Day 95 - Oropesa-San Carlos de La Rapita

Our trip from Oropesa to San Carlos de La Rapita started off for the fourth day on the nose but not hindering the speed to much but keeping us under 5knts!! I did have a whinge about the wind as it has been a consistent wind speed but in the bloody wrong direction and I said we must get some wind that will help us one day!! At 14.35pm the wind shifted a little more East and we where able to sail, engine switched off and I got to sail close hauled for two hours, happy days, my wish came true. It was so nice to sail and sailing close hauled is the sailing position I like to sail in the most. We had about 20kn miles to go and it was good to turn engine off and sail, we managed to sail the rest of the way until the approach to San Carlos, it is quite shallow in parts so turned engine on 5kn miles out. The skipper was happy, I was happy and Artemis got to do her stuff under sail, she does sail very well even with me at the helm. It is home time for the fishing boats, I got caught up in them yesterday and they are bloody rude stick to their path and won't budge so you have to avoid them. Yesterday there was about 10 heading home crossing my path today it was not as bad as I was heading to the same harbour as them. There is a lagoon just past the harbour at San Carlos called "Pureto De Los Alfaques" looks a nice sailing area but shallow in parts. The area around the town is very green and has some mountains behind the town, not flat like the rest of this coast.

We arrived 1730pm in good time to explore the town it was right beside the marina. The town was quite nice not touristy with loads of hotels just like a normal Spanish town, we haven't seen one of them for ages, no tourists, no English breakfast just locals. We wandered around in search for a supermarche, then after buying the essentials stopped off in a bar just in front of marina and had a cool beer. It is just nice to get off the boat stretch your legs and sit in a bar and listen to the locals chat, they are very like the Cypriots don't stop for a breath. This is a nice place we choose to go into the "Club Nautico" marina instead of the new marina here that has 1000 spaces with pontoons as it was further from the town.

Berthing 30.39euros (£29.86) - free showers and free Internet

Day 96 - San Carlos de La Rapita- Hospitalet de L'Infant

Our trip from San Carlos de La Rapita Hospitalet de L'Infant was a bit of a bumpy start, there seemed to be a bit of a swell around it was rocking and rolling for most of the morning, not a lot of wind around just enough to keep the boat speed up. It was a nice sunny day, but on the horizon I counted 16 fishing boats all trawling the bottom of the sea bed, there must be nothing left out there each morning, each different place that's all you can see fishing boats. Later on when we changed direction heading more North, we put out the genoa, speed not enough to sail but we motor sailed quite comfortably. Wind came around from NE to E, but still not much strength there. We never seem to have it both ways, in right direction and a bit more strength. We did good time arrived at Hospitalet de L'Infant at 1625pm average 5kn miles per hour.

The marina berthing was poles, first time for the both of us. It looked a narrow entrance, think there was only 6 inches if that clearance on either side of Artemis. We got in safely no dramas, not too bad and nobody came to assist us, even though they charged 66.87euros for the privilege of staying here. When we are arrived we both thought it was very quite, it was quite because it was a residential area all around, we wandered around and found the town, it was set back from the marina about 10minutes walk. The town was wasn't near the marina/beach so wasn't touristy and we found a large supermarche. At the beach and marina area there was bars/restaurants but not a lot of people around we think it is the time of year summer season over. It looks like a posh area some of the houses very big, also on the map there seemed to be lots of walks all around the area. The cost of the berthing was not worth it, no help, cold showers and not a lot around to do. They did tell us the price before filling in the forms, we should have carried on but it seems this part of Spain the charging band is what they want to charge, from 22e's, 30e's then 66e's so you just have to wait and see. We drowned our sorrows after having a lovely dinner of roasted lamb ribs and Neville's crunchy chips he does make lovely chips and a few glasses of wine listening to music.

Berthing 66.87euros (£56.66) - free showers (cold) no internet and charging extra for electric and water not just small amount 8euros it was a bloody rip off.

Day 97 - Hospitalet de L'Infant - Coma-Ruga

Our trip from Hospitalet de L'Infant to Coma-Ruga was a windless day the forecast was to be SE4 in afternoon with possible rain but that didn't happen. It was a shortish trip 31kn miles, we put the main up and motor sailed the speed was reasonable averaged 5kns so can't complain but it was cloudy the whole trip no sunshine at all today it reminded me of England grey clouds everywhere. We had planned to stop at Roda de Bara a new marina, arrived there it was empty only half dozen boats around. The office was open as I seen people going in, but no one came out and as it looked to be quite a bit outside the town so we decided not to stay and go to a small marina just 2kn miles further. The depths at this marina where low only 2 - 2 ½ metres, but skipper said it would be fine and it was. This place looked interesting; it looked on the chart you could go in one end and out the other. It was built at the end of a pier/road like a T shape but you couldn't go straight through, luckily for us there was one space on the side we entered, it was very small. The staff where very friendly when asked about a berth the guy said "No problem". There was a bar/restaurant in the corner of marina, with table and chairs set on top of the sea wall looking out to sea. It would be lovely to sit there and watch the boats go by but it was still not very sunny. We did get the rain they promised, but later on in the evening when the heavens opened and it rained quite a bit in the night. That's the way we like it then we don't get wet.

