One of my proud 'Mother of the Bride' moments
Back on board Thesee and next day, we were woken at 8am by 40mph wind gusts! Oh no, weather watching again. Plants and even motorbikes were knocked over in the marina. It was a very windy day, but on the other hand it keeps the temperature bearable. We had a big shopping day and also had to take Saffy back to the vets because her sore foot has not yet healed. So more tablets, cream, and an even bigger lampshade hat.
A bandaged foot this time to stop her licking the wound
Dean kept himself busy with the important job of rebuilding the broken vang, now that he has the new gas struts to go inside. It all went perfectly and as far as we can tell it is back in working order. By doing it himself we reckon he has saved hundreds of pounds.
Re-attaching the vang
Close-up
Scrubbing the decks with the new super brush
Von has kindly lent us her car once again which has been invaluable to us getting around and about. Thursday night we all met up in 'Bar Liverpool' with Spanish friends practising their English Language skills. And Saturday Von & Jim invited us over for another magnificent meal where we each cooked our own steak, chicken, pork, beef, & sausage on the hot slab. The sangria was flowing freely and we were spoiled rotten (yet again). 
...and some elbow grease
Now Dean's making a glass bottom bucket!
It's been an emotional time but we feel we're getting back into the swing of things. Dean has done loads of deck scrubbing, metal polishing, fender cleaning. All in preparation for setting off on our travels once again. We are going to leave here tomorrow afternoon and head north towards Denia. If all goes well we will sail non-stop through the night in order to reach Denia by Wednesday. It's about a 90 mile journey, but we have some catching up to do now. Should take us about 16-18 hours. It's been fantastic spending a month in San Pedro, it almost feels like home. The marina is superb, but the best part of it all is Aunty Von & Uncle Jim, who have been an absolute Godsend. We cannot thank you both enough for everthing you've done for us, we really would not have been able to do this without you 💕 xx
Sangria time....where's it gone?
Can i stay longer please? I like it here
About to tuck into starters
One of the pre-dinner swims
What's up? It's 29 degrees in there
This is the life
Tuesday 6th August…. Today’s the day it’s time to move on after a month here in lovely San Pedro del Pinatar. Before we set off, Von & Jim joined us for lunch at one of the bars in the marina, all of us tucking into a Menu del Dia….. basically 3 courses for 12 euros, that included the wine too. Around 4pm we said our goodbyes and subsequently set sail north east for a very long hop towards Denia, approximately 90 miles (18 hours sailing), and we will sail through the night arriving around midday Wednesday. It took about 4 hours to pass Isla Tabarca, and we talked about the great time we had there in June with Angela, Alan, and Yasi. Happy memories.
Saffy snoozing on Tuesday morning
Passing Isla Tabarca... happy memories
Goodbye sunlight
So before long we watched the sunset and the darkness came. Dean had swapped the fitting on the Duogen wind charger and fitted the sea charger. It’s not very often we use the sea charger fitting, though it’s very good we should use it more often really. We were on a decent heading but progress slowed when the wind dropped and moved south, but at least the sea was calm and 4 knots wasn’t too bad at that point. We had been doing 7.5 knots up until then. I rested whilst Dean kept lookout until 11pm. Then we tried to take it in turns, but Dean didn’t get very much rest because we had to gybe three times to keep between the shipping lanes and the coast. Surprisingly we didn’t come across any fishing boats. There was just one small ship we had to keep an eye on as we passed in different directions.
The Duogen in sea mode charging
It was easy to see where we were, having already stopped at many marinas along this coast, and of course Benidorm was ablaze with lights and the Calpe headland unmistakeable even in the darkness.
Wednesday 7th August… When daybreak came we were not far off Cabo de la Nao and had already been watching the lighthouse flashing for a few hours. Being a few hours ahead of schedule, and the wind dropping to nothing we decided to pick up a buoy in Cala Sardinera. We’ve been here before, it was our setting off point to Ibiza in May, so we knew what to expect. There are loads of buoys and even though it’s height of season now, there was plenty to choose from. By this time it was 8am and we decided to try and get a couple of hours sleep in. That was made difficult by knowing there was a salvage operation going on nearby where a motor boat was grounded on the beach with flotation bags around it. How did it get there? Did the mooring buoy break? Can we trust our own buoy? Oh dear. However, we did try and close our eyes for a while…with the anchor watch app on in case we moved!
