From Cartagena to Almería: Our First Taste of Life at Sea
A longer trip aboard Wonderer: sailing from Cartagena to Aguadulce and back. 25-knot headwinds and dodging thunderstorms.
At a Glance
- Route: Cartagena -> Aguadulce -> Cartagena (~200 NM round trip)
- Stops: La Azohía, Cabo Cope, Águilas, Agua Amarga, Playa de los Genoveses, Puerto Deportivo Aguadulce
- Crew: Charlotte, Sakke, and our guest crew Sophie (Deckie Smith)
- Max Wind: 30 knots in a sudden squall
- Biggest Milestone: Survival
Dropping the Dock Lines
After weeks of deep cleaning, wrestling with plumbing and living in a sauna in Cartagena , it was finally time to put Wonderer (and ourselves) to the test out on the open sea. Even the marineros were happy for us to leave the marina, or maybe just to get us out of there!
Our rough goal was a 200-nautical-mile round trip to Aguadulce (near Almería). Joining us for the adventure was our friend Sophie, now known as Deckie Smith. Initially Sophie had booked a one-way ticket to see how she liked boat life, we were both convinced she would stay a maximum of 5 days once she realised how hot it was, especially her cabin which has heating in the forms of the engine and the oven. However, she quickly fell in love with boat life and stayed for a month!
What followed was a crash course in coastal cruising: narrow wind windows, crowded anchorages, rounding Cabo de Gata, and our first offshore storm scare.
The Outbound Leg
The passage south from Cartagena gave us an immediate welcome to Mediterranean summer sailing. The wind kicked in reliably between 12:00 and 17:00. Before midday and after five in the afternoon, the sea flattened, leaving us to drift along at 2-3 knots or to use the engine more than we wanted.
Our early stops at La Azohía and Cabo Cope were lovely and peaceful. We even had 3 day trippers join us in La Azohía, 2 of which had 0 experience on boats and were quite taken aback by pretty much everything, we also had the pleasure of answering their insightful questions such as “so can you steer it when the sails are up?”. We enjoyed some hiking, lots of snorkelling, a couple of dinners ashore, lots of star gazing in the evening and occasionally catching up on an episode of Off Campus. However, our attempt to stop at Playa del Fraile gave us a quick lesson in high-season cruising:
We dropped anchor in the bay, intending to stay the night but within an hour we were surrounded by day boats. Motorboats were dropping their anchors directly across our bow. Convinced someone was about to pull up our chain or swing into us, we waited for a clear exit path and made a swift retreat around the corner to the bay at Águilas. It was a shame as Playa del Fraile was easily one of the prettiest places we had stopped but we were all too on edge to relax, maybe we were being too precautious but it wasn’t worth the risk.
At Águilas, we found ourselves in the murkiest water we have had the whole trip, it was only when Charlotte pointed out that we can still see the bottom of the 6m site that maybe it wasn’t too bad and we had just been spoilt so far. Although Águilas brought noise and enough light pollution to ruin our star-gazing, it did bring us easy dinghy parking which supported our 200-euro Decathlon trip (we really must stop spending money) and a big restock in Carrefour. We also went for an excellent dinner with the best sardines and coconut granizados to follow.
From Águilas, we rounded the cliffs of the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park and stopped in Agua Amarga and Playa de los Genoveses which both had good sandy bottoms for holding our anchor and shelter from the prevailing swell. It was also at Playa de los Genoveses where we found ourselves anchored right next to another Finnish boat. The sweet Finnish man rushed straight to his flag when he spotted us and waved it in the air, it was at this point he started yelling instructions to Charlotte about where to anchor (in Finnish), not having the heart to break it to him that she didn’t understand, she just nodded along. He drove by for a chat the next morning and is now our first (and only) follower on the NoForeignLand app.
We continued onto Puerto Deportivo Aguadulce, where the perfect 2 weeks were rounded off by a pod of dolphins who put on a lovely show for us. This was our first marina stop since Cartagena, our main purpose was to do laundry but we soon regretted this as soon as the mooring lines were attached. It was a nice marina but it was surrounded by buzzing nightclubs that were open until 5am and approximately 400 degrees. The marina served its purpose, but we were all ecstatic to be leaving the next day after a night of virtually no sleep.
The Return Leg: The Cabo de Gata Battle & 7 Days of Headwinds
As we pulled out of the marina, we had 7 days to make it back to Cartagena for Deckie Smith to catch her flight and for us to make the appointment at the shipyard. We knew the return leg would be much quicker and less relaxing but we didn’t really expect to be hit with big swells, broken navigation lights, storms and headwinds for the entire week.
The most intense moment of the passage came on an open stretch between anchorages:
Charlotte and Sophie were resting, which was often the case on our 12 hour days, and the horizon behind us turned bruised purple. Massive storm clouds and dark curtains of rain were building over the mainland. Sakke woke up Sophie and Charlotte with “urm guys I think we’re about to be hit with some bad weather”. We started the engine, motorsailing further offshore to try and put distance between us and the core of the storm, A) Because this seemed logical and B) it’s what the other boats were doing.
The main storm narrowly and slowly swept past us. Thinking we were clear after about an hour had passed, we cut the engine and hoisted the sails back up, only to get slammed by the storm as the mainsail was halfway up.
Within seconds, the wind increased up to more than 30 knots, accompanied by rolling thunder and lightning. We tried to get the sail in immediately, with moderate success, and got the engine back on. We worked hard at the helm to keep the boat steady and hoped for the best. Luckily, the squall passed through quickly without causing any damage, and we were able to motor safely into our destination with our hearts pounding. No one had the courage to say “Let’s get the sails back up”.
Arriving back in La Azohía brought a huge wave of relief and a few beers were drunk that night. We knew we were practically home dry and the worst of the weather was over.
In a little over 3 weeks, we covered 200 nautical miles, tested our anchoring and sail trim in real 25–30 knot conditions, understood how long of a shower is too long, and proved that Wonderer is a capable, trustworthy home.
With our maiden voyage complete and our list of real-world observations noted, we headed straight into the ASCAR shipyard in Cartagena for our scheduled haul-out to tackle bottom painting, through-hull maintenance, and hopefully fix our navigation lights.
We must admit that we are a tad bit worried about our budget this month as the haul out and our new EPIRB & AIS devices have made a very significant dent in it, but we have hopefully come to the end of our big spending and can just worry about Mercadona trips and the occasional ice cream stop for the next few months.
Although we have thoroughly enjoyed staying with our lovely friend Alex in her conveniently located apartment, we are itching to get back on the water in the next couple of days, where life is quieter and Charlotte doesn’t feel nauseous from landsickness.
Stay tuned to follow us during our first extended(ish) passage to the Balearic Islands.
Charlotte & Sakke
15:30 UTC
Position 37° 47.919' N, 000° 49.114' W