petem
Well-Known Member
We flew into Reus on Sunday afternoon. As this was to be a one way trip to St Carles we couldn’t hire a car so had to make other arrangement. A taxi for the whole trip was going to be €150 so we took a taxi to Salou, a train to L'Aldea and another taxi to SCM. Quite a nice railway journey with much of it hugging the coast. Anyhow, arrived in SCM in time for a bit of dinner and a few drinks in the bar. Spent Monday relaxing and stocking up with as much food and drink as we could carry from the supermarket. Met Hurricane and Timbad in the bar and discussed weather for the following day. Despite talk of storms in Mallorca all the forecast sites / apps showed settled conditions for the following few days.
Tuesday (leg 1)
Decided that the time and conditions were right to head for Valencia (SCM reception said they'd book us a space). Conditions OK, scattered clouds, <10kts of wind, a little lumpier than I'd have liked but we were able to plough on at 25kts in relative comfort. It was the first time I'd left a home marina to move to a new one and it was a strange but rather exciting feeling.
Bye bye Sant Carles!
We were soon out of the marina and within 40 mins or so we'd passed Peniscola which is the furthest point we'd taken the boat since being in SCM. Dodged a few pots but didn’t see any other pleasure boats.
Around 4 hours later we arrived at La Marina De Valencia. Tied up to the fuel berth and re-fuelled. Following that, we were led to our berth (€25) by the very helpful marineros in their RIB. If you've never been, the marina at Valencia is quite lively with lots of boaty stuff going on and a swish beach club and pool next to the marina. Unfortunately Hurricane's recommended restaurant was shut so we found a tapas place for some dinner and a couple of pints. Weather a bit crap so we had an early night.
Distance covered: 83.4 nautical miles / 96 statute miles
Fuel burned: c. 300 litres / 66 gallons
I'd have hung about for a day in Valencia but SWMBO wasn't too taken with the place so we decided to press on. Again, conditions were good and as the weather looked settled we decided to stop at Denia on route. A nice cruise in good weather saw us arrive at Marina De Denia a couple of hours later (followed in by the Ibiza jet ferry). We hadn’t made a booking so stopped on an empty looking quay and booked in for the night, again approx. €25. Check in process was incredibly tortuous having to provide passports for all crew, ships registration, insurance, loads of forms for submission to police and took the best part of an hour.
Another Andiamo!
Apart from the pool being shut, we were very taken with the marina. Immaculately clean, laundry, good showers, lots of bars and restaurants. Could easily have stayed there for a few days. Had a superb dinner and drinks at the Republic Lounge for €50 or so.
Distance covered: c. 40 nautical miles / 46 statute miles
Thursday (leg 3)
Decided to continue on to our new home port (Greenwich Marina). Fantastic sunny day with no wind and we hugged the very picturesque coastline passing Xabia, Moraira and Calpe before rounding the corner to head into Greenwich. Re-fuelled and checked in.
Moraira I think.
Met Paul Meeson (ex Fairline chap and boat fixer extraordinaire) who kindly showed us around and gave us a lift to the supermarket to stock up with provisions.
Distance covered: c. 23 nautical miles / 27 status miles
Fuel burned: 220 litres / 48 gallons (for legs 2 and 3)
Greenwich (aka Campomanes / Mascarat)
We really like the marina and think we've made a good choice. It was purpose build in the 70's and is a little marina village (think Port Solent) along the coast and down a hill from Altea. There's a smattering of cafes and restaurants, a few cool bars and beaches / bars to the North and South.
One of our new local bars!
Spotted two T34's on the way in and a couple of T38's in front of us.
Targa 34's
Targa 38’s
We've been allocated a berth on the main quay so there's a little gawking from passers-by but nowhere near as bad as it would be in other places. Shower block is truly atrocious but nearby!
We're on the left. Yacht club and bar a few boats away.
View towards Benidorm
Boat behaved very well with no issues to speak of. Even the plotter and autopilot worked. Whilst the conditions weren’t challenging it has really helped us to get to know the boat in cruising conditions and what our limits are (max 100 miles non-stop). Boat seems to be happiest cruising at 3000 revs giving around 26kts and around 1.5 status miles per gallon. We carry 592 litres of fuel (130 gallons) so have a theoretical range of 195 statute miles @ 26kts.
