Sharon’s blog 10/10/13 What a month!
For those
of you waiting for a posting, we apologize. We have had really inadequate internet service since Barcelona
and Gibraltar is no better (who would have thought).The past month can best be described as “friends on board”.
Bill and Kayce sailed with us to Barcelona. As they had been there before, they acted as our tour
guides, introducing us to the major sites and some local favorite tapas and paella restaurants. No visit
to Barcelona is complete without a trip to Segrada de Familia, probably the world’s longest overrun on a construction
project. Goudi is credited with the original design although construction will exceed his death by over
100 years. Our British friends, Karen and Victoria, came over just for the weekend (something never before
feasible in our very long distance friendship). Our young friend, Karsten, also came to Barcelona and sailed
with us to Cartagena. Our sailing along the Spanish coast was typical of what we have encountered in the
Med, either no wind or wind right on our nose. We also experienced strong currents against us, significantly
slowing us down. One memorable afternoon we finally found a lovely anchorage with perfect conditions
and few boats. As the day went on more and more boats came in. A small power boat started to anchor way
too close to us, but reluctantly moved when we asked. They immediately came back around and anchored right
on top of us. It was all Karsten and I could do to vend them off as Kim tried to work with the captain
to extract the from our anchor chain. The 6 people on board simply stood there doing nothing but watching!
Later that night, the wind and waves picked up dramatically, forcing us to move into a marina at 11:00 pm.
Karsten’s high school Spanish saved us when he called the security guard and arranged moorage. Kim
and I are ready to be done with cruising in the Med!
The Spanish
coast is a very popular destination for British tourists. We saw everything from the neon lights of the
casinos in Alicante to impressive Roman ruins in Cartagena. After Cartagena, the towns and marinas were pretty empty.
We will both remember our last Spanish port, San Jose. They only had one spot available which required
a very tight turn in a tiny marina. We came in late in the day with wind and a lot of surge.
The Captain described it as a crash landing. The only real casualty was a broken flagpole on the
neighbor’s (somewhat derelict) boat. A heartfelt apology and a 10 Euro tip made it all go away with
a “no problema.”
After an uneventful overnight passage, we happily pulled
into Gibraltar where our friend and experienced GJ crew, Harold, was waiting for us. We have been indulging
in fish and chips and meat pies. We are working hard to get Georgia ready for the upcoming Atlantic crossing
here in Gibraltar where we have boat services available. We are all looking forward to our next stop- Morocco.
(not sure I am going to tell my Mom we are going to Africa!)
S/V Georgia J moored in Marina Bay, Gibraltar
See Bill's amazing pictures below:
