Cartagena

Only a couple of days after we had had our interaction with the orcas in the Bay of Biscay we had properly met our friends Willem and Marielle (Walk of Life). With them we have cruised the entire French coast in Biscay and a large part of the Northern Spanish coast. Even though there is an age gap of 35-40 years between us, we have become very good friends. We have very similar personalities and similar takes and perspectives on many things. It is so interesting to have experienced how Bart and Willem, but also Marielle and I are so much alike.

At some point we continued our journey while they still had some engine troubles in Laredo (Cantabria, Spain). While we were in the Spanish Ria's we met each other again since the WoL (Walk of Life) took a bit of a detour to spend a couple days with us. Then they continued on at a fast pace to be able to be at the right place at the right time to meet up with family. Since then, we haven't seen each other although we have been in contact with each other ever since. Recently, when we were on the phone with each other they told us that they had decided that their journey will end in Cartagena, where they are staying for the winter. They will sell the WoL and then return to the Netherlands.

We couldn't let them leave without saying goodbye first. One teeny tint detail, they are in Cartagena and we are still in La Linea/Gibraltar. Since our orca interaction we have sailed through the night anymore. We had big plans for sailing longer trips now that we are in the Med, and are almost orca free. So we took the first opportunity we had for a big trip and set off for a 250nm adventure from Gibraltar to Cartagena.

Where we arrived in a very windy and gusty Bay of Biscay, we left in a very calm flat sea kind of condition. After we had rounded the Rock, where we were met with 30 knots of wind, we had a lovely 12 knots downwind kind of situation. This continued all the way into the night. We did a 3 hours on and 3 hours off schedule starting at 9 pm. Bart usually starts on watch since I get tired sooner. Our first night watches, we still felt a bit nervous to be sailing through the night again. Especially for Bart, during who's watch we were still in an area where there have been orca sighting even tough there have been very few and a long time ago.

At 10pm Bart told me to be alert, no orcas this time, but because a very fast boat without navigation lights was circling around us. A bit later he told me to get out of bed since Customs was about to board our Nimrod. From a rib three many in very black outfits boarded us an while Bart was going through the paperwork outside, while we were still sailing, I showed one of them around inside and answered questions like if we had any drugs on board. He opened a bunch of cabinets and pulled a few plates from the floor before he was satisfied and we joined the others outside. Apparently sailboats coming from La Linea, due to the vicinity to Morocco, and especially at night are very "hot". The men became nicer every 15 minutes. At some point I was talking with one of them about Isabel Allende because I thought he liked my Spanish name but I think he was Hebrew and liked the name Nimrod😂. Oh well, it broke the ice. After quite a while they left and boarded their rib again. It was just the two of us again.

The rest of the trip went pretty smooth. We had to seek the wind a couple of times and ended up sailing and motoring 50-50. When the wind was there we had a very nice 10-15 knots from behind. As the hours passed we got back in the sailing rhythm better and better. On the second morning when we were barely making any speed we took some time to take a dip into the water and have a shower on board. A few hours later the wind picked up and we were able to sail almost the entire way till Cartagena.

The last couple of hours were during my watch. It had been a very beautiful and clear night but it started to get wetter and wetter. And I could see fewer and fewer starts until I looked up from my book and we were suddenly covered in fog. As we were closing in on Cartagena we were getting closer to the anchored container ships and the pier. We had planned to not wake up Bart for another hour, but I could barely see 10m in front of the boat. So I woke Bart up and he sat in the front of the boat to keep watch. There is one light you are supposed to see from more than 10 nautical miles out of the coast. We were 2 miles away and didn't see a thing. We decided that if we could still not see anything a mile away from the coast we would turn around and continue sailing north east. Then all out of a sudden the fog started to clear between the coast and pier of Cartagena. Saturday at 1:30am we were docked in Cartagena.

We were greeted by Marielle in her pyjamas. The next day we spent getting to know Cartagena but mostly spending time together with Willem and Marielle. On Sunday there apparently is a bbq with a bunch of the sailors that spend the winter or their life in the marina of Cartagena. We were invited through the WoL. Bart and Willem had a great time socializing, Marielle and I entertained each other 😉 On Monday we were treated by the WoL to a tour of the local mountains and a lunch 😋 It was very nice to spend some time together again before they say goodbye to their WoL and return to the Netherlands. We're sure we'll see each other again somewhere someday.Read more