Out Sailing

It was good to finally untie our lines in Cartagena and set off for another season. We motored out of the bay before turning south along the coast. For our first passage of the year, we had planned a relatively short journey of 26 nautical miles, giving us a chance to check that everything was still working as it should after the winter.

With a southwesterly wind blowing, we knew we would initially be sailing very close to the wind. Although the forecast suggested it would shift later, we spent the first part of the trip tacking our way through it. After several tacks, we were making very slow progress, so we dropped the sails and motored for part of the journey.

The engine seemed to be working harder than usual, and we had suspicions of the cause. As we hadn’t had the hull cleaned before leaving, there was probably a build up of marine growth after spending the winter sitting in the marina.

We eventually reached our destination, and by the time we anchored in Cabo Cope, the wind had dropped completely. It was a lovely, well-protected bay with rolling brown hills and a few houses, just nearby was a low level area with a small village and old tower. There were only two other boats at anchor so we had plenty of room to choose a spot and drop our anchor into the sandy seabed.

After settling in, we went for a swim in the crystal clear water, a good opportunity to inspect the hull. As expected, it was in need of a clean. Most of the hull wasn’t too bad, but there were a few stubborn patches of barnacles. These were mainly on the square areas where ZigZag had rested on the stands when she was last hauled out in Malta. Those sections had clearly received less attention when we sanded the hull to reactivate the Coppercoat.

The propeller hadn’t fared well either and was also covered in barnacles, which were clearly the main reason the engine had to work so hard. Armed with scrapers and scrubbing brushes, we set to work underwater and managed to remove most of the growth, it was tiring work but Ziggy’s bottom was starting to look much better.

We had a very peaceful night. The following morning, we lifted the anchor and continued southwest along the rocky coast to our next destination, approximately 40 nautical miles away. Once out of the bay, we unfurled the sails. A gentle Force 2 northeasterly breeze was blowing, and ZigZag sailed along comfortably at 3–4 knots.

Later, in the afternoon, the wind dropped completely, so we had to motor for a couple of hours. There was 15 nautical miles still to go when the wind filled in again, this time directly from behind, allowing us to sail the final part of the passage with just the Genoa.

It was early evening when we arrived at Cala de San Pedro, a small bay enclosed by steep hills and overlooked by the ruins of an old castle. The seabed here was a mixture of sand and seagrass. As anchoring on or damaging the seagrass is prohibited, we had to search for a large patch of sand to drop our anchor. Fortunately, this wasn’t too difficult, as we had the whole anchorage to ourselves.

There was some swell rolling into the bay, but thankfully it was also quite gusty. The wind kept the bow pointing into the swell, preventing the boat from rolling too much, so we had another comfortable night at anchor.

The next morning was very gusty, with a steady Force 5 northeasterly blowing as we left the anchorage. After motoring out of the protection of the bay and into the rolling swell, we hoisted the genoa with two reefs. The wind was directly behind us and we enjoyed a fast downwind sail.

The coastline continued to be dominated mainly by high cliffs, we came across an unusual small white section amongst the brown.

Throughout the morning, the wind continued to build, eventually reaching Force 7–8. Ziggy surfed down the waves, hitting speeds of up to 8 knots. It didn’t take us long to reach our destination, and it was still gusting 35 knots when we arrived at the anchorage just off Cabo de Gata village. We managed to get the anchor down before the wind could blow us back out to sea, and thankfully it dug in and held first time.

The strong wind continued throughout the night, but as it was blowing from the land, there was no fetch for the swell to build, making for a much more comfortable night at anchor than we initially expected.

Our journey south was taking us to Almerimar, the marina where we wintered when we first sailed ZigZag from the UK to the Mediterranean in 2008. We knew of an engineer there who would be able to source and replace our lithium batteries. Paul had installed our current lithium battery system in 2020, and it was now time for an upgrade. In order to satisfy our insurance company’s latest rules, this type of work needs to be completed by a professional.

The following morning, we tried to lift the anchor, but it was firmly buried due to constant 30+ knot winds blowing since our arrival. After a bit of persuasion, it finally came free and we set off on the final 30 nautical mile passage to Almerimar.

The wind was not so strong with a Force 4 from the northeast, and we sailed the entire way under the genoa alone. As we approached Almerimar, the wind began to increase again, and we thought berthing might be a challenge. However, before entering the marina, you have to stop at the fuel dock outside the marina office to check in.

Unfortunately, we had arrived during siesta time, so we had to wait for the office to reopen. Thankfully, while we were waiting, the wind dropped a little, allowing us to manoeuvre into our allocated berth without any drama.

This week’s passage from Cartagena to Almerimar covered 120 nautical miles. For most of the journey, we enjoyed a favourable wind, making for a comfortable downwind sail.

I was looking forward to exploring Almerimar and see what changes had been made since our last visit 18 years ago.