we were in t-shirts as we rounded the headland. It is always a key moment for us when we go round the “Cape of the cat” 🐈 it means we really are on the final stretch of our journey home. It is a short distance from here to San Jose and we were on berth at half past 2 – thanks to the calm seas and consistent 4 knot winds all the way (25 nautical miles) from Aguadilce. We still need to be vigilant with the weather forecast but hopefully we’ll head to Garrucha in the morning.
We woke up early and I went for a pre-sunrise walk before we set off. I didn’t see anyone else other than a couple of cafe owners and the street cleaners. We set out at first light and it was lovely to see the early morning sun light up the little town of San José. We passed an odd looking fishing boat just around the headland as we got the sails out. The conditions we really good and we had a good hour long sail before we needed the motor to boost us along a bit when the wind dropped. We went past Carboneras and the ‘hotel ilegal’ which looks like it is either being dismantled or built up, who knows what we’ll find next time we’re passing ?
The wind picked up around 1pm and we were sailing again with no motor. We were having a great time making around 5-6 knots speed in a 10 knot wind. We felt the sea state start to pick up as we approached Garrucha. The wind also gusted up to 25 knots as we were about to start bringing the sails in in order to enter the port. Skipper Nigel had to do some nifty handling to make it easier for me to do my crew job of bringing in both the Genoa and mainsail.
We entered the port in heavy (25 knot) winds and managed to get the boat onto her mooring space alongside without too much trouble – thanks to good teamwork and a helpful marinero who put us in a favourable spot for the wind. It took us a few minutes to recover and set the boat. The wind dropped around 6pm and we went out for drinks and snacks before watching a stunning moonrise (impossible to photograph I’m afraid). I did make a video just after we arrived…..
Hopefully onwards tomorrow – as always depending on the weather 🙂
Once again it was a calm morning we awoke to in Adra. Stunningly beautiful with just a hint of wind (that got skipper Nigel hopeful for the day). We were about 20 minutes into the journey when we pulled out the sails and switched off the motor. We were sailing once again 🙂
Our excitement was fairly short lived and in order to keep speed we ended up putting the engine on again, much to our disappointment, although we still had both sails out which was a great feeling on the helm. The scenery was interesting as we headed past the miles and miles of plastic greenhouses growing, presumably, all manner of vegetables for the dinner plates of Europe. I think mainly tomatoes since they seem to appear as a “speciality” on every menu here.
We passed a couple of catamarans as we entered the gulf of Almería, one even had it’s sails up which is an impressive yet unusual sight (we normally see them motoring along, sails packed away). When we arrived we had to wait on the quayside for the office to open but it was worth the wait since the lovely Jessica gave us a great berth just a short walk from the beach and the bars and restaurants.
We had been reviewing the weather during the afternoon and the forecast for the next day looked like the weather would be working against us. Coupled with our nice position in the marina it was an easy decision to take a rest day. I woke up fairly early and joined the fitties (not fifties quite yet 😉 ) of the town in a walk along the seafront. It is a nice promenade here with a mix of old and slightly newer blocks of apartments and even some cute beach bungalows. I walked along to Roquetas de Mar and back, most pleasant. We then went out for coffee after breakfast and lunch later on. Everything a rest day should be.
I also spotted jellyfish which swam right up to the boat, I have never seen one so big about 40-50cm diameter ! I was very glad to be aboard rather than swimming. A quick internet search has drawn a blank on the species ….. any ideas my lovely readers ??
Hopefully onwards tomorrow heading back towards Cabo de Gata…..
After high winds all afternoon and evening it was very calm in morning. No more white tops in the marina and we were good to go 🙂
We set out for short hop to marina del este, knowing there probably wouldn’t be much, if any, wind. Indeed the forecast was right and we motored on beautiful blue seas along the lovely coastline.
We arrived around lunchtime and after pulling up alongside the waiting quay we were put on a lovely berth. We spent the afternoon watching all manner of boats come and go along with boatloads of scuba divers.
I left skipper Nigel having a siesta and went off walking up the hill. I wanted to get to the top this time and ended up walking up to the lighthouse. The views were stunning and it was well worth the effort.
In the evening Skipper Nigel took all the photos for a change and it was a lovely sunset indeed.
Around 1am we were awoken by gusting, howling wind – very odd. It wasn’t forecast and lasted only about 20 minutes by the morning all was calm again and we sailed away towards our destination of Adra…..well, we motored away 😉
We got nice views back to the lighthouse at the top of the point. We had fair winds and we got the sails out, and our jumpers on – it was cold wind !! We had to make lots of tacks to keep heading in the right direction and wind in the sails. When we reached Motril we saw a regatta (it was Sunday) the yachts seemed to be flying along but not on the same tack as us. Eventually we made it to Adra and just as we were entering the marina the 3 masted tourist ship was departing …..
