Visited the museum of maritime archeology which was fascinating with the Wreck of a 7 century BC sailing boat having been discovered at Mazarron just south of here. Boat maintenance today was decks as always and life jackets. A lot of puff to blow up this lot!

Great days sailing from Aquilas to Cartagena. Sun out broad reaching in a flat sea at7.5 knots. The sea food counters are great in the supermarkets so we had fresh prawns followed by Dorado and ratatouille. Desert fresh strawberries

Waste not want not? Jim being highly organised made a list of the food on board when he arrived and we have steadily been eating up old food along with new things. Oldest is Waitrose pasta. Since we have not been in n UK for 4 years and the packet was already partly used I am guessing 5 years old. Bread sticks with best before September 2016. Caesar salad dressing from November 2016. Foil from Tesco not a food but at least 6 years old. It is much easier to tra...

65 miles is a long way for the first sail of the season with new propeller and major serviced engine. We were close hauled to Cabo de Gata and then the wind got up to 20 knots on the nose so tacked for several hours before finally motor sailing the last couple of hours. Only one issue, water drops found their way in down the mast. A job for the gaffer tape tomorrow. This marina is never even a tenth full so we can moor alongside which is a nice luxury in the me...

Final day of boat prep. We sail tomorrow. The heads(toilet) would not pump out so time to dismantle. As you can see there are lots of bits. Having diagnosed the problem we took apart the relevant parts and cleaned before reassembling to get a fully working toilet. Assembled the new dan buoy to replace the one lost in the Bonefacio Straits last year. Fixed the navigation lights and washed the ropes before a delicious fish dinner cooked by Jim. We are off to Guruch...