Crossing the
straight of Gibraltar
From Cascais, in
Portugal, our plan was to move through the straight of Gibraltar, and
find a nice spot on the costa Blanca. I have crossed shipping
channels many times, even in dense fog, using the radar, so how hard
could it be?
Our first leg, from
Cascais to Cabo Sao Vicente went at a brisk pace of 7 knots, running
on just the genoa. Hint, if the mainsail is not up, you don't have
the risk of it accidentally gibing, and we were happy with our seven
knots. On our way to Cabo de São Vicente, we didn't see that many
ships, and this is generally how we like it. We did expect this
situation to change, however, in the near future.
The leg from Cabo de
São Vicente to the straigt of Gibraltar, was quite pleasant, the
weather turned into very sunny and very warm, and the wave height
reduced from nearly 3 meters,to less than a meter. We though we were
already in the Med. Elizabeth made a wonderfull vegetarian meat loaf
(I know, it sounds a bit like a contradiction, but wait until you had
the first bite!) and a salad.
Also, on several
occasions, we were greeted by a large groups of curious dolphins.
Although we could see many ships on the AIS display, all heading
towards or from the straight, we did actually see surprisingly very
few vessels, mainly due to the fact we were staying out of the way of
the main shipping channel. We used all our sails, including a first
reef, on this section of the trip, as the wind slowly reduced on out
way to Gibraltar, no next to nothing (we had to use the iron
mainsail), picked up again to 20 knots, and just before Tarifa,
dropped again to nothing, and finally settled into a refreshing 30
knots... In the wrong direction. The kite surfers at Tarifa must have
been happy. We on the other hand were battling the 30 knots over the
deck, wind against current and the lovely effect this has on the
waves, and reduced visibility.
We did not get to
see the kitesurfers, unfortunately, do to the heavy fog, which
descended upon us throughout the night. We had actually planned our
trip, so we would cross the Gibraltar straight in daylight, to make
the crossing easier. However, this was not meant to be... Using the
radar, and AIS, it was very easy to establish the viability range. In
the worst part, the visibility was just a few hundred meters, causing
me to see a Moroccan vessel, only at the last moment, as it did not
have AIS or radar reflector. Presumably the vessel was engaged in
nefarious activities, either smuggling or possbily worse, illegally fishing in Spanish
waters, because we saw it in the Spanish waters, and it was crossing
the shipping channel towards morocco.
When we passed in
front of the tower of Tarifa, we could barely see it, at a range of
less than 2 nautical miles. At this distance, suddenly a high speed
catamaran appeared on our AIS display. It was heading right for us at
22 knots! Evasive maneuvers... We did see a second high speed
catamaran, coming out of Gibraltar.
When we crossed
Gibraltar, we could barely make out the rock, on account of the
viability being much better at higher altitudes. However, as soon
as we made out way into the Med, the wind dropped to nearly nothing,
the fog lifted and the sun came out. All good things come togather,
as by this time, Elizabeth's samosas came hot out of the oven.
We decided to set
sail to Estepone for a thorough decrustification.
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| Tux and Luna on Watch |
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| Luna on the Navigation Console |
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| Leaving Cascais at a brisk pace |
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| Tux and Luna on the bridge |
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| Vegetarian meat loaf and salad |
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| Dolphins between the bows |
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| Time for a vitamin booster |
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| Last sunset in the Atlantic for a while |
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| Radar and AIS display, just before entering the straight. Note, we are in the middle of each of the displays. |
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| Luna helping out with the navigation |
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| Luna on watch for incoming heavys |
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| Tux, not even lifting a single paw... |
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| Wait, he IS lifting his paw |
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| Tower of Tarifa |
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| Elizabeth making Samosas in front of Gibraltar |
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Vegetarian Indian Samosas
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