This is the second time we've seen a beached boat this year
The next massive headland Cabo de San Antonio
Just before Denia
So we deliberated what to do. Stay here? Carry on to Denia? Or progress even further to Valencia? The afternoon forecast seemed promising, and we both felt okay so we decided Valencia it was. Another 50 miles but we would be doing it tomorrow anyway, and we can get two nights in Valencia for the price of one in Denia. The journey turned into a bit of a long slog with the forecasted wind not really appearing so we motored for a few hours. Visibility was good and it was mainly cloudy but we could not see the coast a couple of miles off because of mist. Just the odd glimpse of a mountain here and there. In fact we hardly saw anything at all, only the odd ship in the distance, and we wouldn’t have seen that only we knew it was there on wonderful AIS.
Things started to improve when the wind picked up. It was the perfect chance to pole out the genoa and goose-wing the sails. We’ve only ever used the pole once before, and that was in Torbay about three years ago when we were en-route to Dartmouth. It’s not too difficult to set up although we did have to have two goes at it to get the genoa sheet in the correct position. So now we had the mainsail out to port, genoa to starboard, with the wind directly abaft. There’s a word I don’t use very often. You could say we were on a dead-run. By using the pole to hold out the genoa it can’t flap about too much and can’t fail to get wind in the sail. Everything was good and we were now sailing at 6.7 knots…. Brilliant. It think this lasted about 2 hours before we put the genoa away and was back to using just the main, then the engine towards the end.
Here's the poled out genoa in action
At long last approaching Valencia there was a fair amount of ships coming, going, and a couple at anchor. Mainly car ferries to and from the Balearics. By this time Saffy had been crossing her legs for tooooo long and could not fail to let go and pee for England on the foredeck. Well done Saffy Perro, wish you would just do it all the time.
Valencia port is massive and the view from the sea looked very depressing. Did we make the right decision to come here? Finally arriving at the marina, checking in, and getting our berth, things did seem to be looking up. Saffy was like an excited puppy when we took her for a quick walk. There was just time for a Rum & Coke (of course) and then to bed.
Thursday 8th August…. Got a very good night’s sleep in and didn’t wake up till 9am. It’s warm at night inside the boat but we leave the fans running and the hatches wide open, covered by the mozzie nets. In fact we think the mozzie season might be over as we aren’t being bitten or pestered by them at the moment. There was a cruise ship in this morning when we looked out. It was the MSC Divina, apparantly named in honour of Sophia Loren.
Dean washed the decks down again….about the third time this week. It was a lovely morning with a good breeze wafting right into the companion way. The marina has three sections, we are in the north marina, then there’s the south marina, and the superyacht marina further in. It’s called Marina Real Juan Carlos, and it seems it was the old America’s Cup marina. It’s a really nice setting and there’s lots of action to watch. Passing boats, jetskis, paddleboarders, kids in dinghys etc. The marina kind of reminds me of 'A Coruna' only without the awful squeaky pontoons and never-ending bouncy-ness.
After lunch we walked to the Capitania office to pay for another night. Also our Swedish friends have left their boat here whilst they are back home, so we went to check up on it to make sure all was OK.
First view this morning
Looking from Thesee down towards the Superyacht marina
It's just like big canal system
The swing bridge, doesn't seem to be in operation
Big flags
Shady bandstand in the nearby park
Our side of the swing bridge
It was still a hot day but we wanted to have a little walk-about along the breakwater and the esplanade. We had to make a few stops en-route for Saffy to get some shade and a breather, but there’s plenty of grassy spaces and she can even go off lead on some. For some reason I was imagining a concrete jungle before we got here, but it’s really very nice and definitely value for money. Some of the buildings are amazing, and we haven’t even been into the city. That will have to wait for another time. We did manage to stop at a bar though and treated ourselves to a litre of Sangria which was very yummy.
Marina side, nice cycle path
Great views of the cruise ship
Along the huge breakwater, beach in the background
One of the pontoons in our north basin
There's Thesee, unmistakeable with his big Beneteau sea-horse stickers
Busy day in the water
Flags close up
Lovely buildings around the marina
Oh, here's me and the Sangria
Wine glasses this time, not pint glasses
Now me and Saffy along the canal-ly bit
A beautiful day
We’re trying to decide our movements for the next few days, and think we will move up the coast a little tomorrow but it might be slow progress on a calm day. Let’s see.
Friday 9th August…. We left Valencia at 11am after refuelling. There was half a tank left, but the price was reasonable so we took the opportunity. Out on the water we made a course for Burriana about 28 miles up the coast. The forecast had been pretty calm until strong windy gusts around 4pm. However, there was a good breeze at first and we made decent progress towards Sagunto where we put a reef in the mainsail. Sagunto looked pretty industrial, and we sailed a course between some fish farms and a pier that was under construction (or had been many years ago by the looks of it).
