Anna – RCRC Cartagena Spain – who goes well beyond the call of duty to help you.

Thank you also for our food parcels from Grandma & Grandad

Grandma and Grandad Visit

Our first real guests were Grandad and Grandma who stayed with us for just under 3 weeks. The boat being confined I thought this was going to be testing, especially for me but it was excellent. I am not sure how my Mum got through customs with the amount of cheese that was in her pockets. Her baggage was full of essential items, like my birthday presents so she ended up wearing 3 weeks of clothes on her…how she didn’t pass out from heat exhaustion…They arrived on 31^st October so mum could get her broomstick out of the cupboard.

We had a great time visiting many museums and walking all over the city. I think she was really checking we were ok and I believe she went away feeling very happy. When are you coming again….we are all missing you. Thank you for everything.

Christmas 2016 – Cartagena

Cartagena cannot go too many weeks without holding some fantastic event where the whole town seems to come alive. We have experienced magic shows, live bands, running, dancing, jazz  and many other events, all held on the quay side right near our boat. Christmas was another special event. It starts about a week before 25 December and goes on well into January. Every square in the city seemed to have inflatable bouncy castles. Huge ones, all shapes and sizes which are free for all children every day. The one very near our boat had a huge course created which involved climbing through, around and over approximately 12 different types of inflatable things…. It was more like the TV show “total wipe-out”. Our girls spent hours going through it again and again. Every evening had different events. We saw a children’s show in one of the squares that lasted for around 2 hours and another night there was a record breaking largest bread/cake made. This was cut into many many pieces and everyone got a huge slice, followed by live music.  Again everything is free. The three kings came in by boat right across the bow of ours before landing on the quay side where thousands waited for their arrival. These are the kings that bring the presents to the children. That evening there was a large precession where tons of sweets and toys are thrown into the crowds. Our girls came home with a huge bag full of sweets.

Again everything is free. How amazing is that…a real feeling of a town that is happy..

We had made friends with a family on a boat behind us, they didn’t stay much on their boat but had an apartment in town. We hadn’t spoken to them that often but they soon invited us into their home  for Christmas Eve. They had three children aged approx. 8, 15 & 18. The families English was minimal but enough to make the evening fantastic. They entertained us like we were royalty and walking home at just before midnight it felt surreal the hospitality that they had shown us. The family lived in Oran, North Africa and the whole family were so lovely and polite. Thank you. They were strangers only a while before hand and now are special friends. This trip is all about meeting people just like that. Mind blowing.

On the way home we also believe we saw Father Xmas in the skies heading towards us so we hurried back so we were asleep when he came. I think Jessie heard him come on-board but she kept her eyes shut luckily.

So Christmas day was going to be different being on the boat, we had a small tree decorated in our cockpit. Santa had definitely found us and so we spent the morning opening presents. It felt odd as there was no preparing for a large dinner or anything as we were joining up with other boaters similar to ourselves in the other marina for a Xmas day special BBQ. A suckling pig and turkey was the menu. We just had to prepare one dish either a salad or a dessert hence there was no stress at all in food preparation and we could enjoy playing games with the girls. The stress we did have was trying to Skype home to talk to family which I believe everyone in the world must have been doing….

The afternoon at the BBQ was again magical. Sitting in beautiful sunshine, blue skies and eating as much food as you desire felt like heaven.

New years eve

We saw the new year in at another BBQ in the marina, again great food and we also made our own disco complete with YMCA. The super yacht Musashi was docked in the marina too and it was lovely when the crew came off and joined in with us. Musashi  was only worth around $80m with a full time crew of 20 just waiting for when the owner visits a couple of times a year….he has another boat so has the choice..the owner being something to do with being a founder of Oracle…A lot of the crew being young and British.

