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.