Valencia

We are now settled in Valencia for the next 3 weeks. Both Jan and I have to go back to the UK for a few days and the marina here is relatively cheap (at least in comparison with the Balearics); the city is fun; and flights to the UK are not expensive. 

So far we have only had a brief look at the city but it looks really exciting. There is some amazing architecture and the river through the centre of the city has been converted to a park.  

I went to the aquarium yesterday, which is very interesting and well worth a visit if you come here. The tanks are huge, the variety of fish is really extensive and the explanations are in English as well as Spanish and just about the right length! One particular highlight was watching the staff in diving suits inside the tanks feeding the fish, including their several octopuses, by hand.

Valencia Aquarium

Sleeping sea-lion

The last week of our stay in Ibiza was great because Miranda came to join us. We were anchored in San Antonio and took a bus trip to lunch at a great restaurant in Eivissa, Sa Vida. I had to give it 5* on Trip Advisor,...great food and really good value.

From Ibiza we paid a brief visit to Formentera. It was interesting to see Superyacht "A" anchored off the coast there. I am very undecided about that boat, its not pretty but it certainly has a sort of brutal beauty when you see it close-up - I would love to see it sailing in 20 knots!

Superyacht "A"

Formentara was a bit of a shock. We couldn't find anywhere to anchor because they are very protective of their seaweed, so we had to pick up at mooring buoy at a cost of €48 per night which was a bit of an ouch!

From Formentara it was back to Ibiza, where we found a great anchorage in the bay next door to Eivissa. There was a nice handy dinghy dock and though it was a bit of a walk into the city centre I wish we had found it earlier, Eivissa is a great town and much nicer that San Antonio where we had been anchored for most of our stay in Ibiza.

For Miranda's last night we went out for the night in Eivissa where it was good to find Solomun putting on a free DJ set by the waterfront in the marina. 

Ready for a night out in Eivissa....

I hadn't heard of him before but Miranda is a fan and was very excited by the prospect. If you like dance I would recommend you check him out on Spotify - he's excellent! 

Solomun by the waterfront

Did I mention that the generator failed AGAIN! The engineer we used to fit the new water pump in Palma had told us that a part (the drive wheel pulley) was old and worn so needed replacement, so we had expected the fault - but it meant that staying on anchor was difficult so from Eivissa we moved directly to Valencia. Once we arrived in Valencia a local engineer we found then explained that the problem was not with the part, but with the fitting of the water pump. Do not use Mike Parkin in Palma for any work - he is expensive and not very good!

 Anyway, we are now here for a while. as you can see from the photos it looks like a fun place, I will update you soon.....

A lot has happened...

Apologies that we haven't posted anything for a while, but we have been busy! When we last updated the blog we were in Denia and since then we have crossed to the Balearics, which is where we are at the moment. I was a bit hesitant about coming here because I had heard some scary stories about the mooring fees, but Jan wanted to clubbing so we decided to check it out and I am glad we did.

The stories I had heard about the mooring fees were true - the prices here are truly shocking!!! It would have cost us over €300 per night for a spot in Puerto de Ibiza, but fortunately there is a really nice secure anchorage in San Antoni so we decided to stay there. Our arrival there was complicated somewhat by the fact that we couldn't start the engine - the battery was flat. This was more than a bit of an inconvenience, because the anchorage was really crowded (with the other normal mortals who couldn't afford the marina fees) and it was blowing 20 knots so I wasn't keen on the prospect of anchoring under sail. Fortunately we had just enough juice to start the generator so we used the gennie to charge the batteries until we could start the engine. Note to self,....check battery voltage more regularly and don't allow them to get so low again.

Anchored in the bay at San Antoni

We had been told that you shouldn't be in San Antoni if you are over 30 years old and that is pretty much correct - it is wall-to wall nightclubs and bars, but even though we are a little over the age limit we still enjoy dancing and for Jan's 63rd birthday present I had bought tickets for Sister Bliss at Eden. 