The boating community

Here in Cartagena there is a fabulous family we have joined in the boating community. All people with their own stories of why they are doing it but effectively all in the “same boat” as us…living on their boats exploring the world, the Mediterranean, living on the seas. Some with years of experience, some with little, some have made their boats themselves, Catamaran’s and monohull’s. Some driving Porsche’s some pushing bikes but all being the same. The community feeling is like what it used to be in the olden days I suppose. i.e. everyone so willing to help, lend a hand and truly be there if you need them. At this point I will just add that on this journey we have met many people, Albatross and Magellan have sailed with us for around 1,800 miles. Geoff and Christine from Magellan went home for the winter to help with marriage plans of their son. Rainer and Maritha are from Albatross, which is moored one side and Magellan the other. Rainer has helped me many many many times in jobs on the boat. He really is like a brother and is definitely a lifelong friend. Rainer, Geoff and myself are known as the 3 amigo’s. Many of you may know that my background isn’t mechanics or engineering and sometimes it feels like every job I touch, I make worse, but every time I have got stuck and needed help Rainer has always been willing to help. Every time I say thank you he says “Nada” which I think means “it’s nothing”. In return all I can do is make him smile…I hope that’s ok but I will always appreciate the time he spends with me as I learn more about my boat. He does have a fantastic wife, boat and anchor :-). I believe it takes around 4 years to know every corner of you boat. You literally have to undo every screw in your boat to know what’s behind everything. You have to understand what every wire and tube does. You have to be a mechanic, a plumber, an electrician, a navigator, a meteorologist, a crew motivator, a husband, a dad and also a sailor….. Luckily my wife covers many of the jobs as well as the children.

Well back to the sailing community, BBQ’s are organised every Sunday afternoon which attracts between 30 – 70 people.  They are sometimes followed by singing and music. Walks of the surrounding area occur weekly as does tapas nights and other social events. The whole community feels like a big family, as described, with all sorts of characters and we love them all. It does feel like now that we can’t actually walk down the main street without bumping into someone we know.

The boat

I love her to bits but I have been so surprised that we have had to continually maintain her. It  always feels good though. In some respect in the UK on average you may sail 500 miles in a year but we have done over 2,000, the  equivalent to 4 years so it’s no wonder she needs some TLC at times. The biggest and I believe the best investment we had to purchase was a new anchor. This was needed to ensure we keep safe and that we can sleep well and that the wife is a happier lady. The old one was a CQR (secure) which is a bit outdated now and took some time to ensure it was set properly. Read Caroline’s previous comments on this. The new one will hopefully set very quickly on its first drop and will hold us in winds over 50 knots…a good comforting feeling.

We are nearing the end of doing the jobs and I won’t list them but she is getting ready for the new season when we will hopefully just enjoy the hot weather.

Special Guests

Thank you to Tony and Ann for visiting us here in Spain and bringing out a treasure chest of goodies. I loved the crisps. I will definitely be taking Tony up on the offer of coming across the Atlantic next year. It will be a pleasure to have him on board.

Thank you for Lorraine and Brian also for visiting. I hadn’t seen Lorraine in around 16 years so a great time catching up.

Schooling

Well up to December we really enjoyed self-teaching the girls. When it’s just you and the two of them you can really go at a pace that suits them and you can make it fun. I was in charge of Maths and Caroline in charge of English. The other subjects we shared. Every morning we would pack the school bags, go up to the clubhouse and start school. We have loads of books and DVD’s to support us. I loved it. At the end of December we managed to get them into a Spanish school. The school spoke little English, pupils and teachers alike. In our minds they would be deviating from our study program but what they will learn from the culture and the language would be of huge benefit. I can’t imagine what it would be like for them sitting in classrooms where the teachers only spoke Spanish but they did it and now after 3 months really enjoy it. Their Spanish has blown me away and I am so proud of them. The teachers hug and kiss the children when they leave which is so lovely to see which wouldn’t be allowed in the UK. A nun greets all the children when they arrive and shakes all the children’s hands. The other children in all the years seem to look out for the girls and even we get hugs from children in other classes when we go to collect. The school have expressed their happiness in having the girls many times which is heart-warming. They finish soon and many parents have mentioned that their child will be upset. The teaching style is different to the UK and we really like it.

They have been attending after school club for Spanish dancing so are great movers now.

Another quick story but in the beginning we used to walk to school and many same faces used to walk past us on their way to work and not looking happy. Now we walk to school and the girls now chat to so many of these strangers which brings so many smiles to their faces every day, speaking Spanish and conversing with them.  Wonderful again.

 

Carnival week

Carnival week finished recently and again another great event in Cartagena. Every day there were parades in the street. One day was the schools turn and the girls were both dressed up as a shark and a Jelly fish with the rest of their school. For them to join in the festivity is really great. The large parade at the end was fabulous; it started around 6.30pm and was still going at 10.00pm. The outfits and costumes were unique. One thing that made it special was it covered all age groups, young children to the elderlies all in outfits joining in the fun. The people lining the streets also dressed up to join in.

 

So in summary life is still excellent and we feel so lucky still to be following our dreams.

Caroline trying to get away from me….

