Sunday 28 April 2019

It was great to get up to see the sunrise over the cliffs in peace and seclusion. Only two other yachts had stayed on buoys overnight and no one else was up. The sea was calm. I love that part of the day, especially when everyone else still sleeps.

We slipped our mooring mid morning, when a nice breeze had come in and enjoyed good up-wind sailing, with the boat so beautifully balanced, you almost didn’t need to steer, under a clear blue sky. Equinox is an absolute joy to sail.

As we approached Denia, there were lots of day-sailing yachts out in the bay in these perfect conditions: sunshine and flat water with a F3 breeze.

The navigation up this coast is super easy, as is entry into the port of Denia.

None of the marinas since Cartagena have lived up to their level of service. We have trouble getting them to respond on the VHF, often resorting to telephoning, despite having a booking and being told to just hail them on the VHF when we are at the marina entrance. It’s been stock advice of “call us when you are at the entrance”, with our response being “we are at the entrance”. Today, when still nobody responded to give us berthing instructions, we could see that there were very limited places deep enough for us to go, so we just made our approach to one of these slots. It’s amazing that then someone suddenly appears, seemly surprised that we cannot go where they thought we might, once they realised they were trying to put us in a berth that we could not get to.

Once tied up, and settled we were in a good spot, someone else appeared and suggest we move. No thanks. I think it’s just that they are not used to many transit visitors; they seem to mainly cater for resident berth holders.

We walked through the town, which was rather deserted on Sunday at siesta time. As recommended we went up to the castle to enjoy the views of the town and surrounding hills. As ever, the castle was built in 12th century, to defend against the invading Berbers. It was good to stretch our legs, walking up the hill. By time we came down to the town again it was 5.00pm and the shops were opening and the place coming alive. There are numerous dockside restaurants and cafes with a nice relaxed feel to the place. We could sit out until sunset, feeling the warmth of the sun.

Distance covered today	11	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	233	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	233	nautical miles
Tricia (and Steve)