Garrucha to Denia
Posted at 1:27 PM, Sep. 18, 2005
Well after the night on the fuel jetty at Garrucha it was an early start (Pam woke up at about 0500 hrs and said why not leave now – so we did). We had a long mileage day planned to Alicante (about 90 miles) and as sun rise is not until 0815 hrs we had a few hours of darkness as we motor sailed eastwards along the coast. Spectacular sunrise (or that’s what Pam said as everyone else was asleep) but she does have the photo’s to prove it!
This part of the coast is the Costa Blanca so named because the buildings are all white, and it runs from Cabo de Gata, takes in Cabo de Palos, and finishes at Cabo de la Nao all in all about a 300 kilometre stretch of coast. After this there is the Costa del Azahar (Valencia is here) then the Costa Dorada and then the Costa Brava then France! A lot of coast still to explore.
The sail through to Cabo de Palos was characterized by building pressure from astern producing a fresh souwesterly of up to 30 knots as we two sail reached into Alicante at 2000hrs. A long day! The first part of the coast was very rugged, with towns and ports with industrial activity backed by the mountains – no resort hotels in sight. Obviously coastal shipping is a major activity along the whole of the Spanish coast as shipping movements and ports are frequent and plentiful. After rounding Cabo de Palos the coast completely changed – still backed by mountains but with large built up areas and tourist centres.
Alicante was a surprise in that the marina complex was huge, completely surrounded by apartments and restaurants, and there were two separate marina complexes in the one basin. After tying up on the Real Club Nautico pontoon and no-one arrived we moved across to the other marina and walked into the reception which was something like a 5 star Hyatt hotel with marble floors etc. Needless to say the price reflected the quality. The boats there also reflected significant wealth. But the overall place looked great and the marina was dwarfed by the stunning 16th century Castillo (castle) Santa Barbara – I will post a photo on the blog. On the sail from Garrucha during a gybe in 23 knots the main hit both spreader ends (we have previously observed that there were no spreader patches on the main) so after that exercise Jason and I spent an hour or two sewing on patches to repair the cuts where the main had wrapped around the speader caps and been cut. At least when the sail loft do a more professional repair we will end up with real spreader patches.
Saturday 19th the plan was to leave Alicante and sail to Ibiza – forecast was not to good with NE ( and our bearing was 70 degrees mag.) – shame the previous days SW hadn’t continued. Again about a 90 mile sail and after a 0645 hrs start , the normal motor sailing until the pressure started to build as the land warmed up. About 30 miles up the rumbline a gale warning came in on the Navtex but for the four forecast areas immediately to the NE and East. While it was not in our forecast area it was clearly going to affect our weather. About an hour or two later, wind building up to the mid to high 20’s, sea building from the NE and with the residual left over swell from the SW making it pretty uncomfortable and looking like another 12 hours or more sailing I decided to call it a day so we turned left and tight reached the 22 miles across to Denia on the Costa del Azahar. Got in here about 1700 hrs, topped up with diesel and got a berth in one of the two marina complexes. It then stormed and blew hard most of the night so I was pleased that we had made the call to come into Denia. On evaluating our options, and with time constraints the prospect of an unfavourable forecast for Sunday making the 62 mile sail to Ibiza a long sail and then an early start to get the further 60 miles to Palma on Mallorca on Monday and then winterize the boat before a lift out Tuesday morning and then fly out that afternoon to London, we have decided to winter the boat here. When we got in last night the people on a launch a couple of berths along invited us on board for a drink – pouring with rain (the first time for two months). They are an English couple who live here permanently and told us the hard stand was good. I went around this morning, after checking out the Herald website, reading up on the election results (and phoning Jackie Blue who I sit on a board with to congratulate her on her election as a list MP for National), and inspected the facilities and they do look very good – sealed yard, good security and sensible price. So we will lift out tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday morning which gives us today (Sunday) and tomorrow to clean the boat and winterize it – get sails and covers off, do an engine oil change etc. The Spanish Hanse agents have an office here and I will call in and see them tomorrow when they open so hopefully with a combination of them and the English couple we met last night we will have good English speaking contacts here to keep a watchful eye on the boat while we are away.
So that’s it for now and maybe for 2005 – the boat is fantastic and we are loving sailing and living on board. I think Hanse have done a great job with the design and specs generally and it looks stunning in our unbiased view. But at least I think John Allison off Swagman a Hanse 461(also a yachtblog man) and I share the same views – look forward to finally catching up next year John and Sue.
Cheers
Keith