Passage to Portugal, fishing all the way.

Hi friends.

Here is a photo of the straits from space. On one side you have the Atlantic ocean and on the other the Mediterranean sea. Below is an old chart of the same area. You have too take your hat off to early navigators.







Sorry about the lack of blogg activity. Computer decided to pack up on me a week ago. Tonight we are setting off for Portugal for a two week trip up the coast. It's nice too get away from Gibraltar, very nice. Last time we did not catch anything but this time I have invested too much in kit to get skunked. I'm hoping the yummy rubbery squid luers will do the trick. We have a full boat this run, my butt is in the galley. Oh well, can't get a cabin every time. We have plenty of good food aboard, just made a run too the market and picked up two roasted chickens, sausages, bread, juice, you name it.The boat we are on is called chill out. She is a 36 food Bavaria sloop. We have three cabins, one in the front and two aft and two berths in the galley. She sails well and has a 30hp Volvo penta engine to help us into berths and where the wind is to light. I really want to read up on Stellar navigation, this will be a good time to do some practicing with the sextant.
Well, gonna eat something but stay connected this will be an interesting trip.

Doufins too Africa

Hello guys, girls
Just finished a trip from Cadiz to Ceuta, aprox 88 miles. It was a night passage and there was a beautiful moon out.Ceuta is the northern most tip of the African continent. It belongs to Spain, to Morocco shagreens. Here you can see a few compatriots playing around in our bow wake. They are amazing creatures. One of them jumped four meters out of the water and looked at us from above. I´m not lieing, it was wild.

.We encountered a think fog back on our way across the straits returning to Gibraltar. This is a very busy shipping area with tankers, fast speed ferries, fishing vessels, you name it. Thank god for radar. I would strongly advise anybody that is serious about safety at sea to get familiar with this valuable piece of kit

Sailing on rainbows....god dam hippies.

Mother nature is a spectacular lady. First she beets us around like a toy and then paints the sky with every color of the spectrum...twice.Head sail is busted so we ducked into Villa mora to get it looked at. That is not going to happen so we are off toward Gib. We have to make the straits before Wednesday. Had a good nights rest and ready to head out. But this time it looks like we have to pull a 24 hour strait sail....tiring stuff but cool.

The chipper skipper

Now that´s a happy dude. Wipe that smile off your face Paul. What a gorgeous sail we had on our way over from Porti Mao. Close reached with 2 meter swells blowing around 21 knots. Two reefs, the geni and a small storm jib up, cutter rigged, fantastic. More latter...

Along for the ride.....and the cookies.

Hi amigos de tiera firma. It has been a few days from my last update. Internet connection is a bit sporadic up this coast. At the moment we are holed up in the marina of Lagos, southern Portugal. This little fellow joined us on our sail over from Spain. I don´t know how or why he was that far off the coast. I´m sure he is not a sea bird, his sail plan is all wrong. He could say the same about us I guess. We have had good weather apart from a near gale that made us alter coarse yesterday night and shoot for safe haven in Porti Mao. The crew are a good bunch of people. It can get a bit tight on this boat but we are managing it well. I am 2 and O on my cooking. So far it´s been mac and cheese and pesto pasta. I have promised the crew a paella........no prob.

No monkey bizz, it´s time to get a bit serious.

So much for the rocks and the monkeys. It looks like I have too get down too some studying. In response to the question Helena had, how can I sail and blog, I blog as soon as I get to port. I have a wifi connection but I need to be near bitland for it to work. I am very happy to be setting out for two weeks. I have done lot of theory work and it´s time to put all this into practice. Math is not my strong suit. To be honest, this is quite challenging, there is no room for error. We have some fishing gear with us. I think we will have some luck, perhaps a little Bonito or some fresh mackerel for lunch mañana.

Getting ready before a storm

Here we are back in Gibraltar port getting all our grub on board for the trip up to Portugal. The weather man gives us a 48 hour window before gale force winds barrel down on us from the East. Three people failed their Yachtmaster practicals today and more are expected to crack. The pressure is on.

If you want to know what´s in the bags,
chocolate biscuits

potato chips

more chocolates
Tomorrow I´m up the rock to meet the famous Gib monkeys.