The club didn't open until midnight, which is well past our normal bedtime, but Sister Bliss is one of the founding members of Faithless and Eden is one of the big clubs there - we had a great night out and no-one teased us for being over the age limit. That's one of the things i really like about clubs outside the UK, they aren't ageist and don't have the same level of "face-control" as UK nightclubs, everyone is allowed in as long as they want to have fun.

The following day our son Ed and his friend Ru from Uni flew in for a week's holiday. They of course were determined to go clubbing, so they dragged us (kicking & screaming) to Pikes for another night of dancing. Apparently Pikes is one of the hottest tickets in Ibiza so we felt honoured to be allowed in and surprise, surprise,......Sister Bliss was doing an impromptu set there - she was excellent!!! 

After a day of recovery we set sail for Palma in Mallorca, stopping off at a few quiet anchorages en route to allow the lads the opportunity for some swimming and snorkelling.

Palma is a great city and the marinas there are amazing.....I have never ever seen so much money and such a collection of huge yachts concentrated in one location! 

One of the yacht owner's runabouts....

The masts on most of them were so tall that they had red lights on top to give warning to low-flying aeroplanes. We felt like tramps in our rather modest 15m boat.

Palma Cathedral

We stayed in Palma for a week because I had to briefly fly back to the UK and because we had yet more maintenance problems - this time with the generator. Also our friend Jenny came out for a week of R&R. The generator required a new pump so we had that fitted and we sailed clockwise round the island to a very nice spot, Puerto Soller - where the generator failed again. 

The beachfront and tram in Puerto Soller

Since the mooring fees here are so cripplingly expensive we have been trying to anchor whenever possible and when we are on anchor we need the generator for a variety of functions, the most important of which we now know is to charge the batteries. So it was back to Palma to try and get it repaired again. After the 2nd repair we had a leisurely cruise - this time anti-clockwise, round the island to Porto Columb, where the generator failed for the 3rd time. Back to Palma once again...... 

A nice anchorage in Mallorca

Well, we left Mallorca this morning and we are now in Ibiza again. Our daughter Miranda is over here for the weekend on a work jolly and we are meeting her for a few days next week. So far the latest repair to the generator has held up, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is now OK. We will report back with an update next week......

Stuff happens when you aren't at work!

I was just saying to Greg yesterday, ‘I can’t believe all of these mad things that keep happening; is it just a matter of coincidence that we happen to be here?’ …..and then on further reflection I realised that I have spent 41 years of my life at work, mainly indoors, mainly in the same buildings with the same people for years at a time and when unusual ‘events’ tended to happen they have been mainly on the way to work and back on places like the M25 or sometimes at weekends.  In other words more things definitely happen when you are out and about…… and we are permanently ‘out and about’ at the moment.

So there have been a few more moments of drama since our last blog.

In the end after falling down the stairs again I had to go to the hospital.  I had three massive bruises on the bottom three ribs on my back and the muscles were in spasm.  I couldn’t laugh, breathe in, sigh (an essential function when sharing a small space 24/7!), sit or stand up without aid or turn over in bed.  It was agony and I thought they were probably cracked.  The problem with being on a boat with just two of us means you still have to function and it’s very physical, so I was really struggling. 

The hospital experience was interesting.  I left Greg on the boat and got a taxi to the Santa Lucia Hospital in Cartagena.  No-one spoke English on reception but they found someone who took my E111 card and passport and after filling in a short form I got given a ticket with a number on it and told to watch for it on the screen in the waiting area.  I wasn’t holding out much hope because there were crowds of people in there, so I got out my book and prepared for a long wait.  

I had only read one page when my number came up! Off to triage.  No one spoke English but luckily I had got out the Spanish-English dictionary before I went and had written down a list of words in Spanish…fall, ribs, cracked? muscle spasms, pain, bruising etc… and I took a picture on my phone of the steps and the wooden frame that I had hit. In retrospect this really helped to ensure they were clear about what had happened.

