Monday, Aug 11, 2014 –
A few last minute projects, including internet work since we will not have the internet for a few days. By mid-afternoon we were out of the marina and had filled our fuel tanks. This is our first real overnight sail in the Med. Within the hour we were rounding Gibraltar in heavy seas. In a few hours we were out of sight of land, sailing NE about 15 miles off the coast of Spain. The winds were very light and the seas about six feet every three seconds. That really rolls the boat and makes a nasty passage. We put on the engine and let out the head sail. It was rolly most of the night, reminding us of the passage we did from Charleston, SC to Florida back in December in similar seas. Not fun. By morning, however, the seas had calmed and the waves became farther apart significantly reducing the rolling. The winds had also calmed even more, so we ended up motoring for the nearly forty-hour run to Cartagena.
Cartagena is a busy naval, commercial and fishing port with a lot of history. This city was established by the Phoenicians about 243 BC and later became the center of Carthaginian influence in Europe, helped by slaves working the gold and silver mines of the region. Through hundreds of years of struggles, it changed hands to the Romans in 36 AD, followed by the Barbarians, the Moors, and back to the Christians in the 16th century.