9/6/23 Huntington Beach, CA
It has been a busy week getting ready to depart for 3 months
back in the Med. We did slip away to Catalina for the long weekend and our
club’s annual Luau on the beach. The luau was a success and the food was great.
Arriving back at our dock on Labor Day we spent the day putting Rascal away for
the fall.
Departure day and we are beyond ready to go with just two rolling duffels and two carry on briefcases we are traveling light. Our friend Inez picked us up promptly at 7:30 and delivered us to John Wayne airport for a 10:06 flight to Salt Lake City, the first leg of the journey. With TSA pre and Delta Priority we quickly checked luggage and managed to clear security in minutes. I like to be at the airport early and calmly wait for our boarding. The Comfort + seats on the plane were roomy and a nap had the flight over in no time, arriving early at SLC.
The flight to Paris was on time and it was a beautiful day
for flying. We love the Premium Economy seats and the extra amenities. We are
both vertically challenged in opposite directions, Suzette likes the fold out
foot rest so her short legs are supported and I like the extra room for my long
legs. We settled in for the 9-hour flight to Charles de Gaulle airport. Dinner, an old movie, a nap, another old
movie, another nap, breakfast and we were there early! Charles de Gaulle is a
very confusing airport so I am always happy to have some time between flights
to negotiate the labyrinth of trains, conveyors, tunnels and bridges. With our
gate located there was time for shopping. The Paris security people took away
Suzette’s 125 ml hand lotion (100 ml limit) so she needed to buy a new one.
9/7/23 Paris, France
The flight to Barcelona departed about 30 mins late, it was a
short flight and was quickly dispatched with a nap. In Barcelona our luggage
arrived quickly, though a zipper had blown out and one of the bags it was put in a
plastic bag by the airline to keep from losing the contents. Our driver was summoned and we
were on our way south on our final leg back to Sant Carles Marina, La Rapita,
Spain and Raffaellesco. He dropped us at our now favorite hotel, Hotel Del
Port. The owner recognized us and we quickly caught up on current events. When
we last saw her, she was headed to California to see her daughter graduate from
Stanford. This time she had just returned from New York where her daughter had
taken a job.
Our room was familiar, but we were only in for one night so
we did not need to unpack. A little freshening up and we walked the couple
kilometers to the Marina with some of our belongings to start loading
Raffaellesco. The weather was clear and hot, 85 degrees, with a light
southeasterly breeze. Raffaellesco had just been splashed a couple hours
earlier and sat tied to the quay waiting for us. The new boot stripe looked
beautiful and she shined with her freshly waxed hull. We had not planned to
move her to her slip, but they wanted her out of their way so we readied for departure.
The Marinaros waived us into our new slip across the fairway from last season’s
slip. The wind was light and favorable, we docked the boat easily, surprised at
how quickly it all seemed so familiar after being away 3 months.
We spent a little time putting things away before heading to the marina restaurant for some sustenance. They have a wood fired pizza oven, so pizza and a salad were very satisfying, not to mention a gin and tonic. We walked back to the hotel and collapsed into our bed for a well deserved sleep.
9/8/23 Sant Carles La Rapita, Spain
Up early to prepare for the day. Breakfast at the hotel with
lots of traditional Spanish choices; Jamone, Cheese, Bread, Egg Fritata, espresso
and fruit. We schlepped the rest of our stuff to the boat and began the
recommissioning process. I worked outside getting the bimini, dodger and solar
panels put together while Suzette cleaned and organized below. Next, I reran
all of the lines I had stowed and readied the jib to be bent on. The breeze was
up so the jib would have to wait. By 1300 it was hot and we were hungry so we
had a light lunch at the marina restaurant, beer is a food group. After lunch
we decided that a siesta at the pool was in order so we found a shady spot for
our chairs, took a dip in the salt water infinity pool and relaxed in the light
breeze and cool of the shade.
Revitalized it was back to work. Our boat neighbor was quite chatty so I had to delicately balance civility and productivity. In the afternoon I had all of the safety gear in place and the all important grill installed. We were out of Butane so there would be no cooking on the boat until we bought new bottles of butane. As usual we have arrived on a Local holiday and nothing was open. We wrapped up for the day around 1900 and headed to the marina restaurant for another pizza and G&T.