I was moved into the next waiting area to see the doctor. Even more people in here so I got my book out again.  Observing the screen I realised that there were 21 consulting rooms!  The numbers came up thick and fast and within a few minutes I was in with the doctor.  Back into the waiting area and within minutes I was called to Xray and then back to the doctor for the good news - no fractures, just massive bruising and torn muscles.  Prescription for 2 types of pain killers, muscle relaxant tablets and cream dispensed for less than 7 Euros. 

The whole experience was well staffed, smooth, fast, high-tech and very different to anything I have previously experienced at Wexham Park A&E in Slough!  Presumably all of this will be very different after Brexit.....

We loved Cartagena.  We went for the cheaper marina which didn’t have any security but did mean that we were moored alongside the promenade right in the centre of the town.  We only had one incident, when some clubbers on their way home at 7am decided it would be nice to have a photo on our boat! You can probably understand why they screamed and ran when Greg suddenly shot his head out of our bedroom hatch shouting ‘Get off my boat!’ 

We made a tour of the Underwater Archeology Museum and discovered that the history of Cartagena was fascinating, dating back to pre-Roman times.

A historical anchor seen in the Underwater Archaeology Museum in Cartagena....good muscles required then!

Some of the recovered treasures display in the museum

Whilst we were visiting the Roman remains in Cartagena we spotted the massive racing yacht Rambler 88 arriving into port.  It turned out it was on its way from the Fastnet to its next race in Malta.  It is a beast of a boat and Greg hotfooted it down to see it moor alongside the promenade near to us. It drew quite a crowd for the rest of the evening.

Rambler 88 arriving in Cartagena

The Roman coliseum and bull-ring

Our next stop was Alicante.  We had hoped to anchor because the marina charges in August are eye-watering and seem to be increasing.  In the end it was not really possible so we asked for a berth in the sailing club which was a mere €60 per night compared to the €86 in the commercial marina.  This turned out to be a good decision because we got to use all of the club's very posh facilities.

A glass of wine in Alicante Yacht Club

Alicante night-life,....it's 2.00 in the morning!

Great tiles, but a bit disconcerting after a few drinks!

Moving further north the marina charges have become ridiculous…over €90 in Marina Greenwich, so out search for safe anchorage intensified.  

We passed Benidorm which interestingly seems to be reinventing itself as a place not only with massive overdevelopment of apartment blocks but by adding really interesting shaped skyscrapers giving it the look of a futuristic city as we approached from the sea.

21st Century cityscape in Benidorm

A scene from Bladerunner!

After rejecting a few rocky and jellyfish riddled anchorages, luckily we have found a brilliant spot in Calpe just outside the marina, but protected by the mole and surrounding rocks and buildings. 

Not a good spot for swimming, this one looks painful!

We have been here for three days and can recommend this as a good spot. We would return to here. The town is pleasant, there are plenty of shops and restaurants and we managed the challenging climb up and down the rock!

The view from the top!

The climb wasn't easy.....

In spite of the bad back!

Returning to my original theme of events happening when you are out and about….as we came down the rock we could see a boat being dashed on the rocks below with people on it. It was very distressing.  We watched the rescue and saw the badly shaken crew as they sadly made their way off the rocks into the town whilst their boat was towed away behind the lifeboat. A reminder that things can go wrong very quickly at sea even on a sunny and apparently benign day! 

How did they get there?

The lifeboat finally towed them free.....

We are now looking forward to meeting up with our son Ed and his friend in Ibiza.  Greg rang ahead to check the marina charges €350 per night!!!!!!!!!  We will be seeking anchorages there for sure. 

Everything works!

We haven't moved very far since our last post, we are now in Cartagena which is only about 120 miles from Almerimar. We ended up staying just over 2 weeks in Almerimar, which is the longest we have stayed anywhere but as Jan explained in our last post, the duration of our stay wasn't because of the attractions of the resort. 

