With the wind in our favor for just the one day in the next six days we had our opening to get to Gibraltar.

We moved out of our mooring during the day and went to the visitor berth for our 3 am start. We were determined not to arrive in the dark again! It was a good decision as the heavens opened up again as we left the dock in the dark, but it was an easy leave and once we left the Bay of Cadiz we were sailing.

The sea had large swells and at one point the wind peeked at 25 knots. 

We were back on night watches.  I had the first sleep and took over from John at around 7am one hour before sunrise. The moon was a stunning sight but the sea still rough.  The wind eased up to 11 knots. By early morning the wind had eased again to 9 knots and we put the Genoa out by 11.30 - we were well on our way but we had a 2 knot current against us. The net was that we were now only making 4 knots over ground. 

The sea, by this time, had thankfully calmed down. We were now nearing the ‘Cape’ as you turn from the Atlantic Ocean and go into to the Straits of Gibraltar.  Here we experienced a current shift and had to keep a mindful watch on our leeway.
But we rounded Tarifa no problem (Apparently the wind blows at over 25 knots for 300 days of the year here).  

With the Genoa still up we had a blistering sail down the Strait with the current.
We were making 9 knots. 
Lots of huge tankers to our right but in the shipping lanes .

The ‘rock’ as you approach is a wonderful sight and also to the right was the mountainous area of Morocco. What a site as you enter the harbor area.