After doing all our chores and showering we checked out the bar which was less than 50yards away from Artemis, there was a couple of people in there, we were the only visitors, then we went for a walk up to the town. It was a lovely little place with lots of people around again, this looked like a town where the Spanish come for there holidays. The marina is a lovely place and how it is set out is the strangest one we have been in so far.


Berthing 45euros (£38.13) - free showers and internet

Day 98 - Coma-Ruga - Barcelona

Our trip from Coma Ruga to Barcelona, wind forecast not much N1-2 in the morning turning SE2-3 in afternoon. There was a little of wind around in the morning but there was a swell, so what power we got was lost. We kept the main sail up, but not enough wind to fill the genoa. It was rocking and rolling but it was a sunny day so I managed on my shift, to sit in the sun and do a little sun bathing. At 1pm the wind picked up turning East Neville got some sailing but it didn't last long 30mins. On the approach to Barcelona there were loads of planes leaving the airport every 5mins, they where taking off it reminded us of Heathrow. The wind picked up as forecast but it ended up SE3 gusting 4 always when we are arriving at somewhere. The entrance to Barcelona port was not easy to pick out, the green light had been vandalised by kids i.e. painted over and the red was not easy to identify either but there was a sailing boat trying to come out and with the swell and wind gusting it was not making much progress so we guessed the entrance was over there. It is so nice when you come in behind the breakwater wall for it to be calm no more wind. First thoughts of Barcelona is it is big city, 4-5 cruise ships on our left as we entered the port it looks a very large place.

We had tried to phone the marina before our arrival on VHF but it was bad reception and they didn't understand English we didn't make much progress. When we arrived at the fuel pontoon/arrivals the guy came out, he said the office is closed and doesn't know why and he doesn't think there is any room they are overbooked, but said we could stay here overnight, sounds like a well organised place. Half an hour later another guy came and he had found us a space (there was empty spaces all over the place). We where down with the live aboard boats or water gypsies as Neville calls them and hire boats. All the larger yachts and motor boats where up the posh end, with very big motor boats like hotels one even had a helicopter on board. We where in the corner and behind us was a boat/restaurant about 20ft from Artemis and to our left was the marina wall with hundreds of tourists walking past, taking pictures. We where shocked at the noise and crowds as we have been used to quite little places but we just get used to it. The marina has very good security, 24hrs with a security hut at both entrances. We where surprised at the price 36.34euros cheaper that some of the smaller marinas on "Costa a fortune" coast so we where pleasantly surprised. The girl at the office was a very friendly and spoke very good English and was very pretty.

Berthing 36.34euros (£30.79) - free showers and internet


Day 99 - Barcelona rest day 34th Wedding Anniversary

Saturday the 25th September our 34th wedding anniversary in Barcelona and we decided to have the day off and explore Barcelona. It started with me having a lie in and extra 2hrs in bed, then a lovely breakfast boiled egg and toast; it doesn't take a lot to please me. When you have been on the go for as long as we have it is nice not to get up and head out and have breakfast on the go, it is nice to sit down at the table and relax and enjoy breakfast and a lovely pot of tea. It was a nice sunny day actually turned out to be a very hot day 28degrees.

We went our walk about with map and explored. Barcelona is a very big city and we only explored the quarter nearest to us "Ciutat Vella" that took us 6hours. We headed towards the Cathedral and the Catalunya area. We walked through loads of little streets finding a Roman wall and the Cathedral was a bit of a disappointment as it was being renovated and you couldn't see much of it. In the square where the cathedral was they had erected a large stage and bands where setting up and practising. This was a nice square with street artists all around, there was an Indian guy all dressed up looked good singing and dancing, face painted with war paint.

We continued walking towards the Catalunya area and it opened up into a large street with all posh hotels and designer shops. We continued to walk up the street and ended up in the bank quarter where all the banks where, well all the bankrupt banks. We come across a square with gardens and another stage set up in the middle with stalls all around the outside, the stalls looked like they all had to do with charities. On the stage they had traditional dancing already started, the outfits where out of this world the colours where bright and they had layers of clothes they must have been sweating. We seen two different types of dancing, first one just girls all ages dancing and the second one was about men and women and it portrayed the men where on the look out for girls, it was quite funny as the girls dominated the men.

It was lovely to see but it was so hot we moved on heading back to the marina down another large street called "La Rambia" this had more shops and in the middle was stalls and more street entertainers the ones that stand like statues, stand still and don't move. There was loads and some of the outfits where fantastic and some scary ones "Lucifer the devil" he was great the children where afraid of him, Charlie Chaplin, a bloke dressed as Marlyn Monro and a gold cowboy who made funny noises the kids loved him. There were loads more all the way down this road.