At first we were waiting for some spares for our water maker to be sent over from the UK, then after the parts had arrived and we were planning to leave the weather forecast was for strong winds from the East - and since we were planning to head East and banging into 25 knot headwinds is a long way from being fun, we decided to delay departure until the forecast was a little more favourable.  We left on Tuesday morning and the forecast was for light Southerly winds so we were expecting to motor all the way in flat seas, but as it transpired the forecast was completely wrong and we ended up with 20 knot Easterlies. I have to say that the 60 mile passage was not enjoyable, but nothing broke and we arrived at Garrucha in the end that evening.

One benefit of our extended stay in Almerimar was that we made a trip to Almeria. We didn't know anything about it before we arrived but we paid a visit to the castle and discovered that it had been used as a set for Game of Thrones and a number of other movies. Jan is a bit of a GoT fan so as you can imagine she was ecstatic!

Some GoT scenery

The pond at Highgarden

From Garrucha we made our way here to Cartagena and this time the forecast was a little more accurate. The winds were light and the sea was calm so we decided to try flying our asymmetric spinnaker. We inherited 2 spinnakers with the boat, they are very useful when going downwind in light airs - and we had previously tried the conventional spinnaker but not the asymmetric, so it was good to be able to test it out in fairly benign conditions. The benefit of the asymmetric spinnaker is that it is much easier to use because you don't need to use the spinnaker pole and this was quite important because we had a complication in that Jan was unable to assist me. Whilst we were in Almerimar Jan suffered an injury. She fell down the stairs in the saloon - I think some alcohol may have been involved, and hurt her ribs very badly; we feared they might be broken. Well I'm pleased to report that after a precautionary visit to the hospital we discovered that Jan's ribs weren't broken but only badly bruised. I'm also pleased to report that there were no problems with the spinnaker (and we discovered that it is very big!). 

  

Although we waited a week for parts for the water maker in Almerimar the engineer there still had not managed to get it working. He was talking about ordering some more parts for it and we decided that we couldn't bear to wait there any longer and needed to move on.  Cartagena is a nice city and has the added benefit that we have discovered Juan-Pedro, who is a wonderful engineer. We asked him to fix the water-maker for us, which he did in about an hour and without requiring any extra parts. Whilst he was doing that he casually and without being requested tightened up our engine fan belt so we decided to ask him to look at some of the other problems that had been plaguing us. Well he has now replaced our automatic bilge pump, fixed the washing machine that we had thought required replacement, improved the efficiency of the fridge and mended the cabin lights. For the first time since we have owned the boat absolutely everything works, and if you know anything about boats you will know how rare that is! I am sure it won't last for long, but we have kept Juan-Pedro's phone number and e-mail and we will be making a special trip back here in a few months specifically to meet him and get the next batch of repairs done. Until then we are enjoying chilling in Cartagena - happy days!

    

Holed up in Almerimar

What a difference a few days can make.  Last week we were relaxing, wining and dining at glamorous Nikki Beach Marbella with my brother Andrew and sister-in-law Wendy; now we are holed up in a ‘post-apocalyptic’ holiday resort waiting for spare parts for the water-maker and the air-conditioning to arrive from the UK. 

Greg captures all the best sights at Nikki Beach

I’m thinking of sending in a review of Almerimar to Trip Advisor informing them that the top place to visit in this resort is the Mercadona Supermarket. It has an excellent fresh fish counter, lots of different products in the freezer providing me with hours of interesting browsing....and ferocious air conditioning. Given that the temperature outside has been in the high 30s all week with punishing sunshine, you can probably see why it’s an attractive option; particularly as there is not much else to do unless you want to fry on a very gravelly beach.

The No.1 place to visit in Almerimar!

Almerimar suffers from two major problems as far as we can see.  Firstly the port has not fulfilled its potential. It was designed in an attractive layout with numerous waterside apartment blocks overlooking the three basin marina. One basin is quite lively, with more businesses and open restaurants making it more attractive. 

The busier basin

Sadly it appears the timing of the building in the central basin was affected badly by the crash and not a single apartment seems to have been sold and only one commercial unit is let.  The area is becoming neglected and littered.  

