Our Spanish Sailing Adventures.
Published 11:10 on 4 Oct 2023
By chance we met an old mate of ours at the Southampton Boat Show in 2018 who had moved his yacht many years ago to Spain. Having shared a coffee, many stories and then a beer, or maybe two, he said when are you going to visit us out at Sant Carles Marina. After admonishing him and reminding him that he had never invited us, he said well Im going out next week, why dont you come? The rest is history.
We bought Enjoy Life in Palma eight months later and started our new sailing adventure.
The previous owner had paid for 3 months berthing in Palma, so we had the benefit of that before sailing Enjoy Life 120 miles over to the Spanish mainland and joined our friends in Sant Carles.
Having been based there for 4 years we have had some amazing times.
Sant Carles Marina is a joint venture between Marina Developments Limited and a local consortium. As a consequence the marina has extremely good English support but has all the joys of being a quiet Spanish town. It is much cheaper than an MDL marina in the UK and vastly cheaper than being in the Balearics.
We are located half way between Barcelona and Valencia, so away from the cosmopolitan tourist areas. Travel is by ferry from Plymouth to Santander or flights from Bristol to Barcelona plus a hire car or the coach service.
Sailing on the east coast of Spain is quiet in the morning, but wait for the sea breeze to fill in in the afternoon. High winds come down from the Gulf de Lyon or catabatic winds but are not too frequent.
But what are the highlights.
The Balearics are 105 miles away with the most amazing calas and stunning scenery .
Very tasty tapas and cheap wine
The most friendly and helpful people
Valencia is 100 miles south
Barcelona is 100 miles north
Sant Carles is situated on the Ebra delta, where the river has travelled more than 300 miles through Spain picking up sediment and nutrients on its way. The fishing here is therefore brilliant. Sixty trawlers go out every day and return to offload their catch to a state of the art fish market in the evening. The beach bars and local restaurants bring us the benefit.
Sant Carles is a good launching port for a Mediterranean adventure, albeit many long distance cruisers have found it difficult to leave!
We have made an enormous number of friends there and are pleased that Richard and Louise Bray and Rob Sadler and Sue Carr have now come out to join us. Will you be tempted?
~ By Martin & Pam Smout.
