Stormbound in San Jose

San Jose must go on record as being one of the worst, if not the worst mooring we have experienced to date. The wind was howling through the marina, beam on to the boat. Curly was constantly 'snatching' at her ropes as the wind tried to push her onto the concrete quay. We doubled up the ropes on the bows, and put an extra hitch on the slime line onto the other cleat to try and steady things. It all held but made for a very uncomfortable time. The town itself is actually quite nice. No english voices and beautiful views. It is a very popular resort with the spanish. We all went to a restaurant at night for a meal and watch the Spain-Germany game. Good atmosphere, but somewhat let down by my uncooked pork. We complained and they did not charge us for it. Did I say no english voices, we met an english couple in the restaurant that lived there. God, the buggers get everywhere, don't they!!

I was going mad with the berth in the marina and started making plans to get out, which would be tricky. Next morning we got up very early and the wind had dropped slightly. That was our chance. Out and away. We moved up first to a town called Garrucha then on to Aguilas. No, I had never heard of them either, but they are both quite nice. Lovely beaches, where spanish families play until sundown. They have volleyball courts, football pitches and al sorts of other activities going on, on the beaches. Its great. We enjoyed both stops. Berths were ok, loos etc pretty ropey tho'. I bought a 18inch Stilson wrench in a 'chinese shop' for 9.50euros. I was well pleased. They have these chinese shops in loads of the towns. They are like bazaars that stock everything imaginable, and are surprisingly run by chinese people, hence the name they are given by everybody.

We then had a pleasant run up to Cartegena where we had the luxury of an 'alongside' mooring. Oh man that was nice. What a fascinating city this is. Magnificent buildings, but when you get into the back streets some of them are literally hollow shells. The staff at this marina are second to none. Unfortunately it was the last stop for Mick and Julia and this was handy for the airport. One of the marina staff gave them a lift to save the exorbitant taxi fare. Not bad eh ! It was lovely to see Mick and Julia and a little sad to say goodbye, we really enjoyed their company. We met them a couple of years ago on a sailing holiday in Greece and have been friends since. Awesome. We skyped home then watchedSpain win the world cup from the comfort of a restaurant in Cartegena. The town went mad, it sounded like a battle had started with all the firecrackers. We left the following day and moved on to Torrevieja. We did not like this marina although some staff were fine. Its massive and soulless. The pontoons are low and our bow is high. Susan was not a happy bunny walking the plank ( boarding Plank that is ) here. It was more like a playground slide mind. We got some supplies ( mega pricey ) and were at sea at 7.30am the following day. Won't be back there in a hurry. We were hoping to anchor at El Riconet but the sea and wind conspired against us. Towards the end of the afternoon the wind changed and we decided to go around the headland to get into a sheltered anchorage. mmmm......not good. It wa starting to kick up a bit now. we tried anound the headland but it was so deep close in, and the wind gusting strongly that it wa untenable. We pressed on to Javea. I was on the phone to Javea marina when Susan suggested " lets have a look over there ". We got tucked into the corner of Javea bay and dropped the hook. There were a load of day boats there but they upped and left as the sun went down. I was worried about the anchor dragging and set two anchor alarms. It did drag and the alarms went off, but we got through the night, although with very little sleep. We raised a new spanish flag for the Balearics and we set off to Ibiza.