Setting off from Calpe we expected to motor sail most of the way to Alicante as the wind was forecast only 10 - 12 knots off our bow. Ha! After motoring against 8 - 10 knot head winds, the wind picked up and then we were sailing - quickly! The wind was variable - one minute over 20 knots, the next min we were struggling to sail. After sailing in 25 knots we were suddenly hit with gusts of 30 knots, and because we were not reefed, it stripped the outside covering on the main halyard. We could not put the main up properly or pull it down in 25 knot winds! Not good. We decided to seek shelter and headed for Campello marina, N of Alicante.

Once there we managed to sort out the halyard, and get the main down. That was when we discovered (fresh) water in the starboard bilge, so spent the next couple of hours mopping that out! Dinner at 10 pm and flopped exhausted into bed. A cause for celebration though - we crossed into the "west" today! (Check the map manager.)

Next day we walked to the chandlery and bought a new halyard $$$ and spent the afternoon re-fitting it. A successful day after yesterday's disaster. Oh well, it's only money so they say.

There is an ancient town next to the marina - La Illeta dels Banyets - inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC and occupied by Iberians, and abandoned, taken over by the Romans who built hot baths, and cut fish hatcheries in the rocks which can still be seen today. The Moors occupied it in the 11th century. It's a popular swimming spot today.