LISBON TO LAGOS
On our way to Lagos, and inspired by John Boyle’s superb videos on MBY’S Youtube channel, I thought I saw a pilot whale. On closer inspection we became the new owners of an inflatable toy whale! Arriving in Lagos late at night we berthed in the fishing port before looking for more suitable accommodation.
The commercial marina cost €63 a night, which felt rather expensive compared to the €25-30 we’d been paying in Portugal so we chose to anchor instead and use our tender to get ashore. Unfortunately, the breaking waves were so strong that my six-year-old son got thrown overboard. Thankfully, he was wearing a lifejacket, and an ice-cream soon restored order.
LAGOS TO OLHAO
Friends who have lived in Olhão, near Faro, for the last 25 years invited us to drop in, which seemed too good an invitation to miss. Olhao is exactly how you'd expect a traditional Portuguese village to be; welcoming with a great local market and hundreds of small fishing boats. It’s surrounded by ilhas, sandy island beaches which protect the marshy lagoon. Lots of small boats visit these sand banks in summer and I used this amazing location to practise flying my DJI Spark drone. On our return to the marina, we noticed that the starboard aft cabin window had fractured. The safety glass is over 18mm thick and only the outer layer had cracked; probably as result of a fender being hung too close to the window edge. After ordering a new window (thanks Clipper Marine!), we had it fitted by a specialist before carrying on with our journey.
OLHAO TO GIBRALTAR
As mentioned by the late great Peter Cumberlidge in MBY Feb 2018, there is a strong current when passing the headland at Tarifa but our Bavaria plugged on through. We enjoyed Gibraltar a lot and could not believe our ears when we heard that diesel cost just 51 pence per litre. Naturally, we took the cable car to the top of the rock to admire the view across the Straits to Africa. In Queensway Marina you’ll find a statue of Gibraltar’s first governor, Sir George Stuart White; even if only half the story is true he must have been quite a hero. As a Dutch person, I wonder what we got as a reward for helping the English conquer Gibraltar!
GIBRALTAR TO CARTAGENA
Marbella doesn’t get great press but we loved it; the harbour is good and we had an excellent lunch in La Bodega del Mar restaurant with friends who happened to be holidaying nearby. Almeria was another pleasant surprise thanks to a marina which includes a private club with large swimming pool, tennis courts and playground. Casa Puga was recommended to us for real local Spanish tapas and was indeed excellent. My wife Sophie found enough dresses and shoes for years to come (I hope!) and our son Koen enjoyed building all the Legotechnic he got for his sixth birthday. It took some encouragement to climb up the hill to the Alcazaba Arabic castle in the 35˚ heat but it was worth the effort. The castle was originally built in the 10th century and remains surprisingly intact given the turbulent history of Spain which includes wars with the Moorish, Dutch and English as well as the infamous Spanish civil war.
En route to Cartagena we covered another 95nm over a relaxed 12-hour period but we made the most of our floating duplex apartment by entering a range of waypoints and instructing our autopilot to take the lead. The seas were now a lot busier – during our crossing of Biscay we often
didn’t see another boat for 6-8 hours – but once in the Mediterranean we needed to keep a close watch for traffic all the time.
For anyone who finds their boat controls a bit of a stretch, I’d highly recommend a Comfort Seat www.comfortseat.nl; these supportive cushions have integral frames that can be adjusted in multiple ways and can even be used as head support for a sunpad. We also cooked some of our best meals underway using our Cobb gas BBQ. Other tips to pass the time include a generous amount of pre-downloaded Netflix series and the excellent Navionics Europe HD ipad app; we used it to plan our approach to marinas while the shared advice on anchorages was also really helpful.
We were extremely glad that we’d installed a Sunmaster bimini with RVS supports too; it stretched perfectly across the 275cm width of our flybridge and meant we could use additional screens to keep the sun out from the side. Heat management really does become a mission when it is 35°C outside and you only have 12V fans and Ocean Air window blinds rather than a full air-conditioning system. Thankfully, we were very impressed with our fridges, which not only maintained a constant 4°C but also managed to freeze fish, meat and ice-cream using a 12V current alone.
At least 50 dolphins escorted us to Cartagena. The city, which has been inhabited since 227BC, features an impressive harbour with many Spanish warships and old fortresses. Phoenician,
Roman, Byzantine and Moorish ruins are complemented by grand Art Nouveau buildings from the days when Cartagena had an important mining industry. The marina also has a great swimming pool for kids overlooking the massive cruise ships that visit the city.
CARTAGENA TO ALICANTE
A French couple cruising the world on a sailing catamaran recommended that we anchor at Tabarca Island, 11nm off Alicante. Measuring just 1,800m by 400m, it is large enough for a good walk and has some very welcoming beach restaurants. In the past Tabarca was a refuge for Berber pirates and in the 18th century King Carlos III ordered the island to be fortified. Nowadays it is a major tourist attraction with ferries offloading visitors from the city. However, it still felt special to anchor among just 10 other boats and snorkel in the crystal clear waters surrounded by thousands of fish. I took the opportunity to dive down and check my Delta anchor before setting an anchor alarm and settling down for the night. However, at 3am we were woken by the alarm to find that our anchor had dragged 15 metres due to unexpectedly strong 25 knot winds. The owners of the neighbouring yacht, David and Carol Hayes, were also up and we discussed what to do. I started the engine and checked that the main anchor was properly dug in, then dropped a second anchor. The next morning we discovered that both anchors were now stuck under rocks and when we tried to get close to the second one we somehow managed to suck the anchor rode into the bow thruster. David came to our help and together we inspected the damage, finding three of the bow thruster’s prop blades had snapped. Luckily, the blades are made from composite and designed to sheer off to avoid causing more permanent damage to the thruster or hull. I subsequently managed to fit the new props using only a mask and snorkel, which are still working perfectly today!