Return taxi from the marina to Alicante took 55 mins and cost €85.
All in all, we really enjoyed the trip and were glad that we were semi forced to make it (normally we’re a little too lazy and just potter about). We’re really excited with the prospect of cruising in a new are and will be sampling the north and south cost over the next couple of seasons.
Tuesday (leg 1)
Decided that the time and conditions were right to head for Valencia (SCM reception said they'd book us a space). Conditions OK, scattered clouds, <10kts of wind, a little lumpier than I'd have liked but we were able to plough on at 25kts in relative comfort. It was the first time I'd left a home marina to move to a new one and it was a strange but rather exciting feeling.
Bye bye Sant Carles!
We were soon out of the marina and within 40 mins or so we'd passed Peniscola which is the furthest point we'd taken the boat since being in SCM. Dodged a few pots but didn’t see any other pleasure boats.
Around 4 hours later we arrived at La Marina De Valencia. Tied up to the fuel berth and re-fuelled. Following that, we were led to our berth (€25) by the very helpful marineros in their RIB. If you've never been, the marina at Valencia is quite lively with lots of boaty stuff going on and a swish beach club and pool next to the marina. Unfortunately Hurricane's recommended restaurant was shut so we found a tapas place for some dinner and a couple of pints. Weather a bit crap so we had an early night.
Distance covered: 83.4 nautical miles / 96 statute miles
Fuel burned: c. 300 litres / 66 gallons
I'd have hung about for a day in Valencia but SWMBO wasn't too taken with the place so we decided to press on. Again, conditions were good and as the weather looked settled we decided to stop at Denia on route. A nice cruise in good weather saw us arrive at Marina De Denia a couple of hours later (followed in by the Ibiza jet ferry). We hadn’t made a booking so stopped on an empty looking quay and booked in for the night, again approx. €25. Check in process was incredibly tortuous having to provide passports for all crew, ships registration, insurance, loads of forms for submission to police and took the best part of an hour.
Another Andiamo!
Apart from the pool being shut, we were very taken with the marina. Immaculately clean, laundry, good showers, lots of bars and restaurants. Could easily have stayed there for a few days. Had a superb dinner and drinks at the Republic Lounge for €50 or so.
Distance covered: c. 40 nautical miles / 46 statute miles
Thursday (leg 3)
Decided to continue on to our new home port (Greenwich Marina). Fantastic sunny day with no wind and we hugged the very picturesque coastline passing Xabia, Moraira and Calpe before rounding the corner to head into Greenwich. Re-fuelled and checked in.
Moraira I think.
Met Paul Meeson (ex Fairline chap and boat fixer extraordinaire) who kindly showed us around and gave us a lift to the supermarket to stock up with provisions.
Distance covered: c. 23 nautical miles / 27 status miles
Fuel burned: 220 litres / 48 gallons (for legs 2 and 3)
Greenwich (aka Campomanes / Mascarat)
We really like the marina and think we've made a good choice. It was purpose build in the 70's and is a little marina village (think Port Solent) along the coast and down a hill from Altea. There's a smattering of cafes and restaurants, a few cool bars and beaches / bars to the North and South.
One of our new local bars!
Spotted two T34's on the way in and a couple of T38's in front of us.
Targa 34's
Targa 38’s
We've been allocated a berth on the main quay so there's a little gawking from passers-by but nowhere near as bad as it would be in other places. Shower block is truly atrocious but nearby!
We're on the left. Yacht club and bar a few boats away.
View towards Benidorm
Boat behaved very well with no issues to speak of. Even the plotter and autopilot worked. Whilst the conditions weren’t challenging it has really helped us to get to know the boat in cruising conditions and what our limits are (max 100 miles non-stop). Boat seems to be happiest cruising at 3000 revs giving around 26kts and around 1.5 status miles per gallon. We carry 592 litres of fuel (130 gallons) so have a theoretical range of 195 statute miles @ 26kts.
Return taxi from the marina to Alicante took 55 mins and cost €85.
All in all, we really enjoyed the trip and were glad that we were semi forced to make it (normally we’re a little too lazy and just potter about). We’re really excited with the prospect of cruising in a new are and will be sampling the north and south cost over the next couple of seasons.
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! Temps put on the water were the same. I'm not sure how warm the sea was, very pleasant I imagine. 
