Thursday 29th October
Bamarandi
David & Donald
Thu 29 Oct 2015 16:50
We had some heavy seas overnight so we tacked at 45 degrees to the waves rather than pounding into them head on which added a little to our distance and a lot to our comfort. We had sails up for as long as we had helpful wind but continued to motor along at 6/7kts.
We have done some final prep for getting to Gibraltar where we will refuel our main tanks and also the 6 auxiliary 220 litre barrels we have brought with us. They are now strapped in place in the cockpit in 2 X 3 triangles locking together with the ratchet straps we bought for the job. Seems very stable and we think once fuelled uk they will sit firmly and well locked in.
We saw 2 small Dolphins that were interested in a piece of white polystyrene floating nearby where we passed - but after a cursory glance they were off.
Later we saw a pod of about 40 Dolphins and a few came to see us and swam with us in our bow wave exuberantly under the nets.
We've checked out the weather and find that if we hang around in Gibraltar we will encounter all the wrong sort of wind (40-50knts) in the wrong sort of direction so we've decided to touch and go in Gibraltar taking advantage of their fuel prices and not stay overnight tomorrow there.
We've got 2 sets of engineers coming on board - 1 set to check out one of our Volvo engines and one to make a quick electronic download to one of our chargers. We've also got some watermaker spare parts being delivered by courier so we hope it all slots in together OK and we can get going again quickly.
We've had our 2 Shimano sea fishing rods trawling out of the back and have discovered at dinner that somehow our super expensive line and lure have disappeared altogether off one rid. We are not sure how as we didn't hear the ratchet run so it's a mystery. We've put it down to experience and will tie the line onto the reel with the knot of all knots next time!
So we now have 40nm to go and should arrive at Gibraltar around midnight. We think we will anchor in front of the marina and then get into the fuel dock as soon as they open.
It's a sunny evening with no wind and flat calm seas. We've had all sorts of warnings from people that have done this leg we are just completing before that it can be very hard work and arduous conditions. We've had some heavy seas but the reality is mostly it's been OK.
Let's hope getting into Gibraltar goes well - a first for all of us - and that the next leg through the Gibraltar Straits and on down to Las Palmas goes as well.