35:09.045N 7:25.80W
Tioram 4
Tina & Tony
Sun 18 Oct 2009 11:58
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Hi from Tioram,
On Saturday 17th Oct Janet and Dominic joined us in
Gibraltar for the passage to Gran Canaria. They had a very early flight
from the uk arriving around 11am and joined the boat around 12 noon. They
settled into their cabin and after lunch, safety info and
boat familiarisation we set sail at 5.30pm.
The overcast but warm start heated up to a clear
blue sky and warm evening. We left Gibraltar with the sun dropping and then
setting ahead of us due west. The pinky atmosphere was interesting as we neared
Tarifa on our starboard (right) side and Ceuta to port.
The tide was not favourable and we had a little
wind blowing over the in coming tide through the Straits. We had originally
planned to leave with the out going tide on sunday morning but there is a
weather front coming in which will affect us around tues/wed.
Tony wanted to make an earlier start to get us
further south before the wind comes in---hence the departure
saturday.
Despite the swell caused by the wind over tide, our
leaving the Med was pleasant although tinged with a little sadness. There is
something very homely about the Mediterranean culture and way of life which
draws Tony and myself to it.
We all stayed on watch to leave the Straits in the
dark and kept a vigilant eye on the radar, chart plotter and lookout----lots of
tanker traffic joining or leaving the Med.
We then settled into our first watch
system. We had motored to Tarifa and then picked up a Northerly wind
and sailed quickly across the shipping lanes and out into the
Atlantic.
We had a great sail over night with a slight
swell, reefing at one point with 20 knots true behind us running around 7-8
knots. By 10 am the wind had died and we started motoring. We could have
continued sailing in the light winds but we need to make progress south west to
take us as south as possible for the higher winds and rain which may hit us
on tues/wed. Hopefully we will only catch a little of it and the winds speeds
are safe to proceed.
As yet we haven't had any dolphins running
along side us---so we are hoping Janet will see some soon.
We'll keep you posted---Love to all our families
and friends,
Tina, Tony, Janet and Dominic x x x
x A BIG p.s............just
heard the call for WHALES---- 2 in fact a pair gently breathing with their
backs breaking the water. Very graceful and quite large approx 30ft and only
about 200ft off our port beam heading North East. Magic. No Dolphins for Janet
but 2 whales !!!!!!
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