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February 20 to 26, 2010
Yours Truly and Pilar
Total km planned: 90
Total km done: 9
Total days spent sleeping: 3
Total fish caught: 1
Aguilas to Cartagena, Murcia, Espana
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Illa del Portitxol. |
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Campsite before departure from Aguilas. |
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Unwinding fishing line, like the beginner fisherman I am! |
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Departure from Playa de Cocedores. Stunning weather! We're heading to the gap between the land and the island. |
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Off we go! No waves here. |
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The beautiful creations that dot this coastline. |
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No pictures were taken until this beach, because the wind and waves suddenly picked up... This is Pilar lying behind the beach wall on Playa de Calabardina after having been capsized by a wave upon landing. It certainly wasn't comfortable coming in! The waves were higher than the kayak, and the water was buttwrenching. Not to mention the wind. |
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Contemplating the waves. Should we go out again??? |
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Looking back at where we'd come from. Note all the dead algae on the beach! |
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Calabardina and Cocon de Cope in behind. We stayed on this beach undecided for about 4 hours. The waves were crashing in, and the next portion, we knew would be quite difficult. We'd have to get around this cape that we see here, and the waves would be crashing into the cliff walls and rebounding, with no landing spot anywhere near. It would not be pleasant. So we were hesitant ... or shall we say scared!!! |
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So I decided to have some practice runs in the waves. This is how it went... Good surfing! |
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And this is a successful approach. |
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So after much deliberation, I pursuaded to push Pilar out during a slight lull in the waves. After crashing out through them, yeeehaw, we started to feel good. So we decided to try to get around the cape. Turns out we had 1.5m waves, rebounding like nuts, and holy smokes was that a scary and knuckle bursting 45 minutes! We were so tense going around that thing, not knowing when a wave would sneak up from behind and crash over us. Boy would that have sucked. We had wetsuits, but still... On the other side of the cape, we fell upon a nice calm bay. So we beached there and set up camp. That night, I felt seasick all night. Turns out, in the morning, I had caught a stomach virus, and I spent the next 3 days sleeping and making regular dashes to the bushes. Fever and all. Sucky! |
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This is me washing up in the brutally cold sea after 2 days of horrible sleep. |
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Me not feeling all that hot! |
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So Pilar went out fishing one evening to pass the time. Check out what she caught! We couldn't believe it! Her first fish. |
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No idea what it was, but it made a tasty soup, even though the meat was kind of chewy. I loved it ... my stomach didn't. Out it came after 1 hour.... |
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And the sun kept shining outside. |
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The coast we were supposed to have done. |
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So Pilar hiked back to the car, and we decided to cut the trip short, go even further south for the warmer weather, and rent a place and lie about. This is a view of the coast we were supposed to do, with the Cabo Cope in the distance. |
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Waaay down south, near Mojacar, we rented this great Casa Rural in the hills. |
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And spent 4 days just lounging, reading and having a great time. |
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With a couple of dogs to accompany us. |
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This guy was naughty! He stole our last parmesano cheese that we'd bought in the Dolomites ages ago. |
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Inside. |
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Our bedroom. |
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Squid-like home made lamps. |
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Terrace. |
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And back in rainy and cold Zaragoza. Dining with Inaki, Eva and co. |
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