It was warm, but not unbearable sleeping on the boat.
However, like most places in Spain on the weekend, the Dance music played until
600 in the morning!
9/9/23 Sant Carles La Rapita, Spain
Another beautiful clear day, though there always seem to be
a cloud hanging on the mountain to the south. We rented a car for the day and
made our rounds to the stores for provisions; Butane from the Ferreteria,
groceries from the Mercadona, Cheese from the La Formatgeria. Off loaded the
goods on to the boat and headed to the wine store to stock the wine and liquor
locker as well as find a few more missing grocery items. We stopped at the
chandlery and settled up our boat yard bill. I was pleasantly surprised that it
came in 1,000 euros less than estimated!
Since we had the car, we drove out on the peninsula to check
out the Pink Flamingos and the estuary. Hundreds of Flamingos milled about in
the post harvest rice fields, though I am not sure what they were eating we did
see remnants of small crabs strewn about. Further out on the Peninsula we could
see the Sea on one side and the Bahia de Alfacs on the other. We stopped in a
place where they were hosting a bird watching festival. Talking to the curator
we learned of an invasive species of crab, Maryland Blue Crabs, go figure. As a
native Marylander I was elated by this discovery and they were happy to have
you eat these crabs. Now we are on a mission to find a place that serves the
crabs.
We made our way home, filled the car with diesel, cleaned up and met our new friends David and Chantel. We met them on our last visit, they have the same boat as ours. We walked into town and enjoyed a cocktail at a café on the square and dinner at La Moderna. We each ordered 3 plates of Tapas and shared in the traditional Spanish Fair; pepitas, Tuna Sashimi, salad, liver pate over eggs, croquets, and calamari. After diner we went back to our boat and enjoyed an after dinner drink, crème de on ice with cinnamon. We talked until midnight; we must be getting over our jet lag.
9/10/23 Sant Carles La Rapita, Spain
Up early to prepare the boat for departure. Returned the car
and settled our bill with the Marina. Enjoyed a last swim in the pool to refresh
and we were on our way. Followed the markers closely as the bay is shallow,
headed NE and motored to our anchorage. It was an opportunity to run the water
maker and refill our water tank. The wind was favorable, but light. Rounded Cabo
Tortosa and quickly found our anchorage dropping the hook in 4m of water a couple
hundred meters off of Playa Riumar. The water was murky as this was the out
flow of the Rio Ebro. Fired up the Generator so we could do some laundry, run
the AC to cool the cabin down and continue making water. While Suzette was
managing all of that I rigged the davits and put the dinghy together on deck.
We had bought a whole Jamone in La Rapita so Suzette was enjoying the first carving of this beast. Salad, bread, gorgonzola and jamone for dinner with a delicious wine. They make this cream Gorgonzola here that is like butter and so delicious. A couple rounds of Pinocle and off to bed for a very calm night on the hook.
9/11/23 Playa Riumar, Spain
A very lazy morning sleeping in to 900! I did go up on deck
at about 0500 to marvel at the calm and serenity of this anchorage. Off in the
distance I could see lightning in land, but heard no thunder. We were going to
take the dinghy into shore in search of Blue Crabs, but the battery for the outboard
was not charged so we simply relaxed and read in the cockpit.
Got underway about 1400 under clear skies and a blazing sun.
The breeze was SE so we unfurled the sails and headed NE on a broad reach. The
wind was light, not what they predicted, so we meandered along at 4 to 5 knots.
About 1700 we gave up on the wind and determined that we should motor if we want
to arrive in the daylight. The anchorage was tucked behind a jetty off of Playa
del Rico. Unfortunately, the swimming buoys were still out so we could not tuck
in as far as we would have liked to avoid the light swell. The admiral said, “go closer in out of the swell”. The captain said "no, you can’t anchor inside the
swim buoys”.