Looking back at Valencia port
Passing the 'pier' at Sagunto
Here's a couple of the yellow buoys marking the fish farm
Another fish farm in the background
Not long after, the wind dropped and we were bobbing at a mere 1 knot, so with an hour to go we started the engine. We hadn’t passed many boats along the way, but as per usual on approach to Burriana entrance two motor boats and a works vessel appeared from nowhere all heading in. Dean called up on the VHF and they told us to go to Pontoon 8. Oh that must be the pontoon with no number on it then? It was already confusing as there are two marinas here. After a short while a marinero appeared and directed us to ‘the pontoon with no number on it’. The side wind was fairly strong and we took three attempts at berthing. Yes our berth is right next to the really squeaky pile (the big column that holds the pontoon in place).
There’s a lot of swell comes in and from our berth we can actually look right out to sea! So not a great deal of protection, and we squeaked and bobbed for a number of hours thereafter. Saying all that, the marina is very inexpensive, just 27 euros a night for Thesee, compared to the normal 60 euros a night along this coast. Plus we get one night free here because they offer Cruising Association discount. Can’t complain about that.
Saturday 10th August…. Usual kind of thing today, the local walk-about. Dean had spotted the Euro Bazar and treated me to a new mouse for my laptop, because the other one was driving us mad making funny noises all the time. We stopped at a café for morning refreshments. We liked it, it was decorated in beachy style but was on the high street next to a busy roundabout so felt a bit out of place, but they were playing old songs we knew! That's good enough for us.
The beachy feel cafe
...with rock painted table numbers
(one of yours Chris?)
Bought some nice fruit and our favourite crusty bread on the way back. After lunch Dean set about wiring his anchor light into the switchboard. Normally we have to plug it in outside when we want to use it, but not anymore, we just flick the switch. Easy. We had already threaded most of the wiring through when we did the solar panels a couple of weeks ago. He even had a spare anchor light label to affix into the panel, so all nice and neat.
About to sort out the anchor light
Here's the new label on the control panel
Now he's got the mozzie plug in bits!!
Not a lot going on in the marina. We’re all just about coping with the heat, though we hear there’s a heatwave coming. Double Yikes! Here's a few photos of our surroundings.
View out to sea from Thesee's cockpit
Now the other way
Our very own garden growing under the pontoons
...and a humongous sized stage set up outside the marina
Sunday 11th August…. A lovely day today but we can’t move on as there is a blow coming through the next couple of days and we don’t want to be stuck in an expensive marina. This afternoon we took a walk to the beach. As always it’s a bit of a trek from the marina but we made it in the heat. We passed the big stage, called Arenal Sound. It looks like there is wasteland where tents can be put up for festivals.
Just back from the seafront we found a nice café/restaurant and sat for some shade, ice cream, and beer. Near where we were sitting was a guineapig run, and it kind of felt like we were at the zoo. It certainly took our mind of sailing and weather for a few hours. Saffy was really hot and appreciated the shade underneath the trees.
Not really sure what it’s all about but we think we just missed it, thankfully
Having a breather and an ice lolly
Traditional residences along the sea front road
Back at the boat after a couple of hours it was very pleasant with a good breeze coming through. It definitely didn’t feel as hot this afternoon. Dean decided to fit his new fairleads at the bow. The reason for the fairleads is to make anchoring better. Instead of putting the snubber straight over the bow we will now use the snubber line either side of the bow, going through the fairleads then to the cleats. This should also stop the lines rubbing against our big Beneteau Seahorse decals.
No he's not chopping his thumb off
He's shortening the toe rails
The shortened toe-rail
Nicely shaped on the starboard bow
Now to sink the existing screws
New fairlead fitted
Screwing firmly into position
Job finished
Tonight when we were having dinner in the cockpit, a dutch boat came into berth and Dean lent a hand. After they had settled in the skipper was very interested in talking about our Hydrovane. It’s amazing how many people want to know more about it. We should be on commission I reckon.
Monday 12th August…. We’re still here in Burriana, but we’re not fed up yet. Think we’ve just accustomed ourselves to waiting for the right moment to move on. So this afternoon was pretty rough out at sea, as you know we have a view from the marina. There’s about a metre wave height out there with plenty of white horses and big winds. It’s all coming down from the Gulf of Lion affecting pretty much most of the western Med. It’s incredible to view it all on windy.com. We hear the weather is pretty bad back on UK south coast and Isle of Wight too.
