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!
