The Roman Theatre at Cartagena.


I had been enjoying myself in Cartagena lunching most days on beer and tapas in one of the many bars and generally walking around the city taking in all of it´s long and turbulent history. Many of the historic sites have been excavated and are now well presented for the tourist. By showing my EU passport I could get into most of them free of charge. My favourite has always been the Roman Theatre which was found when the old red light area of the city was demolished, much to the dismay of the crews of visiting ships I would imagine.

When Salara finally left Cartagena after just over a week in the marina the weather was forecast to become very unsettled with high winds and rain in a day or so. I had decided I should make an attempt to put some miles under the keel before this occurred so I headed along the coast alternately sailing or motorsailing as the wind allowed. I had intended to do an overnight sail to Almerimar but had a rethink on route and decided that it was too ambitious as we could get caught by weather off Cabo de Gata. Instead I would give myself two easy days anchoring overnight in Aguilas harbour and then doing a short morning`s sail of twelve miles to Garucha were I would hole up until the bad weather had past us by.

It turned out to be a very wise decision for soon after Salara was tied up alongside in the Garucha marina the wind started to blow strongly from the south straight into the harbour entrance and for a few hours Salara was rolling and snatching on her mooring lines. The wind then veered through southwest and west then finally into the northwest and all was quiet again. However thunderstorms were forecast so I decided to stay put and do some engine maintenance as it was time Salara had an oil and filter change I also changed the heat exchanger anode while I was at it. The thunerstorms arrived and were extremely violent with torrential rain. So violent in fact that several people were drowned in flashflooding. My daughter Mandy who had been holidaying near Torrevieja missed her flight to UK due to the roads being impassable.

Eventually after almost a week Salara was able to leave Garucha which over the period of our enforced stay I had grown to like. Again the proposed destination was Almerimar and as Salara motorsailed south along the coast I began to see huge rafts of rubbish and debris which had obviously been washed off the land during the torrential rain that had accompanied the thunderstorms. I did my best to avoid the worst of it but eventually while I was attending to the navigation at the chart table I heard the engine note change as something fouled the propellor. Luckily when I ran the engine astern it threw whatever it was off.

As Salara rounded Cabo de Gata the wind piped up from the east and for an hour she was sailing nicely under mainsail and the poled out genoa on course for Almerimar. Of course it did not last as the wind suddenly died and went into the southwest, I decided at that point that I should steer for the marina at Aguadulce instead. So Salara followed the wind as it veered still further and eventually died altogether when she was about five miles away from the harbour. I dropped the sails and motored in to be allocated a berth bows to the quay close to the control tower and the bars.

At 09.00 hours next day Salara was again putting to sea my plan being to bypass Almerimar altogether if when Salara rounded Ponta del Sabinal conditions were OK to continue to one of the anchorages at Herradura. As it happened the sea was fairly flat and although the breeze was from the west Salara was going well under engine so I decided to continue, it would be a long day. Salara was at anchor at 22.30 hours after an easy approach in the dark. I had cooked and eaten a curry during the early evening so after a last mug of tea and a biscuit I went to bed.

The next morning after eating breakfast I topped up the diesel tank from the cans and lifted the anchor. I hoisted the mainsail as Salara motored out of the bay in a flat calm. Twentyfive minutes later she was charging along under full sail as a sudden squall hit the land from seaward. It did not last long but would surely have ruffled the feathers of the remaining yachts in the anchorage.

Soon Salara was motorsailing again and the sea was getting calmer. At about midday I opened the engine cover to turn the greaser for the sterntube and noticed a lot of oil sloshing about in the engine drip tray so I immediately turned off the engine to investigate. I feared that it might be automatic transmission fluid from the gearbox as I had none on board but thankfully when I dipped a finger in it I knew it was engine oil and I had plenty of that so all I needed to do was find the leak. The level on the dipstick was very low. The first place I checked was the oil filter which I had replaced in Garucha and I was happy to find the leak was from that. I managed to get almost another half a turn to further tighten it and then topped up the engine with almost two litres of fresh oil. I started the engine, checked for a leak and all was OK. Once more Salara was on her way. The sea was calm and there was no wind so I dropped the sails and Salara motored into the anchorage at Fuengirola during the early evening.
I once more checked the oil level on the dipstick and the filter for leaks, all was well however. So the only problem remaining is how to remove almost two litres of oil from the drip tray without making a mess.

Next day I was feeling well rested and well fed as I prepared to lift the anchor and head for the next stop which was to be Gibraltar. Well La Linea really, just over the frontier in Spain.
Again Salara was motorsailing to keep up with my passage plan, I had decided to hug the coast instead of making directly for Europa Point at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar.
I would make use of the south going current that supposedly runs down there. It all went according to plan for a while until at just after midday the current turned against Salara and her speed dropped. Previously I had been so confident that Salara had been sailing under full sail. I turned on the engine and she motorsailed for a while until I decided that I did not want to do a long and arduous day so I altered course for Duquesa Marina which was only four hours away. I had not visited it before and did not know what to expect but as a marinero helped me secure Salara into a berth I was pleasantly surprised. I put the sailcovers on and decided to stay for a couple days on the strength of it.

That evening I went for a walk around the marina complex, as you would expect the yacht basin is surrounded by bars and restaurants serving a variety of food from paella to curry plus the usual collection of bars. There is a small village a short distance away which boasts a castle and yet more bars and restuarants. The place seems to be almost full of wealthy retired UK expats and at the beach bar they were all enjoying reliving their teenage years to 1970 music from a live band.

In the morning I had work to do in the engine compartment, bailing out the spilt oil from the engine drip tray into a seperate container and wiping up any residue. That took most of the morning before I was satisfied that I had removed it all and things were back to normal.

The next morning Salara left the marina for the short trip around Europa Point into Algecirus Bay and the anchorage at La Linea. There was no useful breeze and Salara motored all the way over calm seas which even around Europa Point, Gibraltar, remained calm. I steered her through the anchored shipping making for La Linea which is in the northeast corner of the bay. When I then dropped anchor in five metres of depth during the early afternoon it brought to a close my Mediterranean sailing for this year.