A Taste of the Western Med

How different is the Med. The humidity and trades have disappeared and been replaced with dry heat and fickle winds. No compliants of course...and the night air seems a little cooler and a whole lot more comfortable. We've made our way up the southern coast of Spain to Cartagena and enjoyed that interesting, friendly city. The ASCAR boatyard was superb and lifted Moana economically & safely to carry out some overdue jobs which have accumulated over the past year. The electronics grounding plate had disappeared somewhere in the Caribbean Sea and it was a chance to replace underwater anodes and the bilge pump discharge valve (with it's sheared handle stem on the TransAt!) We also took the chance to reactivate the Coppercoat. Living 'on the hard' for 4 days wasn't so comfortable, but Cartagena is a beautiful city and packed with interesting shops, museums, history and entertainment.

Spruced up and back afloat we headed for the Balearics, first stop Formentera. In light winds we motorsailed through a long day to reach the southern end of the isand. On route the propeller snagged a 4m x 2m sheet of polythene, probably blown from the huge fruit and veg. growing areas around Murcia. We stopped the engine immediately and couldn't free it, only a dive in the Big Blue with a knife managed to solve the problem. Relieved to be back living the island life we took our first swim in the crystal clear Balearic water off Raco de Sa Pujada. Wonderful!