Barcelona revisited

Skylark -- up  against the sea wall at Palamos

Darkening skies over Palamos - onset of 2 days of high winds

Ed -- the fashionista, safe in port at Palamos, hot tea in hand.

Left Toulon in the afternoon on Sunday, October 18.  The forecast was for moderate weather in the Golfe du Lion with winds around 15 knots from the West.  Our faith in weather forecasts may have been misplaced.  as the afternoon wore on towards dusk, the seas heaved as winds were holding at 30 - 35 knots and gusting to 40 knots. Waves with short periods reached 5 to 6 metres. The Force 7 (Beaufort scale) continued through the night. We used the apparent wind direction indicator to judge the angle of the waves in the dark.  For the most part, it worked well, although the steep seas and short wave periods made it uncomfortable.  Francois had a bad case of the Mal de Mer and suffered through the pounding for the next 15 hours or so.  The next morning, winds had moderated to 25 knots and things seemed not quite so bad.  Then Meteo France (the French meteorological service) issued a "special" report which almost seemed like a tacit admission that the week's forecast was way off mark.  Winds were again forecast to build towards evening back to Force 7 - 8.  We were about abeam the Spanish town of Palamos and decided to duck in for the night.  We called on the VHF radio at about 5:30 pm and the lady at the marina told us we could have a berth for the night.  We got in around 9 pm, October 19.  The security guard was waiting for us at our "berth"  -- the last remaining space along the concrete seawall. We had to use most of our fenders to prevent the boat from scraping against the rough concrete wall.   The wind continued to build to 25 - 30 knots in the harbor.  We were thankful for the protection of the seawall. The high winds continued from the South for the next 2 days, so we stayed on at Palamos, enjoying the quiet little town with fresh bread and fruit and other produce. A few sailboats came in during that time looking for refuge from the storm but were turned away.  On desperate skipper tied his boat outside the marina seawall, exposed to significant wind and swell.  The winds finally began to moderate and we left Palamos around 6 am on October 22 to make Barcelona (60 miles away) in daylight

Afternoon of October 22 -- Skylark is at the Marina Port Vell in Barcelona again.  We arrived in a rain storm in the late afternoon.  The trip was short and uneventful, other than having the wind smack on the nose and fairly steep swells from the gales that blew for the few days prior in the Golfe Du Lion and regions west of it.  Though substantial, the swells were well spaced and Skylark rode over them with a gentle up and down motion.  Some ship traffic as well as fishing boats, attested to the improved weather conditions. By mid-afternoon however, we were in a heavy rain storm with poor visibility.  The breakwater for the harbor at Barcelona was visible only from about a mile out together with hazy outlines of major structures at Barceloneta and the Olympic port.  We made the now familiar entrance to the harbor, past the fishing and commercial ports, cruise terminals and dockyards to the marina at Port Vell.  The marina was crowded with very large sailing and motor yachts and the fuel dock was occupied at each end by a large motor yacht and a large (and wide) sailing catamaran.  With bow lines sticking out, it made available space at the fuel dock very restricted.  Generous use of Skylark's bow thruster was required to position alongside for a load of Gasoleo A.  The fuel dock and marina office greeted us like long lost friends.  The marinero at the fuel dock recognized Ed and I from our visit in late August and enquired about our third crew member (Francois).  The office checked us in using data they already had and let us know that they'd very kindly let us have the very last berth available at the marina.  There was a lot of radio traffic on the VHF indicating arrivals of super yachts that obviously were being singled out for special treatment.
We settled in to lunch on board. The marina office were unable to connect us to the shore power outlet on the pontoon due to the heavy rain which continued till the late evening.  By then, there was no one around to wire up the special adapter for the power line.  So, a night with no shore power meant no washer/dryer operation unless we started the generator.  We did start the genset for about 15 minutes -- but only to power up the Nespresso machine just to ensure the right priorities were being observed.

Dinner at a nearby restaurant was very good with friendly and efficient wait staff. We got back to the boat and turned in early to catch up on sleep. On the way back, Ed got his mobile phone, wallet and everything else wet.  How this happened is the subject of a story that may some day be told but we'd agreed among the three of us that "what happens in Barcelona stays in Barcelona...."

October 23 -- blue skies and sunshine and electricity from the shore.  Much cleaning, washing and drying -- foul weather gear, shoes, clothes decorated every available horizontal line on deck while the dryer churned on below deck.  We walked to the Cathedral which had scaffolding on some parts as it was undergoing repairs.  Then a long walk to the yet unfinished cathedral by Gaudi -- an impressive sight from the outside.  The line to go in wound around for a couple of blocks.  We admired the unconventional and complex gothic structure from the outside and then decided it wasn't worth the 2 hour wait to get in.  Got into the metro and headed to the mercado at La Rambla for a lunch of grilled seafood.
Back at the boat after a visit to an internet cafe for email and news, more housekeeping work.  Dinner on board prepared by Francois was a relief from eating outside food.  This evening, I am at another internet cafe with the others -- on our way to an Italian gelato shop.
We head for Valencia tomorrow and then on to Gibraltar.  Will post Barcelona pictures in due course.