The Iberian Peninsula
- Cruising The East Coast -
Photo credit Nations Online Project
The Iberian Peninsula lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and is separated from France by the Pyrenees mountain range. It is mainly occupied by Spain and Portugal however, it also includes Andorra, part of Southern France and Gibraltar, a British overseas territory. The southern tip is separated from the Africa continent by the narrow Strait of Gibraltar, which at the narrowest point, is only 8 kilometers (5 miles) from Morocco.
Before leaving Valencia (about midway down the east coast) we took care of a few maintenance tasks. I found a company that would send a technician to our boat to service our seven fire extinguishers which we needed to have inspected before September. We paid a travel fee but it saved us from having to figure out how to remove the two larger built-in extinguishers in the engine room and travel by bus across the city with those two and the five hand-held extinguishers we have onboard. Well worth it! Meanwhile, Tom managed to shimmy into our anchor chain locker to diagnose the problem with our windlass foot switch. The anchor is still working from the switch at the helm but the foot switch had quit. We would replace it whenever we could find a new one.
In the morning we said goodbye to our new friends and finally headed further south, leaving the Costa Del Azahar (Orange Blossom Coast) behind. We spent the night in Calpe, an old fishing village at the base of a giant rock - Peñón de Ifach. We splurged that night and went out for dinner at a small seaside restaurant just a few steps from the boat.
We had entered the Costa Blanca (White Coast) and the landscape had changed. No longer cruising along a relatively straight coastline with sandy beaches and mountain ranges in the distance, we had rounded a big promontory with several white patches of rock (hence the name) and were now sailing along steep, high coastal cliffs.
Occasionally, I get creative on passage. (avocado toast with poached eggs and pesto)
We made our way to Cartagena and snuggled in, side-tied to the pier, where we were quite happy to stay put for a few days. Cartagena is a major seaport in a large natural bay founded by the Carthaginians in the 3rd century BC. It reached it’s peak during the Roman Empire and became Spains most important naval port in the 16th century. Today it is one of the busiest commercial centers in the country and home to one of the oldest naval bases in the world. It is also strategically located near the East–West maritime route linking the Suez Canal to the Strait of Gibraltar.
We had read that this was a popular marina for live-aboard cruisers as well as for wintering and boat storage. Lots of english is spoken there. What we found was so much more than that!
Within a few hours of tying up we were greeted by a sailor moored a few boats over. He and his wife, originally from Seattle, had lived aboard their boat for 25 years! He is now 80 years old, they have gotten Spanish residency, and they are just beginning to think about selling their floating home and becoming land based once again. After wintering in this marina for many years, he inherited the responsibility of coordinating the weekly Sunday BBQ/potluck for live-aboard cruisers - which we were promptly invited to attend.
The next day we met another American family, from NYC, living aboard a catamaran with two young children. We discussed various boat projects, an ongoing theme amongst sailors, and later that day we helped them install their new Starlink dish. When I say ‘we’ - I mean Tom. I was too busy playing with their small children!
Reinventing leftovers is my new specialty.
We met a super colorful couple from England who provided valuable information about resetting the clock on our boat - as a boat owner with a non-European Union flag, we need to reset our Temporary Admission (importation) every 18 months. We last did this eleven months ago in Montenegro and can do so again in Gibraltar or Morocco.
We chatted with a family from the Netherlands who had just sailed across the Atlantic during hurricane season, we met retirees from Belgium who shared their story of visiting Morocco, and from an Irish couple we learned about how to avoid orca attacks in the Gibraltar Straight. All of this before the Sunday gathering - which was both delicious and a total blast! This community is like an encyclopedia of all things cruising. No matter what your questions, you will find someone in the know. What a breath of fresh air!
Needless to say we very much enjoyed our stay in Cartagena. We took a bike ride, did some grocery shopping and left all too soon. This small city warrants far more exploration; the Roman ruins, the Museum of Underwater Archeology, and the towering fortresses flanking the harbor. Next time we will stay longer and do more exploring while also soaking up all that the expat community has to offer.
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