Bali Hai - Return to the UK

Being at anchor meant that in the morning it was relatively straightforward to leave and we were able to do so at about 7:15. Even with the extra mileage from having to hug the coast, it was not a great distance to Lagos and we expected to arrive in the early afternoon. En-route we had to make an attempt to fix the toilet again.   This time, as the person responsible for the blockage, it was Richard who had to do the dirty work.   Fortunately for him, we had learnt from the previous instances that the problem was due to an air-lock rather than a faulty pump and by loosening a couple of screws he was able to release the air and get the toilet working again without any messiness.  Greg was rather disappointed as he was poised with his camera for a slightly more dramatic shot when the pressure was released. Richard the handyman Having made good time and with no orca incidents we arrived at Lagos just after lunch (although we were to discover later how lucky ...

Originally, we had planned to head straight across the bay from Cadiz to Culatra but, following the news of the orca attack, we now had to hug the coast and the journey would be over 100 miles rather than the expected 79. Fortunately, with Portugal in the same time zone as the UK, it meant that we would have an extra hour.    We still left Cadiz before dawn, which was an interesting experience because Cadiz port has a number of different entrances and so a particularly large number of navigation lights, most of which are either red or green.  It was only Emma’s eagle eyes that prevented us from heading off down the wrong channel. In the end the journey was uneventful, the only excitement was when Emma almost lost the Portuguese flag when we crossed the border from Spain to Portugal.    The Spain/Portugal border Our destination was the lagoon between the towns of Faro and Olhao on the mainland and the small island of Culatra. We eventually arrived at abo...

Thursday was the day we were most worried about.  Over the last few weeks there have been a number of instances of orcas attacking boats in the Straits of Gibraltar.  For an unknown reason, orcas violently attack a boat’s rudder and, while they will go for all types of vessels, they mainly target sailing boats which have large rudders that can be more easily snapped off.  The orcas responsible are a critically endangered group of Iberian Orcas, numbering only 30-40 in total.   They feed off tuna that are migrating through the Straits to spawn in the Balearics in June, then come back out in July and up the Portuguese Atlantic coast through the summer.   With more yachts heading to the Med in recent weeks, the number of attacks has increased to be almost daily.   There has even been a Moody 66 that was so badly damaged that the coastguard had to drop a high speed pump on board to stop it from sinking. Because of the seriousness of the situation there are ...

The next morning Emma went for a run and then she and I were sitting on deck when Richard, whole normally by that time had run 10k, swum across the bay and done 75 press-ups on the back of the boat,  appeared, looking jaded and squinting like a mole emerging from its winter hibernation.  Apparently, dinner with his friend Rosemary had turned into quite a session in which they drank three pints each followed two bottles of wine.  It was all a bit much for our delicate cabin boy. The morning after the night before After shopping tasks, the rest of the day was spent at leisure.   Richard and Greg went back to Gibralter; Richard to do some bird watching and Greg to visit the Lord Nelson for a pint and a lasagne.    La Linea beach Emma and I explored La Linea and, while the place doesn’t have much in the way of sights, you can easily walk across to the Mediterranean side where there is long attractive beach with several beach bars.   We a had a lovely lunch...

Everyone was up at one o’clock and, despite it being dark, the departure was made easy as there was little wind and the harbour lit up by the lights of the working port.   At first everything went smoothly but, after a couple of hours the wind started to pick up and we were heading directly into it.   Also, the surface current was coming straight at us from the Straits of Gibraltar and was extremely strong.   As the wind increased, so did the waves and we now were barely making 4 knots, so with it being a 90 mile trip, there was no way we were going to make La Linea within the day.   I then made the decision to divert to Estepona, which is up the coast from Gibraltar and it would then only be a short trip the following day.   Greg said that it felt like going home as he and Suzy have a house nearby and Greg keeps his own boat in Estepona marina.   So w e thought that, with his local knowledge, we would be having a particularly special evening. Estepona ma...

The first thing we discovered after our long siesta was that things are usually too good to be true and Richard and Greg’s toilet had stopped working again.   Fortunately, it was no longer seriously blocked and so not a major (or too messy) task to remove the toilet pump and replace the valves.   A surprising repair given that the pump was new this year and one wonders how the valves had been damaged…. Greg and his "shopper" Richard then headed off for some more bird watching and Greg, Emma and I borrowed the marina’s bicycles and explored Motril’s beachfront looking for lunch.   It was a motely set of bikes, Greg and I both had ancient ladies shoppers and Emma a mountain bike with a saddle that descended at random intervals.   However, we did find a very pleasant beach bar with some nice tapas. Beach bar for lunch It was then another early night as the next day we would be leaving before two in the morning for the long journey to La Linea (the Spanish border town ...

The decision to go to Motril was a last minute change as the marina there would confirm a reservation, so I could arrange to have a GPS antenna for the AIS to be sent out to us from the UK.  No-one had heard of Motril before, it is the capital of the equally unfamiliar Costa Tropical, but the small marina is ranked number one in Andalusia. While we have some long passages ahead, this one would be our last overnight passage until the Bay of Biscay.   It started well with our first opportunity to have a decent sail.   In 12 knots of wind and with all three sails up, we managed 8 knots of boat speed. A decent sail at last All three sails up Unfortunately, some tensions resurfaced on this leg as one unnamed crew member who had initially shown promise, relapsed into his former behaviour of showing little inclination to participate in domestic chores, such as cooking, unless pushed. So, we were forced to introduce a cooking and clearing-up rota.    This immediately ...