2022 Sailing Destinations from Space

Acquiring and processing satellite data was quite cumbersome when I started my career as a remote sensing specialist. 

We mainly used data from the Landsat satellites, a NASA/USGS Programme which still is operational today and currently is preparing its next generation of satellites with increased spatial and spectral resolution. A scene of the Thematic Mapper (TM), one of the instruments onboard the satellite, was 185 km x 185 km and costed some 3800 US$. Delivery on magnetic tapes took several weeks. Data processing performed on local computers took hours to days, followed by image interpretation done mainly manually by experts these days. 

As the instrument operates in the optical domain, the land is obscured by clouds if present. Therefore high revisit times are desired increasing the probability to acquire a cloud-free scene of the area of your interest. This was one of the biggest bottlenecks of the systems these days in particular for applications requiring multiple observations within short time periods and/or for regions prone to cloud coverage. In fact, there are regions where it took months to finally acquire one cloud free scene. 

Access to satellite data has come a long way since then. Today, many data from federal funded satellites is available free of charge on the cloud basically a couple of hour after sensing. Data can be downloaded for further processing or can be processed directly on the cloud. 

This is mainly thanks to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) who made Landsat data free in 2008, following the US policy that federal funded data is public data and as such can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone with no existing local, national or international legal restrictions. 

The 'opening' of the Landsat data archive caused a substantially increase and expansion of its usage in various science and application fields. This success, in addition to the promotion of a free and open data policy by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), an intergovernmental partnership with more than 100 national governments, supported the implementation of similar policies globally including for the European Union's (EU) Copernicus Programme. The space segment of Copernicus, managed by the European Space Agency (ESA) with dedicated satellites - the Sentinels - is today the largest Earth Observation satellite programme worldwide and its data is free and open. 

This allows everybody to quickly access and process satellite data either archived data or recently acquired data. It only requires a smartphone with an internet connection. The images below show my 2022 Sailing Destinations processed on my smartphone in about one hour. 

You may say now, well, the spatial resolution is much better when zooming in with Google Maps or Google Earth. Yes, you are right but for high zoom levels Google uses commercial high resolution satellite images and aerial photos taken from drones and airplanes which are costly. In general these images are not up to date. In some areas they even date back a couple of years. The satellite data used to generate the images below in fact were acquired at (or around) the time when I was there with T-Fish. Thus, one of the white dots in the ports or at the anchor places in fact is T-Fish when I was there. By the way, I expect that the next generation of federal funded satellites with a free and open data policy will provide much higher spatial resolution, down to the meter scale which currently is reserved for commercially operated systems. 

Castelsardo, Sardegna 

Mahon, Menorca 

Ciutadella, Menorca 

Cal D'Or, Mallorca 

Palma, Mallorca 

Ibiza Town, Ibiza 

Sant Miquel, Ibiza

Valencia 

Columbretes 

Tabarca

Almerimar 

Gibraltar 

Porto Santo 

Porto Santo 

Funchal, Madeira

Whale Sighting

 

On the way back from Funchal to Porto Santo the first whales ever crossed T-Fish's path. It was a couple, unfortunately difficult to see (by the time you gave your camera ready, they are already several tens of meters away). Anyway, exciting! I guess these were pilot whales, a bit shorter in length than T-Fish (maybe 6m?).

Breathtaking....

....is an adjective which is not exaggerating to describe the magnificent landscape and scenery of the Madeira island. Some call it rightfully the European Hawaii. 

After 10 days at anchor in the Harbour of Porto Santo, I had a fast downwind sail to Funchal, Madeira, some 40nm south-west.

As there are a lot of yachts from Northern Europe and the Med gathering in this region at this time of the year to prepare the jump over the Atlantic Ocean, it is somewhat difficult to get a place in the marinas. I already experienced this on Porto Santo where I had to anchor inside the port which was OK as there was only little swell. However, after arriving in Funchal, I had to wait 3 days at anchor just outside of the port with a terrible swell. In addition the anchor depth was at the limit for the length of my chain. Thus, whenever you leave the boat, you have a unsecure feeling knowing that the anchor place is anything else but not safe. Thus, in general you only leave the boat for a short time e.g. just to buy some groceries. 

After finally getting a place in the Marina, I rented a scooter and explored this magnificent island. The first day of course in shorts and T-shirt - stupid me - not considering that I climbed up the mountains to a height of some 1800m and  passing several rain fronts. Soaked to the skin I had to rest for 3 hours in a shelter to stop my body shaking before being able to descend back to the coast line where I could warm up and dry. Luckily I did not catch a cold..... 

Here a few first impressions:

Christopher Columbus and me..