We reprised the
previous night’s dinner adding a few new ingredients to the salad. I opened a
bottle of wine that turned out to be really great, “Mucho Mas”. Buying wine
here has been a guessing game so it is nice when we stumble on a favorite. Hope
we can find more. The shore came alive as the sun set, the music started and
the lights in the resort shown colorful and bright. There were some interesting
sculptures made of steel on shore, we will have to take a closer look in the
morning. To the north was the ancient city of Tarragona. Tarragona is a fairly
large port dating back to Roman times. A bit of a rolling night, but not so bad
that I could not sleep.
9/12/23 Playa del Rico, Spain
Up early for a beautiful sun Rise. We deployed the dinghy and rowed to show. The beach goers are always enthralled by someone arriving on the beach from and anchored boat. We walked the beach taking in what looked like an old, ancient, lookout tower with modern art integrated into it. Another piece of art was a stand of trees fashioned out of steel and creating shade. The sand was very fine, like it was mixed with fine silt. As we rowed back to the boat, we saw a number of large, 1 foot in diameter, jelly fish, white with a red rim. I need to by a Mediterranean fish ID book to properly identify our discoveries.
Lookout Tower
Art?
We got underway about 1100 to escape the roll and headed
north to another anchorage called El Miracle. We had requested a birth in Tarragona,
but had not heard from them, so El Miracle would be the next best thing. Again,
we anchored in about 4 m right next to the swim buoy line at the eastern edge
of the anchorage. This was much more comfortable with a light breeze and a
small swell on our nose. The Harbor Police stopped by to check that we were
outside the swim buoys and gave us a thumbs up. Shortly after that the Civil
Guardia came by checking out our position. Satisfied that we were outside the
swim buoys they moved on. Looks like the captain may have been right.
Suzette work on her continuing efforts to clean around the
swim platform while I assembled the new stern anchor. I was motivated by the
fact the we could have used it the previous night to avoid the rolling sea. We
enjoyed lunch in the cockpit with the breeze keeping us comfortable. The marina
did finally respond that we could have a birth, so we headed into the marina
about 1600.
The marineros was very helpful in getting us properly moored,
then escorted us to the office to get checked in. He gave us a little tour of
the marina along the way. The heat on shore was oppressive and the tall see
wall blocked the breeze; we were starting to think maybe the anchorage would
have been better. We got checked in and decide a cool shower would set us straight
for the evening. The clouds were moving in so now it was not so hot and we even
received a sprinkle of rain. All is well as the sun set and we were quite
comfortable on board.
9/13/23 Porto Esportiu Marina, Tarragona, Spain
Another hot day under super clear skies. We are starting to
understand the need for the siesta. By 1300 or 1400 it is so hot that working
is not fun, so you find a shady spot, eat and take a nap. By 1600 it is getting
comfortable and you can return to work. And so we have adopted the siesta as
part of the routine. We set off in the morning to explore Tarragona, a port
city dating back to the Roman times, 200 BC. No vist would be complete with out
a stop at the chandlery for some boat parts. This had us down in the old port
where all the mega yachts are birthed. Amazing to see the size of these
beauties.
We walked the grand boulevard, Rambla Nova, to the south end where you could look out over the Mediterranean from high above the port. Below we could see our marina, the anchorage and the Roman Amphitheatre. From here we walked the narrow streets further up the hill into the old city still surrounded by the wall that protected the city when Romans claimed the area. The old Roman ruins were mostly covered up by new construction in the 12th to 14th century, but, much to some developer’s disappointment, they were uncovered during construction excavations for new buildings. The archeologists swooped in and preserved the ruins.
Lunch on the square near the Marcato Centra was Cervezas and
Patatas Bravas. We toured the Mercato, not as grand a market as the Catalina
Market in Palma, but beautiful non the less. We picked up a few fresh items as
well as a homemade bottle of Gazpacho. With my nap sack getting full we made
our way down the hill and back to the boat. I imagine that we walked about 7 or
8 km.
With my chandlery purchases I launched into assembling a
water filter system to install in the dock water line coming into the boat. My
other project for the afternoon was to finish fabricating the wood panel that
will accommodate all the 230v system switches and meters. Enough work for one
day, time for a cool shower, a sundowner and dinner. The evening cooled nicely
and the boat was quite comfortable for sleeping.
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