We had a lovely evening aboard, with spaghetti Bolognese (rather than Sunday roast !!) Adra is a very unusual marina in that it seems really underdeveloped however maybe that is about to change since the diggers have broken ground on the new marina building since we were here at the beginning of the month. Perhaps next time we visit it will be a different experience altogether.
We departed Benalmádena and waved a fond goodbye to Poppy and Judith who took these lovely photos of us departing.
As we got round the breakwater we thought it would be another day on motor but as soon as we made our way out into the gulf of Málaga we were pleasantly surprised. There was wind, at a nice strength and we pulled out the sails and switched off the motor. It stayed that way all day at last and we were hitting 6 + knots ☺️. We saw dolphins swimming around the boat, I took lots of videos but didn’t capture them this time ! Skipper Nigel took a video of me instead 😉
In the afternoon the wind picked up, we continued sailing but the wind was really hot. The only way to describe it is like the heat you feel when you open the oven door. It was incredible. 36 degrees of heat out on the water and in port when we arrived. As we approached Caleta de Vélez the wind picked up to around 20 knots gusting 25 which is quite strong for getting onto an unknown berth. We were actually directed to the waiting quay where a marinero “helped” us with the lines/ropes although in reality we might have managed better on our own, at one point he even dropped one of them !! He tried to hold the boat, (6 tons) in 23 knot winds with both ropes in his hands rather than using the tie off points skipper Nigel raised his voice telling him what he should do. We got onto the quay thanks to good rope work from us and excellent skippering. Later in the day we moved to our final berth (when the wind had died down a bit). In the meantime we watched lots of activity as the fishing boats came back.
We didn’t sleep brilliantly well as the wind was howling all night. We woke up with a plan to leave early but in reality we both knew it was too windy. When there are white tops in the marina you know it’s not a sailing day. We didn’t need to check the weather forecast although a visit to the office to pay for another night meant we saw the weather warning of gale force winds a bit further out in the med. We went out for a delicious lunch at the same restaurant we were at on my birthday last year, and we had the same delicious mussels, langostinos pil pil and house salad. Hopefully tomorrow we can sail away.
We were, as anticipated awoken by the fishing boats, Skipper Nigel actually got up at 3am and watched them depart. The next morning, I went out to see what this end of Marbella has to offer and finally got a bit of a feel for how it must once have been. Just outside the port there are some old fashioned fishing cottages which made me smile. This really is the fishing end of town. The beach and promenade here are nice too – with the palm trees and obligatory one way walking social distancing measures.
When I got back to Gemini J the fishing boats were starting to come back so we watched the unloading activity whilst we had breakfast. They certainly caught a lot of fish in their 6 hours at sea! We saw them putting it all on ice in giant boxes with a crowd of men watching – we guessed they might be the restaurant owners viewing the daily catch.
After breakfast we paid our bill in the office and headed out to sea, a very calm sea with 2 knots of wind. It was another motor day – but we did see dolphins again which was once again amazing.
We were heading back to Benalmádena and just as we arrived the none existent wind picked up. Not in enough time for us to have a quick sail, no, literally as we were coming alongside on the waiting quay. I slightly messed up the lines and the marinero had to rush over and help me !! We got the boat secured, went to the office and organised our berth. This time we had to head up the main channel and we were in a very narrow mooring space, so narrow in fact we missed it the first time and had to turn round and do a “take 2” to get in. Not helped by the high winds which had whipped up!!
We spent the evening relaxing aboard and enjoying the surroundings. The next day we finally had a dry enough day to do some much needed cleaning aboard, followed by the enjoyment of meeting up with Poppy and Judith again. We also spent some time quite literally watching paint dry since the apartment block opposite is being painted white. It’s fun to watch the progress albeit fairly slowly. The painters have a cherry picker and they move themselves up and down noisily and precariously – different from watching boat manoeuvres.
We planned to head off by dinghy round the marina …. got everything set up and found we had almost no power. We got ourselves back to the boat – just – without rowing and the inquest into the problem. Skipper Nigel determined it was the shear pin (which protects the prop from damage) that had broken. Cost to fix should be about 0,30c (one of the less expensive boat problems thankfully).
My afternoon walk took me along the promenade and by the lovely beach which is much quieter now than when we were here a couple of weeks ago. I came upon a bright, traditional building, almost Moroccan in style – not sure if it was original or replica. It currently houses the tourist information office. In the evening we had a delicious pizza and a joined Poppy and Judith for drinks aboard their lovely boat which is now on it’s home berth.
