29 August 2024 – Cartagena Spain

We arrived at our “winter berth” at Yacht Port Cartagena Spain on 24 August. We finished our summer sailing season with bittersweet memories of the interesting places we visited. I’ll start by talking about the storm that whipped through the Balearic Islands on 14 August. This storm actually started on mainland Spain, dumping record amounts of rain in Madrid (which is historically very dry) and then quickly moving to sea, striking the islands of Ibiza, Mallorca (where we were at the time) and Minorca. This news video gives a very good summary of the strength of the storm, and what it did in some places.

On that same day, we were anchored just East of Palma, at the suburb of Es Fornas – where we had been for the past three weeks. We knew that some windy weather was coming in, but to be frank, we underestimated what was coming – and were not prepared for it. We were well anchored in just 16 feet of sand, with only about 60 feet of chain out – and our very solid, very low (giving a big increase in the scope) snubber. It can be a challenge to anchor in many of these islands, because you have to plant your anchor in sand. If you put the anchor (or chain) on seagrass, not only is it “poor holding”, but you can be fined thousands of euros. To be honest, we needed to be anchored in deeper water, and with more chain out. I made a simple video of the conditions in our anchorage, the day before the storm.

When the storm stuck, our neighbours James Cole and his wife Barbara were anchored close to us (in slightly deeper water, further from shore) on COMPLEXITY. Barbara and Jim were “hunkered down” in the cockpit of their boat – with their engine running to ease the strain on the anchor. Diane and I were also in the cockpit of our boat, observing the clouds moving in. We also started our engine, idling forward, and when the incoming swell reached 1.5m – decided that we should move, as it appeared that we were dragging, and moving dangerously closer towards shore. Normally, picking up the anchor might take 2 or 3 minutes, moving up slowly on the chain, until you are directly over the anchor and then running forward “breaking out the anchor” and picking up the remainder. However, with the incoming swell pushing over 2m at times (in only a depth of 16 feet), Diane could not keep JOANA moving forward in a straight line, but we were zig-zagging over the anchor. There was a lot of strain, a lot of force on the bow of JOANA as the chain tugged from one side to the other. In addition to the cold rain thundering down on me, I had warm ocean water rushing over my feet, at least a foot. We were “hobby-horsing” up and down, as I was desperately trying to get the anchor up, and safely stowed on deck. At some point, three stainless steel bars broke from their welds, and the anchor chain was no longer in the centre, over the roller, but was instead pinned in place against the toe rail on the side. I decided to continue pulling the anchor up, and this is when it was out of the water, and wildly swinging.

We quickly motored away from the beach, dodging other anchored boats and planted the anchor, in deeper water (over 30 feet) where we knew there was sand. I put out 150 feet of chain, and we rode out the rest of the storm in less swell (maybe .7m) and less stressful conditions. Later that day, Barbara and Jim contacted me and offered some unedited video footage – that I later stitched together to illustrate what happened. These are not professional videos, and it is only hastily put together, and it will never accurately depict the conditions we experienced or the stress we felt. Here it is.

Lesson learned – If you can, anchor in deeper water, wherever possible, even 25 feet is much better than 16 feet. There is less developing swell from incoming waves. There are also less bugs and less anchored boats nearby.

A few days after the storm incident, we motor-sailed west to the next island, Ibiza – a well known party and tourist “paradise”. It is very well known for loud and obnoxious tourists who go to discos late into the morning, much to the chagrin of “older” people like us. LOL. We did visit another Lidl (discount supermarket), and loaded up on groceries, but passed on the opportunity to partake in this mini-golf tourist venue. Have a look at this offering: mini-golf for up to 2 hours, bottomless cocktails, beers and soft drink, all you can eat pizza – only 45 euros per person. Nothing there for us. But – check out the “resident” price of only 8 euros per adult. Holy cow!

After a few days, we then sailed even further west and made our first landfall on mainland Spain, Calp. This is what we saw along the coastline.

We are now in our winter berth at Cartagena Spain, and loving it. More posts in the future will cover this phase.

We did enjoy our summer cruising holiday, but we will not miss the lumpy anchorages, nor the inconsiderate power boaters who drive dangerously close to anchored boats blasting by at 18 knots and throwing a 1.5m wave into the peaceful anchorage. No, we do not forgive them, and we will not miss them. We have moved on.