32:26.37N 10:01.52W

8 Nov 2011

At sea now for a couple days and about 40 hours more to reach the first islands in the Canaries.  We did not leave Gibraltar as planned since the winds grew fairly strong on the 5^th.  In fact I doubt I could have safely gotten out from out mooring position since it was very tight space to maneuver.  So we left on the 6^th, fueled up at the fuel dock and headed out around 08:30.

Entering the Straits of Gibraltar the wind and tides were against us and the waves were choppy at best.  No choice sometimes when to depart where a schedule is driving the decision.  It would have been a few more days for everything to clear in our favor if we stayed.

It took about 12 hours to finally clear the grip of the tidal current entering the Med and get far enough away to make decent speed.  At times we were motoring at less than 2 knots against the tide.  Burned a lot of fuel during that phase.

Once south we had some sailing winds and got in about 45 miles before they died down at night.  Motored for the next day along the Morocco coast.  That night some nice offshore winds developed and we again could sail at a decent 6 to 9 knots.  Then as dawn came the desert onshore heats up and kills the nice offshore breeze so back to motoring.  With all the motoring required and the windless forecast we are altering course a little to hit the furthest northern Canary island to pick up some more fuel.  Then finish the remaining trip to Grand Canary.  Should be a Friday arrival if all proceeds as planned.

Tried out the fishing pole today and immediately caught, cleaned and cooked three bullet tuna for lunch.  Who said fishing is tough!

Yesterday we had two schools of dolphins swim along the bow wave for some time.  Small species but very fast and they took turns riding the wave.

That’s all for now.