Barb's Thoughts: August 2018

August 2018

As I write this first blog of the season we are departing port Valencia, Spain. What an incredibly lovely city, a far cry from frantic theft-ridden Barcelona. Although we flew into Barcelona on our return from Texas this year, our visit to that city occurred in October 2017, on our way home from last year’s cruising season. But I’m getting way ahead of myself (or should I say behind?). Let’s begin with our return to Destiny and the little seaside town of Sant Carles de la Rapita, Spain. After this post I’ll do a catch-up on last year. After all, I’m only three or four years behind on this blog.

Our return to Destiny was met with a few surprises, not that we don’t expect that by now when leaving the boat for a season, much less on dry dock for 10 months. The first thing we noticed was the filth. The topsides and hatches were covered with red sand and what appeared to be splattered white dust or powder. The Med is known for its “red rain”, but not “white powder” rain. We presumed this might be wax residue. Apparently the wax guy got busy flinging wax everywhere but never came back to buff. What a mess! The British expat we had hired to do that work months ago (and some other repairs to our teak, canvas and Captain chair), had dropped dead last October, two weeks after we arrived back in Texas. His son was purportedly overseeing completion but we had no way to reach the guy. The only method of communication we had was through the email of Harry, the deceased contractor.

Nest that blew out of our engine exhaust

Aside from that little hiccup, a fellow cruiser informed us that he had observed Starlings building nests up in our exhaust tubes and inside any little opening they could find. When we blew out the engine exhaust, a two-foot-long nest shot out like a torpedo, eggs and all. After rinsing the red and white dust, cleaning broken eggs, nests and feathers from the boat, cleaning lockers and surfaces inside and out, we set about testing all systems; replacing seized pumps, lubricating what needed lubricated and then worked on the to-do list from the surveyor. Our insurance company required a marine survey before we could launch the boat and begin our cruising season.

Nest in a rope bag

Frank up the mast before a storm arrived

During this time we had been anxiously, irritatingly and exhaustingly trying to connect with the deceased contractor’s son to hunt down our missing chair, dodger and bimini AND to get him to finish the work on our boat. He would occasionally answer us via his father’s email address, yet no matter how many times we asked, he would not give us his own phone number or email. He was nearly unresponsive. When he did respond it was with utterly unrelated excuses for not getting back to us letting us know that he was busy sailing with his son who was visiting from England, and that he was very sorry... We had to tread gingerly because we did not know where he had sent our canvas and our chair to be repaired, if we upset him we may never see those items again. Our thin thread of contact with him was precarious at best. I neglected to mention that we had pre-paid half the work before we left last October, so this guy had no incentive whatsoever to work with us. I eventually made contact with the widow, his mother, begging her to intervene on our behalf. At this, she apologized and then completely shut down. Although our hearts went out to her and to the son over their loss, we were beginning to feel real desperation and powerlessness. We eventually learned the first name of the upholstery/canvas maker, Gerardo. Progress - now we just needed to get in touch with him. At this point we were more than willing to finish the polishing and contracted work ourselves and just get our upholstery parts back. Frank finally received an email from the contractor’s son informing us he was leaving for England and was sorry but he couldn’t help us - BUT - he did give the phone number for Gerardo. We promptly contacted Gerardo to find that he had our goods but that they had been sitting in his shop for 10 months, since Harry had dropped them off but then Harry died leaving him no idea to whom they belonged. Hmmm...interesting. Our prayers answered.

Nasty storm suddenly caught us by surprise

As much as it could, everything came together. Destiny looks good and we feel ready to embark on this ambitious season ahead. Our plan is to cross the Atlantic Ocean at the end of hurricane season 2018.

19 days after arriving back at Sant Carles de la Rapita, the date of our 17th wedding anniversary, we cast the lines and pointed the bow toward Puerto de Castellón de la Plana.

Waterfront area of Castello

We enjoyed a blissful 3½ hours of perfect sailing during the 8-hour trip. This port, known simply as Castelló, was vibrant and full of holiday-makers. We took a rest to clean up and recharge our personal batteries. I researched the restaurant scene and decided upon C53 la Vermuteria del Grau for our anniversary dinner. Wow and double Wow! We were not disappointed in the fantabulously tastaliciousness this little gourmet bistro had to offer. We started with an amuse-bouche of House gazpacho topped with crunchy prosciutto, then came the beautifully fresh Normandie oysters. These were so plump and delicious we ordered more. Then came the grilled Sepia...so tender!

Then followed a melt-in-your-mouth pork skirt steak, grilled to medium-rare perfection. Dessert was a combination of housemade delicacies. I managed to snap some photos of three of these but the pork and dessert went down too quickly, and I was too distracted eating to bother with the iPhone at that point. We nearly cried at the thought that we were only in Castelló for one night because we would loved to have returned to C53, but Valencia was calling us onward.

Grilled Sepia

August 19th, we motor-sailed to Valencia. Typically for these waters, we started out with wind on the nose, then it tracked around abeam for about 4 hours before clocking back to a very close reach and then died. We take the bliss when we can get it. Arriving into Valencia was a thrill.

The marina is adjacent to a massive and gorgeous beach. Interestingly, the only time we walked to the beach was for dinner that first night. Much like Italy, nothing happens in Spain before 8:00 PM. Most restaurants don’t even open before then. Even at that hour we are first in and by the time we are leaving, around 10:00 PM, the families are sitting down to dinner. So after the first night we did our dead level best to eat a large, late lunch between 2 - 4:00 in the afternoon and then snack lightly on board at night. What did we do in Valencia? We toured!

Valencia Opera House

We shopped! We walked! We oohed and awed at the architecture and the incredible parks and botanicals. We originally booked three nights at the marina and extended to six. We shopped at Lladro for all 5 of our girls’ Christmas presents (God-daughter included). We purchased folding bicycles and rode all over the city.