Active route

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Route last year

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29.4. We finally managed to move the boat to Algaidesa yesterday evening. The marina is very big and only about one third of the berths are occupied. The day has been windy again but it seems that the weather is changing and we should have nice weather tomorrow to sail to Ceuta. The channel is only a little over 10 miles wide anyway. We haven’t really done anything today, just the usual shopping. I tried to visit the Vodafone shop because my local data-SIM doesn’t work but the shop was crowded and I have to try again later.

28.4. The westerly wind picked up again and is now 6-15 m/s with some drops of rain, too. There seems to be only a short weather window to get across the channel to Ceuta tonight and after all this strong wind the sea is going to be rough. We decided to stay one more night at Gibraltar but we have to move to the Spanish harbor Marina Alcaidesa because there is no room for us here. Tomorrow night there seems to be a better change to cross the channel. After that there’s another low coming in but then we hopefully get some decent weather and even some easterly winds. We visited the local supermarket Morrisons and bought some food. The dinner is going to be feta chicken. The chicken breasts we bought from the local market are huge as usual.

21.4. Santa Pola-Mazarron. First 30 miles we had a nasty swell and even with the wind we couldn’t make it with the sails so we motorsailed to Cabo de Palos and then turned west. After that it was very nice sailing for the last 33 miles to Mazarron which was a familiar place. We arrived late but did get to the showers and theb to bed after 13 hours at sea.

22.4. Southbound with a nice light 4-6 m/s wind with the genaker. Very nice sailing for 35 miles, 11 miles with the engine. The genaker takes about 20 minutes to set up but it’s very efficient and because of the furling system it’s very easy and fast to take down. The night was closing in so we decided to stop at Carboneras which is a fishing harbor with no place for visiting boats. We moored at the fueling berth and figured that nobody will take notice. I rained a little bit after we got to the harbor.

23.4. Carboneras-Almerimar. 53 miles with sails all the way. In the beginning we had to use the engine on the side to help the autohelm but after that we made very good speed with genoa only, the average speed was around 6 knots, 53 miles in total. In Almerimar the reception was nice and efficient as before and we did get our old berth at darcena 3. In the evening we went out to watch Champions league and at the bar we met three guys on their way to Finland. One of them had bought a Moody 33 her in Spain and they were sailing it home.

24.4. Almerimar. A new gas bottle from the chandlery and provisions from Mercadona. Finally I had the time and the place to flush the water tanks. At firsta I pumped them empty and put in some citric acid which was left in the tanks for 6 hours. After pumping the acid out I flushed the tanks  three times. I used like 2 cubic meters of water. We took our quilt out to get some breeze and while doing that we accidentally dropped our little bear and the bigger piglet in to the water. Nina discovered this disaster after I left for the chandlery. The bear was floating right beside the boat and the piglet was found about 100 meters away. The finnish guys came in for drinks in the evening, the first finns for a month we have spoken to. It was very nice.

25.4 The westerly wind was strong all the night. According to the weather charts it looked like we had a two day window to get to Gibraltar. By morning the wind slowed down to 4 m/s so we decided to leave. At the sea the going was alright for a while but after an hour the westerly wind was picking up to 12 m/s and we decided it was useless to push against it and took refuge in Adra. The marina was big and empty. There were only a few boats in the whole marina. The guardia civil came to greet us and made us fill the papers. Made his day, I guess, otherwise he wouldn’t have nothing to do all day. The oficina was luckily closed for the siesta. Some people say that here they either have siesta or fiesta. That day it was fiesta with all kinds of firecrackers, tivolis and stuff. After lunch the wind suddenly stopped and away we went. The sea was much calmer this time and we decided to motor ahead. Because of the grim forecasts we eventually went ahead all night and in the morning were able to set sails for 15 miles and arrived in Gibraltar by midday. The night was beautiful with the full moon and while Nina was sleeping the dolphins came to a visit. Scared the shit out of me. So we arrived at a familiar Marina Bay harbor after noon. Not any too soon because our fuel tanks are empty, one has only fumes left and the other isn’t in much better shape. The fuel here is cheaper because Gib is taxfree.

27.4. We woke up after a good 10 hour sleep. There was a fiesta day here, too! They celebrated a 200 year old treaty between England and Spain about the ownership of Gib. The matter is still undisputed and the Gib is a pain to Spaniards as I wrote before. We saw some marching bands and all this very British military heritage. Nina did get a haircut at her usual hairdresser. The day was very windy as predicted.

20.4. Moraira-Santa Pola. First cloudy morning in a long time but the sky cleared up during the day. The wind was this and that, we sailed about one third of the leg trimming sails all the time. This marina is quite new and a first one that answered the VHF call in English and gave us a designated berth over the VHF so we only had to find the right pontoon which proved to be a little bit difficult but a nice mariner showed us to the right place. The service seems to be excellent and the price is 23 €. As the swell was quite heavy we didn’t cook during the day so we went out for a pizza. Tomorrow we carry on southwest.

12.4. Addaya. A very nice and sunny day so we didn’t sail anywhere. Did some minor overhaul and relaxing. The village is very nice but quite deserted. A lot of nice bungalows with swimming pools, most of them empty. I looked up the village from the internet and it seems that most of the houses are for rent.

13.4. Yesterday I saw a very nice and small inflatable dinghy at the local chandlery and after some bargaining we traded in our old one. Now we have a nice new dinghy with a small 2,5 hp Suzuki engine. We took it out for a test drive and after that took course to Cala de Algaierens where we anchored at 2000. A  very beautiful cala, again.

14.4. On to Mallorca. Menorca was a very nice experience. We sailed and motored 57 nm to Cala de Calobra where we anchored. We went ashore with the dinghy and took a walk around. We met a very nice English/Spanish couple who were very interested in us and gave us information about good places to go to on our voyage.

15.4. We followed the northern coast of Mallorca to San Telmo. Almost calm all day and we did an overdose of sun, again. A nice beach with a couple of small hotels or hostels. We went to an opposite island Isla Dragonera for a walk and did some shopping in the village. A quiet night at anchor. There are absolutely no visiting boats around. So far we have seen less than ten foreign boats around these islands.

16.4. We crossed the channel to Ibiza to the island of Tago Mago. There were about five big mooring byous marked “privado” but there was nobody around so we hooked to one of them and went ashore with the dinghy to explore the island. All these places have very nice views. A quiet night except the plastic mooring buoy kept banging on the boat as there was no wind to tighten the rope and I didn’t want to drop the stern anchor because I didn’t want it to get stuck with old mooring lines on the bottom.

17.4. A short hop to Eulalia. The marina was big but under renovation so they had some trouble finding us a spot. It pays to anchor because here they charged us 43 € for a berth. We made it worth by washing all the ropes, sails and the deck thoroughly. A nice sunny day. The daytime temperatures are usually well above 20 degrees C but at night it can get as low as 7.

18.4. We left Eulalia shortly after 8 and took a sightseeing tour around the harbor of Ibiza. A lot of big boats and busy action. The place is supposed to be very pricy so we didn’t want to go ashore but continued to Formentera where we anchored. After lunch I took a look at the weather charts and they showed us strong winds for the following afternoon. As we did have some wind we decided to set sail for the mainland.

19.4. After 84 nm of which 24 with sails we arrived at Moraira at just after 0300.We attached boat to the breakwater and after a shower went to bed. We have a good shower on the boat but it’s always nice to get ashore to a shower where you can use the water more freely and have more space to do it. Laundry day. After today we start backtracking our outbound route but try to visit different harbors and anchorages. Because of the new dinghy we have more to choose from.