nowheretoanchor

Discovering Cartagena

More Articles By Phillip Bruce www.raxomnium.com

Nowhere To Drop Anchor

The beautiful clear waters of the Mediterranean around Cartagena, of Europe’s largest inland sea, the Mar Menor, are an irresistible attraction for sailors but there is a big problem – the shortage of moorings.

Although the regional government estimates that there are 16,000 pleasure boats in the region but there are only permanent moorings for about a third of them. In addition, the crowds of vessels that visit the coastline, particularly during the summer, can face a hard time looking for a place to tie up or drop anchor.

One boat purchaser recently described his frustration at being unable to find anywhere to park his new boat. The president of a local yacht club advises that the correct process should be to buy or rent a mooring and then buy a boat.

There are large marinas in the waters up and down the coast of Murcia, but they are all pretty much full up. There are also plenty of schemes to build new marinas and pleasure ports but these run into big planning and environmental obstacles. Environmentalists hate the idea of miles of moorings and facilities. They hate the fact that developers often try and sneak in large developments of blocks of flats at the same time as they claim to be providing marine facilities.

Therefore, there are strong challenges to any plans for new marinas and these can lead to the plans being dropped or delayed for many years as the process moves through administrative procedures and the courts.

One giant marina and associated development was the Puerto Mayor project, on the Mediterranean side of the La Manga strip. However, after years of protest and argument this has, literally, been stopped dead in the water with orders being given for the work on breakwaters and other preparatory works to not only be stopped but to be removed and the area returned to its original state.

This has displeased the developer, people looking for moorings and local residents who are looking for jobs and income. Some 500 people marched in September 2006 calling for the Puerto Mayor project to be given the go-ahead.

So, sailing around the Murcia coastline is great, but if you’re thinking about making a long-term stay then get that mooring or anchorage first.

An English-speaking sailing club has now been set up – the Sailing Association Mar Menor. Jim Lynch is the secretary and his email is sammadim@hotmail.com. The commodore is David Lees, telephone 968 170 870.

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Gary Smith Fishing