I tried to remove my 'wedding nailvarnish' today, but it won't budge. No idea where i will be able to get some special remover from. On a high note, we’re pleased to report that Saffy’s foot is rapidly on the mend, and today was only about 30 degrees which was very welcome, must have been the wind chill 😂
Tuesday 13th August…. Ooh long painful day rocking and rolling at sea. It was 11.30am when we left Burriana with the intention of a possible overnighter towards Tarragona area. However the waves were horrid and the wind wasn’t kicking in so we were motor sailing. In these situations we put the mainsail up as it keeps the boat from rolling too much, but the waves took their toll today with the swaying side to side making the boom and sail creak and clonk every 5 seconds. In fact at one point the vang tension line completely snapped. We did manage to sail for a while with just the genoa but ended taking that down too.
It's mad...this photo makes the sea look flat!!
This was passing Peniscola, a very unusual unmistakeable headland
Fed up with it all we headed into Benicarlo and took a berth for the night at 7pm. All is fine, except the marinero asked us to give him a beer later on ….. he says he did us a favour and gave a us discount! How weird is that? Then we took a walk along the promenade and noticed all the side roads were barricaded off with iron gates. Made us feel rather uneasy about the place. Then after a while, clever Dean realised it must be for a Bull Run, and infact checking on the internet it seems it’s just that. On the way back we noticed the marinero in his little booth having a snooze…. sleeping off everybody’s booze maybe??
A local hero of the sea we assume
Here's me and Saffy checking out some of the bull gates
The light marking the north end of the Ebro delta
Somehow i was expecting a lighthouse??
Wednesday 14th August…. An early start today, we were out on the water by 8.30am. We had a big distance to cover… 70 miles to Roda de Bara. There wasn’t really much in between and convenient, so we took the decision to go for it. On the way we passed the Ebro Delta. The river Ebro is the largest in Spain and it brings lots of silt with it, so it’s not a good place for sailing yachts as the depths change constantly. Also we’ve read there are loads of mozzies! So it took about 5 hours to reach the north end of the delta.
Somehow i was expecting a lighthouse??
We had been motoring constantly but as soon as we got into the Golfo de Sant Jordi the wind kicked in and we sailed for a few hours before it got a bit too rough and we had to put two reefs in the mainsail. After that the wind dropped and we had to motorsail, but the waves were still rough so it wasn’t a pleasant journey. Anyway we reached Roda de Bara about 7.30pm and took a berth. The marina has a nice feel about it and a lovely beach only about 50 metres away. Sadly it’s another case of shops being built but never finished so buildings just stand derelict and spoil the experience. There did however seem to be lots of greenery away from the seafront. Overall we quite like the place.
Fenders out....nearly there Saffy
Near the marina entrance at Roda de Bara
If this is a hotel i want to go there
There it goes
Thursday 15th August… Decided to carry on again today… destination Badalona. It’s just north of Barcelona city and has been recommended by friends and also it’s not too expensive. Amazingly it turned into quite a good sailing day. It was an eight hour journey though, but at least we are getting some miles under the keel. On the way we passed lovely coastline for the first 4 hours, green mountains and lots of marinas and small towns. As we sailed along approaching Barcelona we spent about an hour watching planes take off over our heads, and i got very excited when an Emirates A380 airbus took off right over us. It looked so low and i'm sure it had to divert to avoid Thesee's mast 😉.
Cumulonimbus clouds outside the marina this morning
Here we are passing Sitges
The Emirates Airbus
So then to negotiate Barcelona. There were about 7 cargo ships at anchor in the bay, plus two more appeared from over the horizon and hampered our route to some degree (or i thought so at least). Once you spot them they only take about 15 minutes to reach you. Our AIS told us they were both heading for Barcelona but we weren't sure if they would be going into the anchorage or into the port. Turns out one went into the anchorage and one into the port. Still, it passes some time trying to decide how to avoid them. Once we were past the worst of the decisions, a cruise ship and a fast ferry came out of another port entrance. They didn't cause us any problems though. There was a lot of dark cloud around by this time and so Barcelona didn't look very spectacular.
Approaching the commercial port with the huge cranes
Here comes the cruise ship...only a tiny one really
....and the fast ferry to Majorca
Grey clouds over Barcelona
Chimneys at Badalona
We motored for the last hour and reached Badalona at 7pm. The berthing was pretty straightforward and by the time we had checked in, sorted ourselves out, and made dinner it was 9pm. There's a bit of rain tonight and a blow coming from the East. Quite stormy really. Another long day. Just time to update the blog.
This will be the last blog post entitled 'Thesee's Adventure resumes'
The next post will be entitled 'Nearing the border and the Gulf of Lion'
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