Tangier to Cartagena

After our release from Morocco, we hopped along the coast of southern Spain, bypassing Gibraltar and finally sailing into the Med. Weather dictated that we needed to spend 5 days in La Herradura, just beyond Malaga. It ended up being the perfect antidote to all those months of being cooped up. Anchored in a beautiful and popular bay, we spent our days swimming, snorkelling and kayaking in the crystal clear waters.

After a couple of more day sails we landed in Cartagena, which had been in our sights for a long time. We were originally due here back in March, so it was a relief to finally sail into the bay and tie up to solid Spanish ground. Cartagena was not only a tactical stop for us, but also a surprisingly pleasant one too. We hired a car in order to complete some various jobs; formally checking into the country, patching up a sail, servicing our generator for a recall issue, receiving some online orders & deliveries, stocking up on goods we couldn’t source outside of Europe, and general provisioning.

Along with this we also had the opportunity to see a bit of Cartagena itself; a beautiful city that carries a lot of history. Cartagena has been inhabited for over two millennia, and amongst the various architecture it has some very well-preserved Roman archaeological sights. The city has long been a strategic naval seaport, and to this day it is the main military haven of Spain with a large naval shipyard. So visiting the city’s Naval Museum was a particular highlight for the children. As for us, catching up with a few sailing friends who were also in town was pretty fun too!