The holidays have come and gone and gone and the full weight of a New England winter has shown up and it’s VERY DIFFERENT than the tropical winters of the last 12 years. We have had snow several times and there will surely be more on the way.
I also know that we are getting into winter as the fall Frostbite series has come and gone. And, let me tell you, sailing in cold weather is not at all like the Caribbean and to be in foul weather gear and still being cold was a new experience as with a full enclosure, even with thousands of ocean miles over the years, I have hardly worn gear all that time. After a decade of southern, my blood is plenty thin.
Being in an increasingly cold and cloudy/dreary place now and realizing that it’s only going to get worse has made me all the more focused on what comes next when we return to Pandora for a new season of sailing in our new stomping grounds, the western Mediterranean.
After more than a decade of winters afloat that took us down the Intra Coastal Waterway from CT to Florida then several seasons in the Bahamas, a few months in Cuba and now 9 seasons in the Eastern Caribbean, the idea of cruising in the Mediterranean is so new to me that I really don’t know how to imagine out time what our time aboard next spring will bring. Heck, I can’t even consistently spell Mediterranean without spell-check…
The repairs to Pandora’s rudder are complete and I have decided to hold off on repairs to the Hydrovane as I don’t expect to use it while I am in the Med anyway. I do want to have the main shaft looked at to see if it can be bent back into place without compromising the unit. As the shaft was only marginally bent, we will see how it looks and decide what to do next.
I also remain concerned about the primary rudder bearings after they took such a beating from the orcas, when they ripped off the bottom of my rudder. While the obvious damage has been fixed, I remain anxious about possible hidden damage to the bearings from the massive side loads that they were subjected to. When I head back, now planned for mid March, I will have a good look at the unit along with the steering gear linkage to see if I can detect any damage. When the boat is sailing in rough conditions, these areas a subject to enormous loads and I’d hate to find out that there was damage that I didn’t see and have the worse happen…
So the plan is to head back to Spain to get Pandora ready for our two months of spring cruising before heading back to the US for the summer and back to the Med for two months in the fall. As excited as we are about this new chapter, we aren’t crazy about giving up summers in CT hence the split visit.
We have had several discussions with friends who have spent time …….Recently we talked to a cruising couple about their time in the Western Med and they highlighted Easter week in Cartagena, Spain as a must see event. Throughout southern Spain the festivals are quite spectacular with a week of parades and festivals.
Cartagena is about 150 miles from Almerimar which will be a single overnight or two long days. As there aren’t any natural harbors on the coast in this part of Spain, I expect that we will try to do the run in a single shot to avoid docking just for a single night in an unfamiliar marina, only to move on the very next morning.
This short video gives a good feel for what the city has to offer including some of the best Roman ruins in Europe. Although, if you do all that they suggest in a single day, you will be stuffed, drunk and exhausted. For us, perhaps stretching their recommendations to a week makes sense.
While there are many elaborate celebrations for Easter in Spain, Cartagena is the only one that is held in an area with a marina. Another benefit is that Cartagena is also on the way to the Balearics where we expect to to spend perhaps a month exploring those islands.
Easter in Cartagena lasts for a full week and features elaborate parades and festivals every day. The processions feature some huge floats, carried on the shoulders of many people as they make their way through the meandering streets.
There are a lot of costumes that look like the KKK but there does not appear to be any direct link. Additionally, these costumes are centuries older than the KKK that was formed shortly after the Civil War. These costumes come in all sorts of colors representing different clans or religious sects.
And speaking of inspiration, perhaps this float, and others like it, have something to do with the recent remodeling of the Oval Office.
Cartegenial is also the home of some of the most amazing Roman ruins in Europe, like this Roman amphitheatre.
I have been in touch with the marina in Cartagena for an Easter visit and learned that dockage for Pandora will be perhaps in the $75 a night or so. Not terrible and with so much to see, we will surely spend a full week there before moving on.
After the Easter celebrations we hope to head to the Balearics, a group of islands off of the Spanish Coast and home to the “Yachting scene” each summer with mega-yachts making their home there for much of the season.
We really don’t know much about that area, I will admit, but from what we have been told, Ibiza is a good place to start as it’s less built up than Palma.
This video gives a good feel for all that is possible to enjoy on the island of Ibeza. Some, I will admit, is a bit too “hip” for me and Brenda but it seems that there is still plenty to do for those of us that “are of a certain age”. And, speaking of “a certain age”, there is even a “hippy village”.
So, where is Pandora going next? This seems like as good a plan as any and given the fact that we have never been there…Well, wish us luck.
Next step, find flights to get us to Pandora which is no simple feat.
Now, if I can just keep from freezing to death in the meantime. Ha!