When I went diving I found some great sea creatures….and some mermaids..

 

The girls finished their school which I found truly breath taking. The kindness and comments were truly staggering. The school report was glowing for both of them. Such an excellent experience for the girls. See their pages for the photo’s. The teaching approach of the school is nothing like England but truly great. I hope we go back there so the girls can experience more from a great school. Even I got a great big hug from Javi (Jessie’s teacher). Thank you all so much, pupils and teachers alike.

We finally left Cartagena. Well we had little choice, our friend Tim came to visit for 7 days and his return flight was from Ibiza which was our recommendation. When checking the weather window to sail there we had little choice but to leave as soon as he arrived or we would be sailing into head wind all the way which isn’t much fun.

Cartagena – A city full of charm, aged buildings, modern mixes and deep traditions. It is influenced of course by the Roman occupational times as well as the modern mixture of Arabic presence brought over from nearby North Africa. The climate is fabulous, in the time we were over wintering we had a mixed bag of sunshine, snow, sunshine, rain showers, sunshine, sunshine and sunshine.  It is the warmest place in the med for wintering with sunshine nearly every day. Its strength baked the decks, allowed seeds to germinate within 3 days and produced fruit and veg of huge proportions. We loved it.

With the naval base in close quarters of our marina base, we witnessed warship manoeuvres on a regular basis, with the full piped Spanish national anthem blasted out of the speakers of the ship – even if it was ridiculous o clock in the morning. On a day sail out around to the next bay, we had submarines surfacing directly abeam of us, on both sides at once on one occasion!. Funnily enough they did not show up on our AIS…..With such a strong Naval presence the home of the 1^st ever submarine built, the Issac Peril, was housed in a purpose built enclosure a stone’s throw from where we were moored together with a huge naval museum which was free to explore. The girls thoroughly enjoyed their visit to this and the Archaeological underwater museum too. Huge roman urns were displayed within glass cases reaching to the ceiling.  Thousands of Pieces of eight and doubloons found in a Spanish galleon by Americans who had taken it back to the USA – only to have it returned to Spain after a huge court battle ensued – were also on display. An old wooden skiff found in Mazarron bay was sited inside the museum exactly as they had recovered it from the bay, including the full set of bones also found among its structure. A great historical place with so much to offer young minds.

Tradition is strong in Spain. From having the usual siesta in the afternoon when the shops close from 14:00 – 17:00 with schools also breaking  for that time, to the very strong religious the traditions associated with peak times of the Christian and roman catholic calendars. We experienced

Christmas:-  Usually celebrated on the 6^th January when the 3 kings presented themselves with gifts for Baby Jesus. Over 2 weeks of full on activity for all. Not only were the streets decorated with festival lights as is the norm back home, but each square had bouncy castles erected for the children to use – free of charge. There was also open air theatres erected, again with free entertainment for all on a daily basis although all in Spanish we thoroughly enjoyed them. The 3 kings procession was much awaited by hundreds of children and adults alike. Their arrival was by tourist boat onto the quay side, right passed the bow of Arctic. They then led the main procession in the evening when they threw gifts out to the waiting masses. The girls caught over half a carrier bag of sweets from all the various floats.

Carnival:- Over 2 weeks of street dance, parades and elaborate costumes. Varying from the sublime to the ridiculous, across the widest spectrum of ages we witnessed parades on most nights. The peak being the main parade which went on for over 4 hours!. I have to say there we lots more scantily clad females than males but it was still a spectacle worth seeing. It was bitterly cold and the girls were getting chilly so we left dad to his own devises and headed back to the warmth of Arctic well before the end of the parade was anywhere near. Dad stayed to the bitter end and caught lots of photos…..

Easter:- Parades of all different sorts. Lots of people dressed in elaborate robes of velvet and embroidery of all differing ages. Children handing out sweets to all in the crowds. The highlight for us being the silent parade. All street lights were switched off so it was pitch black, and the robed figures passing the crowds lining the streets in utter silence. A very eerie feeling, watching a float sweep towards you – powered by 122 human souls in total darkness and silence. Higher in the mountain passes, there are some who still carry a replica of Christ’s cross up to the top to be erected and lain out for all to see. I can only imagine what a huge spectacle that must be and also how thought provoking for those witnessing its march, whether you believe in its happening or not.

In summary – Cartagena has stolen a piece of our hearts and we were very sad to see it pass behind us as we slipped our lines and made for the holiday mecca and party central of the Balearics. 1^st stop- IBIZA.