15 October 2009, Garrucha, southern Spain
We were very pleased with ourselves for finding a spot out of the swell for the night, just outside the Garrucha marina. The marina's basically a fishing harbour and there was no room for us anyway. It's also a commercial harbour where they load what we think was limestone. Anyway, with the huge breakwater that comes out around the harbour we were able to tuck into a good little spot just at the mouth of the marina but in towards the beach. Had a fantastic night's sleep and all was well til 6.30am. Well, we've been in fishing harbours before when a few fishing boats head out....no...there were 15 of these boats, all leaving the harbour at speed. We had wake coming at us from all angles...cupboard doors and drawers were flying open and things were falling off benches. It didn't last too long and now we were wide awake fortunately because when Ray stuck his head out the door soon after he nearly had a coronary. A huge cargo vessel was being toed in by a couple of tugs and we'd swung right into the centre of the channel. So, we started our motors and Ray moved us stern to the beach out of the way while this huge thing docked on the commercial dock opposite us. By 8am it was all quiet again but Ray had dragged the anchor a bit too close to the beach now so we pulled it up and headed off....felt like I'd been awake for hours. At about 10.30 we stopped in at Puerto Pescaro de Carbonares (fishing port) to pick up some fuel and bread and walk Milo and then headed off again. 7.30pm tonight we dropped the anchor just around the point at Cabo de Gata out the front of a little beach and a settlement of about 5 houses...all modern designs. We all went ashore to give Milo a last run for the night and even in the fading light you could still see the bottom the water was so clear.
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14 October 2009, Aguilas, southern Med Spain
Five times we tried to anchor yesterday afternoon and each time but the last the anchor couldn't get hold. Well after hauling in a large old sail, a black garbage bag, a plastic pipe and a small bush, we finally got hold in the mud. It was pretty sloppy out there yesterday and the rain squalls came through in the latter part of the day so, since we're not in an enormous hurry and the weather is with us, we pulled in after only five hours of travelling. This is a nice enough place though lots of development and a bit short on charm. Except for the fabulous castle/fort up on the hill, that was lit like a Christmas tree last night, and the functioning windmill at the back of town. The central square was really gorgeous with huge trees, a fountain and a bird bath filled with white doves....lovely. A good night last night so we're heading in to the marina for fuel and water and then attempting an eight-hour passage today.
PS ended up at Garrucha where we anchored off in sand just beside the marina
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We had a lovely day's passage today though none of it was sailing with less than 5 knots of wind around. There's a lot of trolling going on and a lot of dive boats around these parts. We gather they're trolling for swordfish since our recent sighting, and we notice they're trolling quite fast and total surface lures that kick up quite a bit of water as they go along. We tried it yesterday too but didn't get any takers. Might put the line out again today. We pulled into Mazarron and, being a public holiday for Colombus' discovery of America, there was only one bar open, run by a pom and a Spaniard, and decorated with lots of Aussie memorabilia they bought on ebay??? How funny. Anyway, we're making tracks further south and east today.
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