Not a single apartment or retail unit is let in this marina side development

Secondly the whole surrounding area is covered in plastic polytunnels.  Look at this picture from google earth. 

Google Earth picture of Almerimar and surrounding area

We cycled into the plastic zone. It is surreal.  There are no people to be seen for miles and miles.  On the days when the wind blows from the land to the sea, there is a strong "eau de fertiliser" in the air and when it blows from the sea to the land, everything is dusted in red desert sand from Africa. 

Approaching Almerimar from the sea, the plastic seemed endless..

The beaches are a bit quiet

The plastic doesn't enhance the view of the landscape!

Staying here for a few days has led us to observe with interest how the economy and individual businesses are trying to survive. Many restaurants and shops have closed down and the beaches are very sparsely occupied compared to everywhere else we have been to so far.  The surviving restaurants in the port seem to have entered into a scheme which we are marvelling at - and speculating on its potential for longevity. Basically, if you buy a drink ……you get a free meal.  

It’s called ‘beer and tapas’ but we have assumed that whoever started giving free tapas to gain customers, started a trend and the only way to retain customers was then to increase the size of the tapas.  So you go in and order your drinks……..lets say a beer and a cider…….then  you choose your tapas from an extensive free menu.  It includes typical things like battered squid rings and salad but also a full plate of hamburger and chips!  No-one is ordering any food they need to pay for and after a couple of drinks there is no need to eat anything else anywhere else! Then repeat the next day! The one restaurant not doing it hasn’t had a single customer since we got here.

Good tapas portions at El Tunel attracts a crowd

They haven't seen a customer all week

We cycled the whole length of the very long esplanade and noticed that one or two beachside restaurants were absolutely packed and others were empty. We tried to get a table at La Tita but it was only possible with a booking so we booked for the next day and decided to try the very empty Michaelangelo.  Having experienced both it was clear that the Michaelangelo is in dire need of a visit from Gordon Ramsay. With that view, location and size it should have been packed.  Sadly neither the food or service would make us return. They even forgot to charge us for our bottle of wine.  Greg pointed it out to the waiter...it was probably their entire profits for the day in the peak week of the season!

Empty for a reason......

Finally got a table in this popular restaurant for our Wedding Anniversary

The council is trying to woo people back here.  This week there has been a Pirate theme.  This has included a Pirate Market which involved about 10 very sad stalls in a back street, selling not a lot and nothing very piratical.   Greg tried to help the economy when he spotted a pirate bandana and tried it on - but sadly it was for a baby (or a dog) and looked ridiculous! 

Then there was the Pirate Event and Parade. Cars were warned not to park and many were towed away.  Our expectations were high….possibly not on the scale of Notting Hill Carnival but certainly we hoped for more than 12 people dressed as pirates with a few people playing in a band behind them.  They stopped at various points during the ‘parade’ and 2 girls danced about with some golden material, two boys did a few somersaults (only one was actually any good) and then there was some half-hearted play fighting by two men dressed as pirates.

 Hoards of people had turned out from far and wide to attend the event and for a while the place seemed as packed out as other resorts.  Most people looked very bemused and rather bored, but clearly it was all being filmed for a promotional video which will doubtless look exciting if carefully edited. 

The good news about being stuck here is that Greg has had a chance to observe the weather and finally the conditions have been suitable for him to get his paramotor out of the front cabin and take to the skies.  As the unskilled member of the team, I get to carry heavy things round to the beach and wait around in the heat to make sure the bags don’t get stolen until he lands again.  

It was all going swimmingly to start with…..

but sadly yesterday disaster fell which proved to be both painful and expensive! 

Apologies in advance for the bad language..... 

Fortunately Greg wasn't too badly hurt and although his paramotor was damaged, apparently he anticipated this so has enough spares to rebuild it. However his wing is not flyable at the moment so no more lugging kit for quite a while it appears….  

Hopefully the parts for the air-con and water-maker will arrive on time and Frank the miracle-working engineer will do the repairs tomorrow and we will be off again.  We are eternally optimistic! ☺