Just like with your car, you simply have to refuel a boat to keep sailing against the headwinds we’ve been facing for days. However, while you can just drive your car to the pump, fill it up, and pay with a card, things are a bit different for a ship that holds more than 30,000 liters of diesel.
First, all sorts of paperwork must be filled out, and you have to choose a port where you can go bunkering after a lot of price negotiations. Given the large quantity, that price is obviously important. Ships are allowed to refuel tax-free if they are sailing internationally (which requires a lot of paperwork to prove). Luckily so, because that saves about 20,000 euros on this fill-up.
An agent on shore does a lot of the work (for a fee, of course) and coordinates with the authorities to get permission for you to enter the port. They also ensure that a tanker truck with the required amount of diesel is ready when we arrive.
Getting permission to enter was a bit of an issue in Cartagena, as they have some trouble with the concept of a sailing ship in Spain. They understand cargo ships, and they get small yachts, but at over 50 meters, we’re somewhere in between. This led to a lot of back-and-forth calling and emailing with the agent and cost a lot of time—about a day.
So, we anchored in a bay near Cartagena to wait it out. Technically, that wasn’t allowed either, but we played dumb and just sailed in with the attitude that if you don’t hear anything from them, it’s probably not a problem. Indeed, we heard nothing and spent a lovely, quiet night in the beautiful, sheltered bay.
The next day, we got the final go-ahead for refueling and sailed into Cartagena. The refueling went smoothly, and against all expectations, we received word that we could even stay for the night. That was great, because it meant we didn’t have to motor against force 7 winds all night, and the crew could head into town for a nice dinner together.
It turned out to be a very fun night and got a bit late, but then again, it will be another two weeks before we can do this again in Harlingen.
