Bring on the cruising
Posted at 8:20 AM, May. 12, 2006
Good to be back on Savarna even if it was after about a 40 hour door to door transit time. We arrived back in Denia at 2200 hrs Monday 8 May after being collected from Valencia airport by driver Simon who dropped us virtually at the stern of Savarna. The boat is in good condition and Pam observed it still smells like a new boat as we went below! Karl and Judy had very thoughtfully left some provisions in the galley, a night light on and fridge running so they made us very welcome.
Since arrival it has been very much a case of working to get everything back on/in place so we are ready for sailing again. I have installed the screen and new sound system and the electrician is due Friday to wire in a new converter so we have 12v power to drive it all. Got the bimini, dodger etc back on, installed a new paserelle (a boating platform) which is aluminum and teak – looks pretty good and will avoid the inevitable accident we would otherwise expect to happen as it saves jumping from the stern to the dock. Reinstalled the cockpit electronics etc.
The big job now is to get the mainsail back on and I am anticipating it will take a few hours so that is coming up this morning before the wind gets up. The jib is with the sailmaker getting batterns installed which I had made by North’s in Auckland so all he has to do is the sewing so hopefully that will be finished this week. Would be quite good to have it before we go up to Valencia.
Weather here is pretty average but not cold during the day and no rain so far. I think it will only get better. Generally starts off with 100% cloud cover, cool and windless, clears away to probably about 50% cloud cover and by early afternoon 25 knts SW comes through which then dies on dusk. Temps around 22/23.
View off the stern - this hill has snow on over the winter
The watermaker we bought from San Diego over the internet has arrived at Madrid but we were told yesterday that we have to present the boat at a customs office in Valencia as the goods are bonded as they are supplied duty free and have to be delivered by Customs onto the ship. It appears that we are not going to get around this one so it could be we sail up to Valencia early tomorrow (about 50nm up the coast) see Customs, overnight in Valencia and then back to Denia the following day – Saturday.
Denia is a lovely old Moorish town overlooked by an 11th century castle and backed by a 300 metre rocky hill that glistens in the afternoon sun so it has a nice feel. This section of the coast the Costa Del Azahar seems to be really busy. We are told marina’s are impossible to get other than the odd night, very expensive, the travellift at Denia is booked out until July so any thoughts of tidying up a bit of antifouling, replacing the anode out the window. Will have to replace the anode ourselves with the dive gear we have on board and probably do it out at the Balearics in June.