Do you know that Christopher Columbus lived on this lovely island? At least one thing I have in common with this brave man.

Porto Santo, some 30nm NE of Madeira is for most sailors coming from Europe main land the first stop after a couple of days at sea.

 Accordingly international is the community which will welcome you. Many stay for weeks, months or even years as they like the island's nature and climate, the little town, and in particular the decelerated way of life. If you are looking for a place to come down, pack some books and music, this is definitely the place to go. The island also offers several spectacular hiking trails and diving grounds. See yourself:

619nm in 4 days and 9hrs...

.... makes an average of about 5.89kn which is not a bad average speed for the seize of my boat.

However, about half of the distance was motor sailing as the wind fell asleep Sunday noon. 

I left Gibraltar Friday at around 9 instead of 8h30 in the morning as the gasoline station only opened 30 min later than supposed. This put me in a hurry in order to catch the outbound tidal current. 

About 3-4 nm before Tarifa I saw a bigger dolphin or Orca hunting as fishes were jumping in all directions. When it realized my boat it quickly approached T-Fish which I observed with increasing heartbeat. Just in front of the bow it dived under the hull and... I never saw the IT again, not even sure it was an Orca or likely a bottlenose dolphin. 

This was the only bigger animal I saw the whole trip, no other dolphins, no whales, only a few flying fishes and a handful of birds. 

After crossing to the African side in between the two traffic zones at the entrance of the Gibraltar strait, I tried to set course directly to Porto Santo. Unfortunately, this was not possible as the wind came more westerly than forecasted. Slowly but surely it backed to the North North-East while increasing at the same time. Wind speeds peaked during the night from Saturday to Sunday up to some 34kn with some impressive waves (average height 3m but the bigger reaching up to 5m). With two reefs in the main, the Genoa rolled up until a little piece for stabilization reasons, T-Fish surfed down the waves with the autopilot in very controlled way without any sign of instability. These are the conditions when it really pays off to have a long keeler or semi long keeler as in my case. In fact, I did something I read before but never assumed I will have the guts to do. I locked the cockpit to make sure there is not water entering the cabin in case a bigger wave breaks into the cockpit, put on the headphones and watched some movies. 

Around Sunday noon the wind fell asleep. I still tried the gennaker but with the remaining swell und not sufficient wind pressure this did not work out. Thus, the rest was motor sailing and a bit boring.... 

Here the longer version video of this passage:

Next Stop - Porto Santo, Madeira, .....

.....more than 580nm to go.

Sightseeing in Gibraltar 

I left Gibraltar this morning at 8h30 after filling up gasoline and about 3hrs after high water in Gibraltar. This should give me a favourable tidal current counteracting the continious inbound water flow from the Atlantic to the Med caused by the higher evaporation rate in the Med. The plan is to follow the Spanish coastline up to about 6nm west of Tarifa before setting direct course SW to Porto Santo, Madeira.

preparing Sous Vide food for the passage

According to weather prediction I should have very good sailing conditions until Sunday when the wind will peek to more than 20 knots before dying off in the night from Sunday to Monday. Thus, likely 3 days of good sailing and the remaining motoring. I expect a passage of 5 to 6 days, the longest solo sailing trip I did so far. 

An issue is catching up sufficient sleep when sailing alone. I will try 20 min power naps in between and occasionally longer sleeping period relying on my AIS warning system.

You may have heard through the media, that there are few pods of killer whales which currently cause a lot of problems in particular for smaller boats. They attack and damage the rudder. Several boats already had to be town in with severe damage. Fortunately, they should be further up North at this time of the year as also confirmed by boats reporting on attacks through a dedicated Facebook group. 

Catching up some sleep is always an issue for solo sailors on long passages. I managed the leg from Sardinia to Menorca with 20 min power naps in between but will it be working for such a long period? I likely have to risk longer sleeping periods once in a while relying on my AIS warning system.

Long live the King!

I am a bit late reporting on my blog but there is a reason behind. My smartphone started malfunctioning while navigating to Gibraltar. The display died the so called 'Green Screen of Death' likely related to the permanent sun exposure. Apparently the auto brightness function was getting confused and does not calibrate anymore the AMOLED display correctly. In the meantime the problem is solved by replacing the display which was done a very good repair shop in La Linea on the Spanish side.

