Gib to Garrucha
Posted at 10:23 PM, Sep. 15, 2005
I am writing this on Thursday morning 15th September while under way sailing, on the wind, 20knts true, one reef in the main and the full self tacker doing 8.3 to 8.6 with Jason on the handle bars. Another sunny day, but with a bit of cloud for a change, as we sail across the Gulf of Almeria towards Cabo de Gata which is one of the more difficult cape roundings along this coast in terms of wind funneling - at least that is what other yachties have told us! So we are expecting a bit of a hammering in an hour or so as we come up onto the cape also with an opposing current to slow us down.
Anyway to back up, we left Gib early morning (0500 hrs) on Sunday 11th for a planned passage as far east as we could go without overnighting. We ended up at about 1900 hrs at a small exclusive marina hidden behind rocks and surrounded by apartments at Puerto De La Mona ( Marina Del Este) about 80 miles from Gib. They only had one spare berth and at 24 metres with the related price we headed out again for the port of Motril another 10 miles along the coast. We had an aerial photograph in the Admiralty Pilot and new what to expect – which was a commercial port behind a long breakwater with a small marina at its head. No berths available on the marina but we able to anchor off in the basin which was preferred anyway. The port contained a cement works and also had a lot of sawn timber ashore waiting shipment – which all combined to provide a slightly unpleasant odour.
The Costa del Sol basically runs from Gib to Cabo de Gata and is backed by the Sierra Nevada mountains which makes for spectacular scenery. There are towns and resorts right along the coast but the eye catching sight was the thousands of acres of covered growing areas ( they looked like glass houses but were probably a plastic based covering) which went on for miles. On enquiry we learned that it is on this coast that much of the fresh vegetable crops for northern Europe are grown during the winter months. We have some great photos.
On Monday we dinghied ashore, went into the town which was refreshingly free of tourists (but overall 50 million a year into Spain) and Jason/Emma hired a Smart car for the day and headed off to Grenada to visit the Alhambra Palace. They were going to rejoin us that night further up the coast.
Pam and I had a modest motoring day, leaving Motril after lunch with no wind in sight, in blisteringly hot weather, sunburnt some new skin, and got into the marina at Aguadulce at 1900hrs. Got the last berth in the marina which was surrounded by dozens of restaurants and nightclubs with hotels nearby. Showered and went out for a seafood paella – good evening but Pam reckons her paella is better.
In the meantime Jason and Emma had returned the rental car in Motril but missed the bus to Almeria ( 5 miles from Aguadulce). So we decided to sail on up the coast a further 90 miles to Mazarron the following day and they would bus there to meet up with us again. So on Tuesday morning Pam and I headed across the Gulf of Algeria around Cabo de Gata with 25 to 30 knots on the nose. It was clear it was going to be a slow day day to make the further 60 miles directly upwind to Mazarron. We turned back and anchored a few miles past the cape in a small bay at the town of San Jose. Texted Jason and Emma and told then where we were. Unfortunately the wind got up and up and it got pretty rough in the bay early evening and we could not launch the dinghy - I didn’t want to open the garage door for fear that with the boat rolling up over the chop it would come down onto the door and smash the hydraulic rams. (an interesting design issue). So another night for Jason and Emma this time in San Jose and for Pam and I a night that was reminiscent of Cyclone Bola – I suppose we always have to have a night from hell occasionally!
The following morning we motored along the foreshore near the small marina entrance and a guy brought them out to the boat in an inflatable and we sailed back to Aguadulce in 30 knots but from astern. It blew hard for the rest of the day, we swam, rode the bikes around Aguadulce and waited for the next forecast.
And so this morning with still plenty of pressure but with a forecast indicating 10 knots by late afternoon we headed off upwind. We are now tied up to the fuel wharf in a marina at Garrucha a marina that also houses a port and the max length for boats is 12 metres. We cruised in slowly at 2000hrs and the manager came out as we were about to raft up to another unoccupied boat at the end of a pier. After some discussion we have ended up on the fuel jetty and will leave early in the morning and also at the cheapest marina so far by a long way. And yes we did have a bit of a hammering off the cape 25-30knots and building seas, two reefs and a couple of rolls in on the jib. Plenty of dolphins around the bow in beautiful clear blue water. A few hours later we were motor sailing in a dying breeze but with the left over swell not overly comfortable so rather than do an overnight we took the cheeky option and into Garrucha.
That’s is for now. Tomorrow we hope to make Alicante and then across to Ibiza.
Cheers
Keith