Friday 29th August

We said goodbye to Peter, Selina and Brian. They were all flying to Edinburgh, Selina and Brian were staying at Peter’s flat and then flying on to Jersey. Believe it or not the cheapest way for them to get from Barcelona to Jersey. It has been fun having them on board and we are sad to see them go.

Very sadly too we said goodbye to our skipper Paul who has been a great help and we have spent many an evening telling boating stories. We have learnt a lot and will miss him.

So guys we are on our own now!

Thursday 28th August

We pulled up the anchor headed for Barcelona. Approaching Barcelona we were approached by a motor cruiser who crossed our path and swerved in front of us. We read on the side Garde Civilia and we realised they wanted to board us but after staring at us waved us on. We refuelled and moored in the marina in the middle of the city.

Arriving in Barcelona

Wednesday 27th August

We decided to spend a night at anchor and found a protected anchorage halfway between Valencia and Barcelona. It was a strange place called Puerto de los Alfaques and had a salt marsh. We swam and played with the jet rib and jet ski.

We lent Paul some shorts and for the first time on the trip we saw his legs and he too had a go on the jet ski. Yvonne and Stephanie had a go as well, it was great fun.

In the evening the sea was like glass and we had more fun and ate again on the fly bridge.

Yvonne on Jet Ski

Philip on Jet Ski

Stephanie on Jet Ski

John on Jet Ski

Tuesday 26th August

We left early at 7.15am. We passed Benidorm and we noticed a judder on the propeller and suspected that we had something around the prop.

We passed Moraira and saw Bob and Suzannes’ house. It all looked very attractive with the Rock Calpe.

We anchored just before Valencia and had a swim but it was too choppy to play with the toys so we headed in to Valencia.

We organised a diver and he found a rope around the port prop.

We explored the town, the temperature was 35 Celcius.

Brian barbequed chicken and ribs and we ate on the top deck, it was lovely in the warm breeze.

Monday 25th August

The marina was quite deserted so Philip did some practicing going in and out of the pontoons. We left for Alicante, the sea was very calm and we were all in swimming costumes. We anchored by the beach in front of Alicante and then we swam and played with the jet rib and jet ski.

Sunday 24th August

We decided that we would have one more long day of motoring to get us further along the coast and Philip and Paul bravely offered to get up at 3.15 am and they set off at 3.40 am.


When we emerged at 8.oo am the air was hot and the sea smooth. We were motoring at about 21 knots to conserve fuel on our way to Cartagena. This leg of the journey we saw whales, dolphins, flying fish and swordfish.

At about lunchtime the swell increased and we were heading into it. We arrived at 3.30 pm. We were tired but very relieved that from now on its just short hops with lots of play time.











Pre dinner drinks.

Crew at rest......Crew at work

Saturday 23rd August

We motored for 20 minutes to Soto Grande. This is the first experience of Mediterranean mooring which is taking ropes to take to the bow and tying on. These ropes are disgusting, covered in mud and barnacles. Then tie the stern to the wall and cross spring the stern to prevent lateral movement.

I realised that Philip’s ability to get the boat into smaller and yet smaller spaces had come on a pace. The Fairline agent had been arranged to come aboard to fit a new engine room fan.

The weather was glorious and we took the jet rib to a nearby beach and had lots of fun swimming and sunbathing.

We ate that night in a Chinese restaurant that we had eaten in eight years ago. We were really excited that we were in the med but were very aware that there was still a long way to go to Beaulieu.