We went from Valencia to Denia with a short stop at Cabo Cullera to exchange the impeller (see previous post). We spent the night at anchor sheltered by the harbour entrance of Denia. The next day we took a long leg to the island of Tabarca which we like very much and where we spent an extra day schnorkling and enjoying excellent Spanish sea food. (see video:  Tabarca ). From there we did an equally long leg directly to Cartagena, a lively and lovely town. This was followed by very long leg to the Natural Reserve of Cabo de Gata which we explored during the next two days. The first stop was La Isleta del Moro with very difficult anchoring conditions (protected Posidonia sea grass) and all buoys marked private as we were told in a somewhat unfriendly way by the locals. Apparently they do not like sailing yachts in their little paradise. We therefore went further North to the Playa de las Negras where we found good anchor ground and a good fish restaurant on the beach. 

After a nice lunch break we went to San Jose to spend the night at anchor before heading to Malaga. However, due to increasing head winds and about 2m waves pusheding us back, we decided to shelter in the port of Almerimar. The town is a bit touristic but offers good restaurants and bars. We had to stay 3 nights because of unfavourable wind and sea conditions. We then used a weather window offered by decreasing westerly wind, changing to light to moderate easterly winds before reaching storm force (Levante). The idea was to cover the 125 nm in one go, using the engine for the first day and hopefully being able to sail the last part with the increasing Levante and arriving in Gibraltar before it gets too strong. However, during the second day at sea I realized that the gasoline was getting short as a current of about 3 kn pushed us back. As I did not want to run out of gas in the middle of hundereds of cargo ships around Gibraltar we decided to make a detour to Fuengirola, just to bunker diesel and continued heading further to Gibraltar. On this leg we saw a jumping sword fish and plenty of dophins, more than I ever saw in the Med. Several schools of dolphins welcomed us just in front of Point Europe in Gibraltar which we still reached before the evening. 

Welcome by Dolphins

In total we made 436 nm since Valencia and since leaving Castelsardo in Sardegna, a total of 1281 nm. 

We arrived in Gibraltar just a couple of days before the Queens's funeral. Belonging to the British empire, the day of the funeral was also a public holiday in Gibraltar with only some bars open showing the ceremony on big TV screens.

I will stay a couple of days relaxing, doing the laundry and preparing the transfer to Madeira which currently is questionable as my sailing partner became sick and had to cancel his trip to Gibraltar. I will look for alternatives and keep you posted.

On the way to Gibraltar

 I am back on T-Fish since 4th Sept. A day later my friend Miguel arrived you Wil. Accompany me for this leg. After one day of sighting we left Valencia on the 7th heading south - west.

Soon after leaving port, I noticed an unusual increase of motor temperature. A

ssuming seagrass blocking the engine water intake, I switched off the engine and jumped into water cleaning the water intake.

Unfirtabely, the problem remained. We then sailed to a close anchor spot where I also inspected the Impeller even though it was renewed beginning of the season. It was totally worn apart. Exchanging it with a spare part solved the issue and we could continue our journey.

Exploring the coast north and south of Valencia including the Columbretes islands

I explored the coast north and south of Valencia including the Columbretes Islands during the last weeks.

Peniscola

There were some highlights (like Peniscola and the Cap Negre) but also some disappointments (long stretches of flat coastline with lots of ugly concrete buildings). However, sailing was always excellent with very favorite wind conditions. For sure one of the best sailings I had so far.

See here:Columbretes to Peniscola

Here some impressions: Exploring the Coast around Valencia

In the meantime I went back to Bavaria avoiding to sail into the Andalusian summer heat and will continue my journey in September. 

Valencia - what a Beauty!

This was fast - I had a bumpy but fast transfer from Ibiza to València with winds around 20 to 25kn. Some 20nm before Valencia the wind fell asleep and therefore I had to use the engine for the last few hours. 

Valencia Impressions

Valencia is one of my favorite cities in Europe. It is hip, young, full of culture and an international melting pot and has definitely one of the most beautiful historic town centres. According to my friends in Valencia this is also thanks to the Erasmus Programme, a student exchange Programme run by the European Union, and other international events, like the America's Cup which helped to develop the area around the port, some 5-6km from the city center, which today is popular destination to spend the day or evenung with a fresh sea breeze. 

I was lucky as I had the chance to visit the town many times during my professional career for various projects. Many colleagues became friends. Some of those, Luis & Luis, joined me for a nice evening out exchanging old stories. In addition they gave me a lot of hints for my further trip down the Andalusian coast. 

After a couple of days discovering Valencia on an electric scooter I went back the Bavaria, to organize a large summer party in our new house, to visit a concert of Eric Clapton, to visit some friends in Berlin and to attend a high school reunion. 

After returning to Valencia I plan to visit the Columbretes, small protected islands some 35nm off the coast of Valencia before returning to Bavaria again to escape the Andalusian summer heat. The journey further South-West will then be commenced around beginning of Sept.