One of the strange things that they where selling in stalls where animals, birds, guinea pigs, rabbits. They where also selling baby turtles, turpins I think they are called and I know it is illegal to sell them I felt sorry for all the animals. After all this walking we needed lunch and a cool beer and a guy talked us into his restaurant for tapas, it was fast food tapas, 3 dishes 2 glasses Cava for 10 euros. It was a small place and we where tired so we went in and ended up sitting in a balcony seat looking out at everyone going past, it was a good seat watching the world go by. Neville had previously taking pictures of this place, so the pictures show where we had lunch.

After a rest we continued down the street heading home and we come across a very large market called "Mercat de la Boqueria" it sold everything you could ever want to eat, stalls with fish, jambons, choritzo, meat, it even had stalls that specialised only selling "offal". Friut and vegtables stalls, but the best part was they had places to eat selling tapas. We where so disappointed we had just eaten and wanted to buy loads but we can't store too much food on the boat fridge not big enough. It was a lovely market to walk around, we did buy some parma ham in a carton and ate it while we wandered around.

We eventually got to the end of the street and then put our feet up and sat in the cockpit and drank our bubbly to celebrate our anniversary and then had a siesta for an hour before going out to dinner that night.

We went out to dinner somewhere close by as we tired after walking for 5hrs earlier in the day, our meal was lovely I had deep from baby squid I really like it and Neville had steak. The price for meal wasn't too bad but the prices of drinks in the bars are expensive. We went to a bar that had wifi the bar was called "Foc" we only had 4 brandys and it cost 24euros, 6 euros each, they where large ones but it still was not worth that price. It was a lovely day and lovely evening, we both really had a smashing day in Barcelona.


Day 100 - Barcelona - Arenys de Mar

Our trip from Barcelona to Sant Feliu had to be aborted and we ended up going to Arenys de Mar. When we left Barcelona the seas was very lumpy and we found out that night there had been a big blow around the corner in the Golf of Lions so this was the end result. There was some wind around so we put up the sails, to try and make it a more comfortable journey and sail through the swell rather than rocking and rolling. We had a good sail but the wind picked up and it was gusting F5. We sailed for 30minutes and all that wind disappeared to nothing. With no wind and the swell bashing us on the nose it was not a good day, the speed dropping every time we hit a big swell, so that was when the skipper made the decision to go to Areny de Mar. I was suffering big time from a hang over from our celebrations in Barcelona, we had an early start 8am and then got threw around most of the day I was really glad when the skipper made the decision to stop earlier, there is only so much bumping you can take.

We arrived at Arenys de Mar at 1310pm, we where directed to a pontoon, settled in and had lunch then we went for a walk around the town. The town was quite a walk away from marina but it did us good to get off the boat and walk. No many people around and there were a lot of road works in the main high street.

This marina is another Club Nautica Marina, the reception was very nice, very posh. It had a swimming pool and I thought it would be nice to have a dip but it didn't happen, we didn't even visit the yacht club I think the both of us had had enough drink the day before. It also had free washing machine and drier and I even missed out on that. We had dinner and I was a sleep by 8pm, what a waste of a day, never again.

Berthing 46.00euros (£38.98) - free showers and internet


Day 101 - Arenys de Mar - Sant Feliu

Our trip from Arenys de Mar to Sant Feliu was yet another day the weather forecast got it wrong on the nose again. It has been quite chilly since we left Barcelona back to trousers, sweatshirt and jacket with East North East winds on the nose it was a cold day, it was supposed to clear up but the clouds never cleared. We had more fuel problems and the skipper had to sort them out it was not very happy with the weather forecasts useless and then having a fuel problem the skipper was not very happy at all. Arrived 1545pm, nobody around so had to berth on hammer head and headed to the office, got our berth number, pontoons again today so no need for the slim gloves.

We went for a walk to the town we needed to find a super marche for some supplies. It was a nice little town with lots of people around a little touristy but not that big a place. We searched the narrow streets and found a Spar, we got our supplies and then looked for a nice bar to sit and have a beer. There were bar/restaurants at marina, as it was a little outside the town we are now finding that a lot of places are closed for the season unless the marina is closer to the town.

Berthing 53.00euros (£44.92) - free showers and internet

Day 102 - Sant Feliu - Roses

Our trip from Sant Feliu to Roses was another trip we had to end up going somewhere else because of strong winds on the nose again. The forecast was supposed to be NW2-3 but it started off with NW3-4, we had a good sail for 1hr 20mins but it was gusty, gusting F5 at times. The wind changed direction to NNE4-5 gusting F5 on the nose again; we are both really fed up because it seems no matter what direction we go the wind is always on our nose, not with light winds but strong winds. This is the reason we had to change our course again, second time this week. The crew on Artemis are a little cheesed off.

Apart from the wind the coastline from Sant Feliu to Roses was very pretty high cliffs, caves and very green. The bay called "Gulfo de Roses" was just beaches and hotels but it sounds nice. One of the marinas in the bay has canals within it and that was where I thought we where going but it turned out not to be as the skipper thought it would be too posh a place. Roses marina and the town where nice, just like the previous place a little touristy but not to much, the beach here was very nice. We sat in a bar on the beach and had a beer the views from here was very nice. This was to be our last port in Spain it was a nice place and the staff where very friendly.


Berthing 31.89euros (£27.03) - free showers and internet