18th June 2024
The Mar Menor is a 12m long by 6m wide inland sea between the port of San Pedro del Pinatar and Cartagena on the Costa Blanca. It is hidden behind a thin strip of sand known as 'La Manga.' The strip has tall hotels and apartment blocks on it, so could easily be missed as you sail down or up the Mediterranean coast of Spain.(We did in 2015!) To be honest, despite being a feat of engineering to build on what is basically a sandbar La Manga looks really weird, like it doesn't belong.
Walking between the buildings from one sea to the other, makes you see just how thin the strip is and how crazy the architects must have been to have even thought it was a good place to build multi story buildings .

It is a popular sailing spot though. The water is shallow and the wind can really whistle across the inland sea. It was once a glorious Crystal clear oasis but they have had trouble in recent years where the eco system has practically been wiped out by all the chemicals used in the surrounding fruit farms. On more than one occasion dead fish have been washed up on the beaches. It is really sad. The Spanish government are making strides to improve the environment and try to bring life back into their sea because at present the main visitors to the Mar Menor are 2 types of jelly fish. One is harmless, the other a stinger, so I was reluctant to swim.

You enter the Mar Menor through a lifting road bridge, which we just managed to catch on our way in but our trip out was less successful as reasons unbeknown to us the bridge did not open on its allotted time, so we spent ages motoring up and down the narrow channel with other boats playing dodge.Bit hairy at times as just for the purpose there was a 2 knot tide tying to push us towards the un opened bridge, just to add to the fun.

We stayed for three nights, two on anchor and one at the marina Thomas Maestro. Not sure who he was, but he seems to have the mooring sussed as during our time at anchor we barely saw another boat, just kids on Kayaks and of course loads and loads of jelly fish. The price to moor there is ridiculously cheap for a year compared to Valencia but it wasn't really for us. The little towns, villages on the mainland side of the inland sea were very run down and like ghost towns and the touristy bit on La Manga strip just too crowded and concrete. That said, the swim on the Med side was wonderful, oh and did I forget to mention ...? On the way here we spotted dolphins hanging around the fish farms and they came to play on our bow which was awesome! The thrill never fades.

Tomorrow we are heading back to Las Dunas to further explore the area as there is a possibility of mooring Patience there full time in the future. When we have exhausted València of course ... if that is even possible?