.....and most of Saturday!
I don't know. You get to these exotic locations with a view to sightseeing and it's closed. Come siesta time everything shuts down on Saturday and doesn't bother opening again until Monday morning. No shops, no tourist information. At least the bars are sill open.
We are now in Cartegena riding out a rather gusty 25knt wind blowing into the harbour after seeing all there is to see in the town. The memories of the last few days are now fading into a blur given a third overnight sail in a week. I think we got in early yesterday morning.....Yes, I am sure we did. Another uneventful sail under our belt and we are now nearly a quarter of the way to Chicken Turkey (or perhaps some other food related destination). We have done 3 overnight sails in a week totalling 450 odd miles. We left Almerimar around lunch time on Friday and had a very tedious beat for 9 hours to get round the cape 30 miles to the east. It was one of those beats where the wind and the current push you back so you can only tack through 110 degrees - and the sea state was not too flat so lots of slamming etc. By the time we got to the cape the wind died and it was then a 12 hour motor up to here.
Almerimar was nice. Less than 12 Euro a night although wifi access was restricted unless you paid for the marina system at 5 Eu per night. Lots of bars and restaurants but more expensive than what we have been used to. It is rather isolated though with nothing outside the "resort" marina.
We did not see too much wildlife on the way up except for the last few hours around dawn when the obligatory dolphins turned up. Before that - zippo! Well except for the 20 or so bees that came to pay us a visit as we rounded the headland at the end of the beat. They settled on the boat (and us) to spend a relaxing hour with the odd foray to the top of the stairs where they did a quick about turn and then back into the cockpit - Pam was cooking onions! All of a sudden then they flew off.
We got into Cartegena and headed for the Yacht Port marina, the new one on the right. It's not marked in the pilot books so consequently is quite empty. In fact it was only 30% full. The guy in charge is a Brit and very obliging so very easy to check in and out. There is a 24 hr security guy on the gate so no cards are needed. The toilets and showers are in a portacabin which were fine - although they may be a bit under pressure if the place was full. There is also a wifi server to connect to - look for Linksys. It is free and a very good connections speed. Fast enough for Skype to work well. Yacht Port was 22Eur per night which is twice the price of the older marina on the left but it was worth the extra. Oh by the way, it is finger berths with long fingers whereas the other is med mooring and looked more open to swell.
When we arrived, we were met by Trevor and Lesley from Kishorn. They had left Lagos at the beginning of the month and were making their way slowly towards Majorca. A quick coffee on Grand Slam and we had caught up with all the gossip from the early Lagos departees.
Saturday afternoon we did Cartegena. We walked up to the top of the castle and had a good look round. Definitely worth doing but if the walk up is too much, there is a lift on the east side of the city that takes you most of the way up. Apart from that we were a little disappointed wth the city and lack of things to see or do. We (the four of us) went out for an overpriced meal in the evening with Trevor and Lesley and then chatted 'till late. They left this morning to head for an anchorage further up the coast but we are likely to bump into them again in Majorca.
So that is about it. Nice marina here and well worth a visit, but do it on a week day when at least the supermarket will be open. Don't expect a vast choice of things to do!
Our plan now is to get to Majorca by next Saturday to drop Alan and Murray off which we can do in 4 one day sails. We will push off very early tomorrow (Monday) and head north east. There is a bit of wind forecast but it should be behind us. I am still waiting to see a Woolly Mammoth but I'm not holding my breath. At least the wind we have today is keeping the mozzies at bay. We heard by email that China Blue (Tony & Margaret) were leaving Gib on Saturday morning and aiming to catch us up in Majorca. It will be nice to get to Majorca and have a rest for a week!
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