Alicante felt like a safe haven after the events of the previous evening and judging from the number of Sunseekers moored in the marina it seemed like the British yard’s home from home, while an impressive funfair situated next to the marina provided hours of entertainment for our son.
ALICANTE TO DENIA
We loved our cruise to Denia. Initially, you pass the ugly high rise buildings of Benidorm but soon
after the landscape changes to dramatic cliffs where you can get within 20 yards of some amazing caves and rock formations.
The bays of Calpe and Moraira are absolutely stunning and we chose to use the free mooring buoys at Cala Sardinera for the night in the company of a brand new Princess V48 and MCY65. On board the MCY65 it was clear what a difference the Seakeeper stabiliser made; however the noise of the generator running all night would put me off. Perhaps when Seakeeper releases a
12V version than can handle a 13 tonne boat I’ll take another look…
Denia offers two marinas with basic facilities but is nevertheless very popular due to its proximity to Ibiza. We enjoyed the beach even though it was seriously busy with groups of people who’d come for the annual bull-run that marks the end of a week-long festival. The goal is to lure the bull into charging after you then leaping out of the way at the last minute so that the poor animal has to jump into the sea before being rescued by a special boat.
DENIA TO VALENCIA
Our cruise to Valencia was accompanied by the rare sight of flying fish. It was amazing to see them leap out of the sea then soar on their elongated fins for up to 100m. Valencia was great; it boasts a good harbour, reasonably priced diesel, tasty paella and the benefit of being large enough not to feel overrun by tourists. During the last night we had 25 knots of wind on the stern, which proved a good test of our mooring ropes. We’d brought three different brands with us; the cheaper ones became hard and inflexible once they’d been stretched; squeaking and groaning under the strain as well as showing signs of severe wear. However, we were very impressed with the Gleistein Geoone ropes that we obtained from Clipper Marine; these 20mm Polyamide ropes allow 8% stretch at just 10% of their 8,400kg breaking load, providing a much quieter, more comfortable motion.
Our visit to the Islands of Columbretes, some 50nm offshore from Valencia, was rather special. There are a limited number of buoys and strictly no anchoring so leave early to be sure of finding a space. When the 319m long Celebrity Reflection cruise ship passed us near Barcelona it felt like a solar eclipse; massive is an understatement. We enjoyed the history museum, Park Guell and the old ghetto.
VALENCIA TO IBIZA
Our daughter Joy joined us for our trip around Mallorca and we treasured every minute of our cruising in Mallorca with its countless unspoilt calas as well as Palma itself. Our visit to Cabrera Island between Mallorca and Ibiza was extremely special, especially the long but rewarding climb up the hill to the castle overlooking the bay.
Our next stop was Cala Longa, Ibiza, where we made friends with a Brazilian family sailing round the islands on a Lagoon 42. Both the island and Old Town were every bit as captivating and charming as the guide books say. Despite briefly grounding on our approach to Formentera it really was a fantastic place to snorkel and chill out on deck.
HEADING HOME
All too soon we started our long journey home via Calpe, Cartagena, Almeria and Malaga before undertaking a 40-hour non-stop cruise from Gibraltar to Cascais. The following 325nm leg from Cascais to Fisterra took us around 36 hours and involved fighting the biggest waves of our trip, some of which were a good 10ft high. Spray was thrown 4m into the air, drenching the flybridge and dripping through the sliding windows in the saloon. Sleep was impossible and the 30-knot winds on our approach to Fisterra made things even more challenging. After eight weeks of pure heaven in the Med, the Portuguese and Spanish coast reminded us why the luxury yachts only ever seem to appear east of Gibraltar!
LESSONS LEARNED
My admiration for our Bavaria E40 Fly grew immeasurably during this trip; what other boat can comfortably cruise at 6mpg, offer so much space within 40ft and has the sea-keeping to weather big waves and winds. In my opinion Vripack did a great job of designing it and it’s a crying shame that Bavaria had to withdraw from building the E(fficiency) range of boats.
Crossing the Bay of Biscay started off rough but after the first 80nm, we enjoyed completely calm seas and decided to push on to Guernsey, passing the spectacular lighthouse at La Jument, Brittany. This marked our longest non-stop trip to date, covering 503nm over 73 hours; thank goodness for the autopilot!
One last big push via Scheveningen to Sneek brought home just how busy the North Sea is. Passing Rotterdam and its 100+ container ships filled us with a deep sense of satisfaction – relief that we had never had to use our Rescue Link PLB or liferaft and pride that we had completed the journey of a lifetime!
We treasured every minute of our cruising in Mallorca with its countless unspoilt Calas