AFRICA
Thursdays Child
Robin & Joanna Minchin
Sat 14 Feb 2015 20:37
005:18.798W
AFRICA... well, a peninsular that has been Spanish for the last thousand years, but at least we are on the African continent.
We are rather shell shocked however. The 15-22 knots on the beam turned into a steady 30 gusting 35 knots on the nose. A sailing instructor next door has just assured us knowingly that the forecast always under-estimates the Straits by 'two Beauforts' or 10~12 knots; now we know!
It wasn't a particularly enjoyable crossing and if it has been further than 15 miles we would have turned back. Harry was very brave and sat in the cockpit with us clutching his fishing rod until an enormous wave engulfed us all and caused him to pack up his rod, scuttle below and threaten to give up fishing for good. We trailed the big lure with its new 'teaser' but there was so much white water around, the teaser didn't make any impression on the surface and we arrived with an empty hook.
Also sadly our pleasantly anticipated sail-in-company with Lewis and Theresa on 'Spiral' didn't materialise as they had a rigging problem so headed back and we sailed on alone. However, here we are, safe and well, if rather exhausted.
A pleasant evening walk ashore (after the best marina showers in six months!) and tomorrow we can explore what looks like a very interesting town with fortifications, much history, glamorous tax free (window) shopping and hopefully in the next few days a trip over the border to Morocco.
Before we left Gibraltar we refuelled with 71 litres of diesel and 6 litres of unleaded petrol. Bearing in mind Gibraltar has its own tax rules, guess how much/how little we paid. Answers on an e-postcard to sadlertc {CHANGE TO AT} gmail {DOT} com
xx