No wind for sailing the next day so we had a restful morning followed by a bit of grocery shopping and cleaning down our zodiac dinghy which we folded up and stowed. We went out to the beach bar for cocktails in the evening which was fabulous. We hope to move on tomorrow.
Sunrise in Gibraltar saw us up and about, first order of business was to head out to the fuel dock on our departure. We pulled up alongside the fuel jetty and got out our fuel cans. Fuel here is really, really cheap – for boats – this means they must be filled up aboard so skipper Nigel had to re-fill the cans rather awkwardly on the side of the boat, still, well worth the effort at 43p a litre and we had over 50 litres to buy !
We took a couple of photos while we were waiting then said goodbye to the rock (for now). We headed out round Europa point in much clearer weather than the way here, we could easily see the African coastline this time. We were in between 5 and 8 knot winds and although we had slightly misjudged the tides the wind and swell pushed us nicely round the rock with no problems. We saw more jumping tuna which really are quite a sight and we got the sail out too 🙂
The winds were gusty, gustier than we have experienced so far on this trip – at one point (thankfully when Skipper Nigel was at the helm) we had a sudden gust of over 30 knots ! Which is quite a thing when you’re bobbing along in 8 knots at the time !! It was handled excellently and after reefing the sails (making them smaller) we continued. We saw a regatta coming out from Sotogrande marina and it was fun to watch the boats all headed for Gibraltar. We also saw dolphins and had a fantastic couple of hours sailing back to marina la Duquesa. We arrived in time for a late lunch at the beach restaurant which wasn’t over crowded and spent the rest of the day relaxing.
The following morning it was sunrise walk time and there is a lovely promenade walk between the marina and a place called Castillo Duquesa which has a real castle too ! It is like a really small traditional fishing village and is completely different from all the urbanisations that surround it.
It was a very, very calm day and we motored out towards Marbella after breakfast. We did manage to motor sail in about 8 knots of wind for a while but around midday we dropped to 1 knot of wind so we had to motor the rest of the way. We watched the rock and the coastline of Africa disappearing into the far distance as we continued on. One of us was particularly bored and spent the journey making amusing videos for friends and trying to fix the autohelm which is still not fully functional. The solution today was a bit of bungee elastic clipped to the wheel. It worked an absolute treat all day and before we knew it we were in Marbella marina (the other marina here – last time we were in the Puerto deportivo). We came alongside on the waiting quay and moved onto a berth where we were the only boat on the jetty, although the rest of the marina seemed busy. We spent the evening watching the comings and goings of the port and hoping for a little more wind the next day……
The first morning here we awoke to cloudy skies. I’m fact I headed off for an early morning walk and it was almost too dark for photos.
I was shocked by the number of people about at 8am, but everyone was going to work. Because we are quite close to the border here in the marina I came across morning rush hour. It was absolutely crazy, there were just tons of scooters, cyclists and electric scooters. At one point on a narrow bit of road I witnessed a car stuck behind an electric scooter and a cyclist going much faster zoom past both of them !! I went along the main Street which starts at a place called Casemates Gates. This is a big square full of cafes and bars and we came back here later in the morning for…..you guessed it…. English breakfast 🙂
The afternoon was spent relaxing aboard since the weather wasn’t up to much at all. I went and did some washing but we struggled to get it dry. We found it highly amusing that we came all the way to Gibraltar and got what everyone thinks is typically English weather.
The next day we went out to the square again for breakfast and we did a bit of shopping, Debenhams, an Antique shop and an Art Gallery all got our custom. It was a very odd sensation for us speaking English everywhere and paying in pounds !
Gibraltar really is a fascinating place, there is so much history here, everywhere you turn there’s a plaque or sign with information about what happened on that spot X number of years ago. It also seems like a place that is changing a lot. It is such a small place physically that every spot of buildable land is taken and a lot has been reclaimed from the sea too – including the whole marina complex we are on, with all the tower office and apartment blocks. I went off exploring in the afternoon and found a generous mix of architecture – a lot of which is quite characterless in my opinion (mind you, not helped by the dull day either)
We headed out that evening with high expectations – we had won big at the casino last time we were here and we were hoping for a repeat performance. After we had worked our way through the intricate one way system and slathered on a ridiculous amount of hand sanitizer various times we were finally allowed to the table. We were sat on fully sanitized seats with screens between each player (only 4 per table) but other than that nothing much has changed ! We spent a very enjoyable hour and a half losing our money at the roulette table. We are pleased to report we are still “up” on the house if you include last time 😉 oh and we resisted the temptation to play blackjack or bingo.
