From Cartagena to Gibraltar

We left Cartagena on Monday late morning. We were hoping for a package that was sent to us from Slovenija to arrive by then, but bad weather the week before made so much problems on roads that it didn't come. But after a week in marina we had to move and we arranged with the marina they will forward package to one of the other Spanish marinas where we'll make a stop.

Day was almost sunny, with gentle wind and sailing was nice. Not very fast, Captain wouldn't mind a knot or two more, but I was happy with it. In the evening we were approaching Garrucha, where we wanted to stay for the night. But sailing was such pleasure, that we decided to continue and to either drop anchor in one of the bays along the Eats side of Cabo de Gata or sail through the night to Almerimar. After couple of hours, it was already very dark, we decided to anchor in bay of Agua Amarga (Bitter water). Thanks to the radar and description in our pilot book we managed to stay away of field of mooring buoys with motor boats on them.

Night was not very calm, although there was no wind there were waves and I woke up several times because the boat was rolling from side to side. Captain had no problem with it and slept well. In the morning we finally saw where we were. This is the NE side of the bay.

The rocks were full of remains of bunkers and forts.

And this is the village of Agua Amarga - near Almeria there is also a place called Agua Dulce or Sweet Water.

We sailed towards South and the shore was rocky and wild and surprisingly undeveloped. And the views were much prettier that those of the high apartment blocks.

But we soon noticed that there were dark clouds on the South and we also heard the thunders. It wasn't forecast, on radar picture didn't look like much, and we had to go through anyway.

Wind was changing strength and direction, so for some time we motored and then sailed again, and then motored again. When we reached Cabo de Gata it was still cloudy, but the rain and thunders were gone, but what remained was a nice wind from the East.  So we could sail again.

Cabo de Gata also looks nice and rocky, but the photos would surely look better if taken in sunshine.

Still, the colour of water looked very nice even under clouds. This is the lighthouse on the South point of Cabo de Gata.

In the afternoon, after hours of fast sailing, wind started to die and last miles to Almerimar we had to run engine. We tied to our berth in the marina and in the evening went for a stroll. We still remembered much from the last time we were here 8 years ago. We made plan do some shopping in chandlery and in supermarket the next day.

There were surprisingly big fish swimming in the marina and also some ducks.

Next day Captain climbed on the mast to get the wind instrument that was having problem and brought it to the chandlery for some testing. In the afternoon the diagnosis was that it would be too expensive to get it repaired, so we ordered a new part that would arrive next morning. In the meantime I did some serious shopping in nearby supermarket, it was near enough even for heavy stuff like cartons of milk or beer. In the evening we met the crew of Dream Time and enjoyed a very nice dinner and a beer together.

Next morning the ordered part of wind instrument arrived, I did some more shopping, and then Captain climbed on the mast again to install the part. So it was already noon when we sailed off. The original plan was to sail to Marina Este and check if we could anchor there or go into marina and next day sail to Marina Fenguirola close to Marbella, where we would need to stay a couple of days to get the wind in right direction again to sail to Gibraltar.

There was very little wind and we motored again. We are not so fast under engine as we can be under sail, so we quickly realised that because of our late start we couldn't reach Marina Este in daylight, so it would be difficult to check the anchorages. So after a quick deliberation we decided to take it slow and do an over night sail directly to Gibraltar.

The Costa del sol is full of plastic, under which vegetables grow - they say they produce half of all the vegetables eaten in Europe. But it looks ugly, especially where the plastic comes all the way to the beach.

Most of the day we were motoring, we even stopped the engine to go for a swim in incredibly blue sea. In the evening a dragon fly came to rest on our bimini. I was wandering whatever happened to the five dragon flies that were sailing with us from Sardinia toward Menorca, they were still on the boat when the rain started but after the storm we didn't see them any more. I hope they have sensed the storm and flew away in right time.

The night was calm with very little wind, although both of us did some sailing on our watches. But most of the time we had to motor.

Morning was grey and cloudy, we could hardly see the ships that were sailing near Gibraltar until they were close. But what we could see were many many dolphins, we watched them almost for full two hours.

I think I said this before, some 8 years ago - British territory obviously has to had British weather. And another fun thing - there is a mosque on Cape Europa ( on the right on the photo).

This time we sailed to marina in La Linea on Spanish side. The Gibraltar marinas are a bit cheaper, but pretty full and our friends - Dream Time and Stabo were also in La Linea, so we had to go there as well.

On Friday we took it slow, had a nice afternoon with crew of Stabo and went to bed early. On Saturday we felt lazy as well, so except walking to the nearby chandlery and supermarket to get fresh bread, we stayed on the boat. Luckily we got some company, the crew of Dream Time came by. After a drink with them we had a nice BBQ to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It was a very nice day even though nothing spectacular happened.

On Sunday we walked to Gibraltar. We walked through border crossing and then over the airstrip, which is very unusual. The photo bellow is taken from The Rock in 2013, when we were in Gibraltar for the second time (you can find posts about our first visit in archive to the right under October 2011 and second under June 2013). So La Linea marina is the marina on the right side of the huge wave breaker and the airstrip is below.

I liked this school building, it's outer walls were covered with plants.

There were many pretty flowers...

...and blooming trees in Gibraltar.

North part of The Rock has as many holes as Swiss cheese.

We went to the Morrisons and I was able to get some British things that are not easy to get elsewhere - like lemon curd and ready made custard from carton. We also had a lunch in Morrisons, but we should have chosen some other place like I wanted, food was really not good.

We spent evening in good company again - this time on board of Stabo. Time just flew and before we realised it was past midnight. But it's so rare that we meet another Slovene boat so far from home.

On Monday morning we did some shopping in La Linea. We also stopped for a breakfast in Cafe Imperial and had some churros and papitas - the fried doughy worms that you dunk in hot chocolate. Churros are thinner and crispier and more salty and papitas more oily.

While it was nice, it was sooo oily we couldn't eat it up. We should have just ordered one portion. But then we wouldn't get to try both. Anyway, we were very full until dinner.

Weather was getting sunnier and it looked that wind was also right to leave Gibraltar on Tuesday. We left marina already on Monday afternoon and anchor in bay in front of marina, we thought we migh go for a swim in the sea. But there was still lots of wind and water was not very warm, so we passed. But I managed to go in the water today and it was still not very warm.

Today we checked the weather again and decided to stay two more days, wind would be on the nose and a bit stronger than we thought and Thursday looks like a good day to sail West. We will probably take some fuel tomorrow and check the anchorage in front of Tarifa and if it's too rolly return to anchorage in La Linea. And then we plan on leaving very early in the morning to take advantage of favourable current and sail directly to Rota. So that's our plan. If the wether doesn't change it.