With the development of a nasty low in the Gibraltar straights, our original plan to leave Lagos 3 days ago was stalled.  It meant Lesley managed to have no less than 2 meals in the “Restaurant des Artistes” which is in the Michelin Guide and certainly to be recommended.  We have also caught with various domestic issues e.g. we found a useful Chinese shop selling microwave dishes (we we had forgotten to take along), and I managed to buy a fuel tank for the dinghy.  I can’t believe that I could have left the original one sitting on our veranda at Gosport, but I did.

 

The bad news with this weather is that the winds are coming from the Sahara.  On 4 separate occasions today it has rained, and on each occasion the boat gets covered with fine sand.  I have washed it off twice, but not again – I am leaving it until tomorrow, especially as the sand seems to be almost “sticky”, adhering to the hull unless hit with a powerful jet of water.  I dread to think how much water we have already used in Lagos, but it is the only way to get the sand off.

 

The winds are acceptable rather than favourable for our trip, but I still intend to leave tomorrow unless the 6 am weather charts dictate otherwise (they come through at 6 am and 6 pm).  It is a 44 hour trip, and we will probably have to motorsail for half the time, but it is definitely time to move on.