40:09.6N 1:50.1E

The cruising lifestyle always entails a bit of uncertainty … never knowing what will be around the corner. Weather forecasts help minimise this but haven’t been altogether reliable on this trip, and when things change they can change quickly. Anchorages that are calm and tranquil under some conditions can be choppy and make for an uncomfortable night’s sleep when the wind gets up or changes direction. So we were all delighted to have a calm night’s sleep at anchor, and our breath was taken away to see the stillness of Cala Charraca Bay in the (relatively) early morning sun. The visibility in the water was excellent and we could see shoals of tiny fish glistening in the water as they swam around oblivious to Knotty Girl occupying their territory.

We stayed at anchor until mid morning, refreshed by a swim in the clear and calm waters and relaxing over breakfast gazing out to the horizon. It was a chance to stop, be still and be conscious of the beauty of the day. It’s hard to believe that only two and a half weeks ago we got together as a group for the first time… living in such close proximity as we have been, and working as a team, we are very glad that though the trip is coming to an end the friendships will continue.

Departing for Barcelona in the late morning, to our delight the wind was suitable for some calm broad reach sailing. We are due to arrive in Barcelona in the early hours tomorrow morning, and don’t want to arrive before sunrise, so we were happy to take our time in the light winds. Although it turned out to have been calm enough for us to have prepared lunch while sailing along, we’d been prepared for choppier conditions and our pre-prepared sandwiches at lunch were welcome. 

As the day and the miles passed by, we edged our way across the Mediterranean Sea and enjoyed the peacefulness of sailing while taking time to read, relax and sleep in anticipation of the need to be alert for our last night watch each. Julian took some more “sights” (location fixes) with his sextant and confirmed that we are indeed in the northern hemisphere. Tanya stayed by Julia’s side as she practiced hand-steering to a bearing. Alastair patiently worked through Julia’s myriad questions on berthing, weather, high and low pressure systems, navigating and all things nautical, and shared his experience with Julian as well. We diverted course to pass through a shoal of fish we were alerted to by a shark that cruised by, but either the shark got to the fish before us or else Alastair deserves a refund on the lures he bought as their track record has not lived up to their promise on this trip … but have certainly delivered a lot of laughs along the way.

The choppy waters of only a few days ago are a distant memory and once more we are living in the present of observing the wind, tides, clouds and other signs. And enjoying life on the ocean, and on Knotty Girl.

In Alastair’s words, heard as the sun was setting, “it’s all rather lovely”.

Julia