Overnighter to Cartagena, Spain
17 September 2015
A view over Cartagena from the castle
With the weather swinging to the NE we decided it would be the right time to head west to Cartagena on the Spanish coast. It is a 150nm passage and we decided to up anchor late morning which would get us to our destination at a similar time the following day. However when we went to pull the anchor up, it was obvious it was stuck on something and was not coming up no matter what we tried on the surface. Bern would normally have dived on it to see what was going on, but with his recent ear problems diving was out of the question. The decision was made to contact a local dive company. They could dive on the anchor and free it at a staggering price (the cost of a new anchor!!!!) and not till early evening! So Bern thought of finding someone in the anchorage who might help us out for half the price of the Dive Company and still come ‘out on top’. He didn’t have to go far. An Italian guy on a cruiser next to us was happy to help us out. He tried a few things first using his dinghy which we knew wouldn’t work, but the subtleties get lost in translation, when you don’t speak the same language. We were thrilled when he put on his dive suit and tank and was prepared to have another go! Within a few minutes of his first dive he came up and told us to start hauling up the chain. Bingo! Up came the anchor. Judging from the diver’s sign language we think the chain was wrapped around a large rock. As further evidence the pointy end of the anchor is now a little warped, as if it has had a decent work over.
By late afternoon we finally headed out of Cala Talamanca Bay, Ibiza just five hours later than expected, but confident we would still make Cartagena by late the next day. As we motor sailed past Formantera Island the wind started to increase from astern, as did the seas which at times hit us beam on, as well as from behind. There wasn’t enough wind to carry the main in the confused seas without the boom slamming around, so on night fall the main was dropped and the jib poled out and we motored sailed with that configuration for most of the way. It was a fast downwind ride with large waves and a favourable current pushing us forward towards Catragena. By late morning the following day we spotted the coast of Spain and by mid afternoon approx 22 hours after we had left Ibiza, we had arrived at our destination and tied up in the marina at Yacht Port Cartagena. The cork on the customary bottle of champers to celebrate arriving at a new port and a new coastline was popped and went down extremely well. A good night’s sleep was had by all that night!
We thoroughly enjoyed the city of Carthagena. Someone has put a good deal of thought into the planning and lay out of the city. The generous marble walkways, plazas and architecture are extremely interesting and well maintained. While we were there it was Fiesta week celebrating the historical battles of the Punic Wars between the Romans and Carthagnians that occurred between 300-200BC. The re-enactments of the various battles takes place over ten days, so there were many people walking around day and night dressed up like Romans and their adversaries. Each night a different story of the battle was played out on a stage not far from the marina. Some nights there were fireworks to finish off the evening. As well, we enjoyed the various museums and particularly enjoyed visiting the air raid shelters built to shelter the locals during the Spanish Civil war during the late 1930’s. Cartagena was a ‘hotbed’ for the Republicans fighting against Franco and his army and thus a prime target for the bombings that took place. During our stay here we enjoyed great tapas 1.80 Euro for a lovely glass of wine and a dish of tasty and quite substantial serves of nibbles. The large natural port at Cartagena has been a naval base for hundreds of years and has been building naval vessels and submarines. Many of the hills around the city have the remains of fortifications. We had a memorable five days here and could easily have stayed longer.