What a difference a day makes…. finally we could see the rock as the sun came out !
I left skipper Nigel doing boat jobs and went for a walk …. I went a bit off the tourist track as I didn’t want it to be too crowded. This meant I wandered up empty streets and even found a fairy garden along the way. It was tough going up, very steep and lots of steps but interesting too. There are definitely some slightly more run-down parts of town and the estate built just under the moorish castle definitely could have been prettier.
After I decided against paying to enter the nature reserve since the ticket included entry to various sites and I just really wanted to walk I headed down the rock again. Interestingly pre-covid there was apparently a cheap walker’s ticket but that got stopped – the guide couldn’t really explain why. Anyway, it was in my favour really because I went down a lot of amazing steps with some great buildings and artwork along the way. When I reached the town I found the old Gibraltar chronicle building, it too looks ready for renovation.
I also ended up wandering along what seemed like a back street, I found myself wondering why there was glitter on the floor, then I realised I was at the registry office. If you decide to come to Gibraltar to get married this must be where the excitement happens.
Also along the legal lines I saw a lovely looking garden, I wandered up to take a closer look only to find it was the court! You really can’t walk far here without finding yourself walking along, on or under city walls and battlements, they literally surround the place (of course) and often with fabulous views.
When I got back to Gemini J it was finally dry enough to do some washing. The washing machines are on a floating pontoon with a great view. Now we have clean clothes we can move on tomorrow – weather permitting ;-). All in all I can’t wait to visit the rock again and continue exploring, there’s so much to see and do here for such a tiny place.
We had a relaxing evening aboard watching the party goers returning to the marina in their banana boats, jet skis and small motor boats. It must have been really uncomfortable on the rough seas for them, although I think they may chop through the waves for a thrill a bit more than we can 🙂
After our adventure entering the marina we were very careful to check the conditions before we left. I went for a morning walk along the beachside and checked out the sea. It was our first visit to Marbella and all I could see were apartment block after apartment block, all with very little character. The oldest things there seemed to be the marina and the lighthouse, although to be fair I didn’t wander as far as the “old town” which I understand has much more character. The beach looks nice with it’s palm trees too.
We had another swelly day on motor once again, but the advantage was that we were on very low revs and we were being pushed along really quickly. We did get the mainsail out for a while but most of the day was motoring to Marina la duquesa which is at a place called Manilva. We got there in time for lunch which was delicious wraps and a chicken burger by the waterside.
This is a lovely marina, fairly quiet with a beautiful beach and a nice walk along the beachside too. Not many people here (it was a dull Monday) and it felt very relaxing. Mind you we did almost see a full on police chase by sea….just beyond the breakwater. We heard the siren first and then saw one large and one small Guardia Civil boat followed by a super high speed police/customs boat with siren blaring. They must have been chasing a really small fast boat, this was definitely not a rescue but a chase! They didn’t come into the marina so we don’t know if they were successful but it was certainly a surprising end to the day.
The next day was finally “rock” day, we watched the sunrise as we made our preparations. We left earlier in the morning than usual as we wanted to make sure we were working with Gibraltar’s tides rather than against them. We had studied and checked “high water” the night before. The sun was shining on the marina as we left but it soon became dull again and we had to motor towards the rock as there was very little wind.
One of the most important jobs of the day was to change one of our flags. We always fly an ensign at the rear of the boat (you’ll have seen it in other photos) and then higher up alongside the mast we fly another smaller British ensign on our port side and a courtesy flag of the country we are in on starboard. We took down our tattered Spanish flag which was destroyed by the wind earlier in the trip and replaced it with the Gibraltese flag, it doesn’t do to enter Gib flying the Spanish flag as you can imagine 😉
We didn’t actually raise the new flag until we were definitely in Gibraltar waters and we spent the morning motoring along watching the rock looming out of the cloudy sky. We did see large ships in the straits of Gibraltar and in anchor but nothing like as many as in previous passages. I sometimes wonder where all the big ships are, especially the cruise ships. It didn’t seem like long at all before we were rounding Europa point and heading for the runway. We were surprised to see massive Tuna fish jumping out of the water all around us. It was quite a sight, something we haven’t seen before there must have been a big predator somewhere in the depths.
As we round the point raised the flag, radioed the marina and got ourselves a lovely berth between the runway and the sunborn floating hotel. Now time to relax for a couple of days :-). We have travelled 285 nauticalmiles on our journey so far over two weeks (if we came by car it would be 580km and about 6 hours but a lot less fun !)
The Adventures of Gemini J 