Almerimar, Cabo de Gata and Cala Cerrada

We left Caleta de Velez at 1120 on 15 April aiming to sail about 200 miles east to Cartagena, spending a couple of days and nights at sea getting there. There are Force 7 winds from the W and NW forecast for the weekend and so our plan was to get to Cartagena early and enjoy the sights there whilst the strong stuff blew through.

As we left Caleta de Velez the forecast gentle wind from the east had not materialised so it was just as well that we had topped up the fuel tanks for what looked set to be a few hours of motoring. When the wind did come it was barely 7 knots, which was never going to make BV move quickly, and we were faced with the choice of finding a spot to stay overnight or motor for at least the next 12 hours. We decide to head towards the marina in Almerimar where we stopped for the night hoping for some more useful wind in the morning.

Almerimar is a huge marina with over 1000 berths and all of the facilities for yacht repairs and maintenance. It’s a good place to get spare parts because there are a couple of good chandleries, even one run by a some Brits, so is a popular spot for people to overwinter. That said, despite the fact that the marina is surrounded by apartments there seem to be next to nothing to see close by, and most of the flats appeared empty – probably summer homes – so it has the feel of being a concrete micro-world dedicated to the storage and maintenance of yachts.

It was a good stopping point for us though and has low mooring fees too. As justification for giving up sailing (well, motoring) for the day, Nicky calculated that it was much cheaper to stay put in Almerimar than it would cost in diesel to motor overnight. It took nearly an hour to get all of the arrivals and immigration paperwork done but finally, at 2130, we were able to get to our mooring and sort out dinner.

Lunch onboard

We woke up to find fog, the sea glassy and not a breath of wind. Bearing in mind Nicky’s calculations and the forecast of some wind the next day, 16 April was spent in Almerimar. We ran up and down the paseo alongside the long, very straight beach, and confirmed that there really isn’t much to see. So, we spent the rest of the day getting a few bits from the chandlery, editing pictures for this blog and stocking up at the large supermarket.

Almerimar, Spain

Thursday 17 April was departure day. Wind was forecast but from the southeast, so we would need to tack backwards and forwards to progress, but we decided that a sailing wind, even a less than ideal one, was not to be missed. We left late morning, motored for a couple of hours enjoying the view of the snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains and then started sailing in earnest with, at times, over 20 knots of wind over the deck.

Cabo de Gata

Despite making relatively slow progress east we were having a great sail. It was warm with clear skies and a good wind. The waves were small and BV cut through them without losing any speed. Fantastic!

We tacked backwards and forwards aiming to get past Cabo de Gata before nightfall. The wind is often accelerated around steep-to headlands such as this one (as it was in this case) so, as a potentially significant obstacle we wanted to get past before it got dark. With the wind direction we had when we first approached Cabo de Gata, we had thought that once past it we would be able to head directly towards Cartagena but the wind does funny things around headlands. We found that despite sailing as close to the wind as we could our zigzags curved around the headland and our destination remained directly into wind.

Overnight we ran 3-hour watches, which allowed me to raid the stash of chocolate whilst Nicky was sleeping (well you have to have something to keep you going in the middle of a night watch). From 0400 the wind started to die and by 0630 the sea was glassy again. But motoring once more had its advantages because the noise attracted a school of dolphins. What a great way to enjoy dawn with a mug of tea and a pain au chocolate in hand!

Arriving off the bay of Cartagena around lunchtime we had no inclination to be busy mooring whilst we should be relaxing and enjoying lunch (and besides the harbour staff would be away at lunch too and so would not be available to allocate us a berth) so Nicky studied the chart. Cala Cerrada lept out as a potential lunchstop just a few miles west of Cartagena, so we headed there. It’s a small enclosed bay with a narrow entrance which reminded us a little of a small Lulworth Cove; perfect for a few hours relaxing over lunchtime. However, despite the heat of the sun we decided against swimming because the sea temperatue is still just 17.5 degees Celcius and all of the divers exploring the bay were wearing full wetsuits.

Cala Cerrada, near Cartagena, Spain