Yesterday, the sun was out as usual and the wind was nothing to write home about. We nonetheless gave it our best shot, tacking upwind for an hour or so in a dying Easterly. That ended when it was time to make our 5 pm port entry in Mazaronne. We ended up with the only remaining spot for a boat of our size at the local "Club de Regattas" - which was stuffed with motorboats. This was our (Rieke and Benno) first attempt at mooring Kincsem "med style" which was completed without a scratch.

The coast here is called the "beautiful coast" which seems to refer to the spectacular rocks and headlands - all with the obligatory antique watch towers on them. Mazaronne, on the other hand, is place with little charm - it seems to house a lot of military and we saw a submarine surfacing behind us when we were coming in.

The forecast for today was SW increasing to 25 to 30kn yet when we got out, we had barely enough wind to sail from the North. But things improved, the wind went into the South and we made good progress in a light breeze. We have been experimenting with setting the staysail in addition to the genoa and it seems to add a few tenth of a knot if the wind is between 50 and 120 degrees apparent. Rounding Cabo Tinoso, the last big headland before Cartagena, we were suddenly reminded of the forecast. The breeze and waves were up quickly and when we passed the breakwater at Punta San Antonio, we saw the 30kn. This of course made for a somewhat exciting docking maneuver. But again, all went well - we are a well oiled machine now ....

We are moored right in front of the main drag here in Cartagena across from a big cruise ship. We are, we find, somewhat of an attraction because of the US flag at the stern. So there was a Japanese couple taking a picture with the flag in the background! And there was one guy who asked whether we were from Hungary - he knew about the famous Hungarian race horse Kincsem!

more pics at https://joergesdorn.smugmug.com/Kincsem/2017/Costa-Calida/n-3RrzTK