Alicante and Giblet meets her match

We remained anchored outside Tomas Maestre for a further two nights, resisting the very great temptation to go through the bridge at its hourly opening times and into the marina when a near gale force northwest 7 was forecast. We had sat in the cockpit on the evening of the 21st considering our position when the wind backed to the southwest, a good force 4 or 5. We had to up anchor and move, because if the wind continued to rise from that direction we would be on a lee shore, having previously dropped anchor with the north westerly in mind. It was pretty exhausting for Chris, hauling up 20 metres of warp followed by 30 metres of chain and the 10kg anchor against the ever increasing wind, then laying it again. The thought of a windlass at times like this is very appealing! The gale never really materialised, however, and the following morning Chris found himself at the bow, heaving away once more, although without the hindrance of the wind!

Our logbook headings begin "Voyage from…………to……………" and we often fill them both in at the start, being fairly sure on our day hops we will make it to the planned harbour. On this occasion, for some reason, we didn't fill it in. There were a number of places we could have gone to, depending on the weather and we felt it wise, especially after our previous attempt to keep our options open. Torrevieja, Santa Pola and Alicante were the three main contenders, some 15, 30 or 40 miles respectively. It all depended on the weather! At 0845 we left the harbour and motored into a sparkling, smooth sea, a clear blue sky above and the sun reflecting off the ripples. Full main and jib were called for and within twenty minutes we were achieving 4.9 knots in a mere force 2 to 3 breeze. It couldn't last, could it? No. But instead of increasing, the wind died and the engine had to go back on. I wasn't averse to a bit of motoring and was eager to settle down to my latest book "Master and Commander" by Patrick O'Brian, set in the time of the Napoleonic wars and appropriately, much of the action taking place in these very waters.

With George coping with the steering more than adequately in such calm water, Chris decided to tinker and went below to fetch the storm jib from the aft cabin. With the weather we have been having recently it seemed a good idea to be practised in the art of hoisting our bright orange snip of a sail. Up it went and with a few adjustments Chris was satisfied that we could manage it in more tricky circumstances than a flat calm! Surprisingly it made a difference to our speed. It is all too easy to forget about the wind when you are motoring but it had begun to rise a little again, more from the south east now, and so once the storm jib was safely packed away we unfurled the full genny which got us up to 5.7 knots. By this time we were well past the Torrevieja option and had decided conditions were good enough to aim for Alicante, but opted to go round the outside of Isla Tabarca rather than the more shallow inside route past Cabo de Santa Pola. We turned the engine off for lunch and by the time we had finished eating we were going so well under jib alone we didn't bother starting it up again.

The breeze steadily increased and veered a little, more from the south and as we gybed, just east of Isla Tabarca to turn onto our new heading towards Alicante we were recording 6 knots. In the final 10 miles we reefed the jib a couple of times as we surged along with the wind and waves behind us. There were several other yachts heading for Alicante, a couple on the inside route and some from the north. It was a busy time at the marina waiting pontoon and another yacht came alongside us. They had left Tomas Maestre marina at 1000 and taken the inside route, (shorter, but shallow in places) and they had recorded gusts of 36 knots as they rounded Cabo de Santa Pola! I was relieved we had taken the longer way round. They had taken an hour and a half less than us, but at 39 foot they should be faster anyway! We were allocated a berth and were surprised that they sent a marinero to help because for the first time in ages we were on a finger pontoon!

After such a long trip (43 miles) we decided to shower and go out for dinner to treat ourselves. The Rough Guide suggests an area nearby the marina for good cheap food and despite being 8 o'clock we were still "early" in Spanish terms and found ourselves to be the first evening customers in a little Italian restaurant. The food and wine were good and more people began to arrive, improving the atmosphere.

We managed to spend 5 days in Alicante, catching up on chores such as washing (the 1st marina with a lavanderia for ages!) and shopping, including, at last, Chris' proper birthday present - a gadget which allows us to put video clips on the website! Watch out for it soon!! We also went to the Modern Art gallery which contained some interesting exhibits, but nothing by anyone particularly famous! Giblet amused us greatly over the few days a German yacht moored nearby. A very large German Shepherd called Nina lived aboard and we think Giblet is either very brave or very stupid because she was intrigued by this furry creature and was determined to investigate. She jumped aboard and Nina responded with quite a gentle woof for a dog her size, which sent Giblet careering back down the pontoon to La Premiere with her tail like a fox's brush! Which brings me to another observation I have made recently. When we first adopted her, Giblet would sit upright with her front paws neatly together, much like the ceramic mantelpiece Siamese cats you see. Now, after several months as a ship's cat her posture has become more "stable" and she keeps her front paws planted firmly apart to keep her balance better I assume!

The weather, unlike Giblet, has not yet stabilised and we decided to stay put until a suitable forecast appeared. We were surprised by the arrival of Kasara one windy morning at about 1130, but it turned out she had only come round the corner - even so their engine had conked out en-route - they're having all the luck at the moment! They had left Cartagena the day before and gone all the way up to Santa Pola in one jump! We left them in Alicante the next afternoon (they were staying a week to meet up with a friend from England) having stocked up on food, water, diesel and petrol for the outboard and thought that the morning drizzle was all the forecast had meant by thundery showers!