Joy of Shamrock Quay

We arrived in Gibraltar on Wednesday evening 3rd July after an enjoyable couple of days albeit motoring as no wind, then wind on the nose. The sea picked up in the straits but we ploughed through the spray. At least the sun was still shining!  When we arrived at Gib we anchored off La Linea on the Spanish side of the runway and caught up on some sleep.

The following day, after securing a berth at Marina Bay in Gibraltar, we motored around the corner and down the side of the runway after obtaining clearance from traffic control.  There is a lot of expansion work going on in the marina, but the staff were very helpful and friendly and our berth so cheap.

Unfortunately that evening we received the very sad news that my lovely Uncle Tony had passed away that day unexpectedly. He was a great supporter of our travels and was following us on marine traffic, calling my mum when he couldn’t find us on AIS to make sure we were still afloat! He was a great and unforgettable character, he will be sorely missed by all who knew him and my heart goes out to all my family back home.

Our spare genoa arrived in Gib from home finally on Tuesday 9th July and after a lot of paperwork at Customs and racing across the rock, Jez collected it from the transport depot with 15 mins to spare before closing.

We met a lovely Dutch couple in the marina also doing the ARC, Peter and Marianne with their gorgeous yacht Windsurf, a Contest 50. We were very envious of the hydraulic passerelle (boarding ramp) which you need in the Med as moorings are stern to against a quay or pontoon and you secure your bow to a line leading from the quay which you take forward. The line is secured to the sea bed so you are then secure at both ends!  But then you have to get off, unlike mooring against a pontoon and climbing down your boarding ladder midships, you have to ‘Walk the plank’ from the back. We had a lovely solid passerelle, but storing was a pain as we had to secure to the aft deck which was a bit clumsy, so with another agricultural adjustment (sawn in half) and a lovely great hinge made expertly by the local steel fabricators, hey presto – a foldable passerelle that fits into the aft locker (just).

Peter and Marianne were great fun and I think the competition is on for the first tuna caught mid Atlantic. They are heading for Madeira then on to the Canaries, they have just come from the Balearics.

We left Gibraltar on Thursday after drinks with the competition the night before, and started our three day sail/motor to Ibiza.  An uneventful journey with 90% motored as only 2 knots of wind a lot of the time, the dolphins however were spectacular. With sea a royal blue and so clear, the dolphins came and played in large groups and were so visible under the water you can see them watching you.

I also had a visit about 3am one morning, like torpedoes darting at the boat in the darkness. The water rushing passed their bodies lights up fluorescent and it is so freaky! Still no luck on the fishing front, Jez had a chunk bitten out of his lure on one occasion with some flesh left on the hook, and then the lure was completely ripped off the 100lb steel wire that attached it!  His second lure went on, and I discovered that missing too the following night!   The good old trusty (non performing) squid lure that we have been trawling since the UK then caught a fish, but as Jez hauled in the line and almost got it to the boat, it escaped!  Nada!

On our last night before landfall, we had a range of weather and wind conditions to keep us on our toes.  One minute with 1 knot from the west, then 20 knots from the east. The wind veered full circle, several times. The motor went off and the genoa unfurled, the motor went on and the genoa put away, and so on. Usually during my sleep time so guess what, I didn’t get any sleep.   We also had a touch of rain, and by daylight the clouds thickened, wind increased again to 20+ and the sea picked up.  By 3pm the conditions had improved and the sun shone with a flat calm.   Ibiza came into view on the horizon, and with 12 knots of true wind from SSW and a flat sea, we sailed at 7.5 knots continuing into our anchorage on the west coast at Cala Tarida.

We have cruised a small section of this coastline in the days following, having to visit San Antonio for provisions and chandlery for a few never-ending bits needed for Joy.  Needless to say we got out of there pretty quick, returning to our more favoured quiet anchorages.  Our days start with a swim and a snorkel early morning in our own private heated pool (the clear warm sea that is!) and then a sail as the day progresses and the light winds pick up.  There are lots of jelly fish around today, hundreds in fact, luckily the water is clear (our anchorage in the photos below is 8 metres and I can clearly see the bottom from the boat) and you can see them around you so you have to be careful.

As for our next plans, my Mum is coming out to meet us in Majorca in a couple of weeks, we are so looking forward to seeing her as it’s been nearly 3 months since we left and she has been through so much in the last two weeks.  We will cruise Majorca and Menorca and then cross to Sardinia with her, where she will fly back from Olbia just before Chris, Saff, Lily and Tom join us.  So we have a few good weeks ahead of us before we start to head back to the Canaries at the end of August in preparation for our Atlantic crossing….

We managed to get a really good deal on a liftout in Albufeira, so we sailed along the beautiful Algarve coastline, stopping for a couple of days at anchor in Portimao on the way.  Sun shining, shorts on and slip slap slop at last.  The staff at Albufeira Marina were superb, luckily for us they spoke very good English and we got a discount as we are doing the ARC.   All the staff and fellow boaters in the marina were so helpful and friendly, so we enjoyed our couple of days tied to a pontoon despite this being our first marina berth since Beaucette in Guernsey a few weeks ago.  Joy was lifted very carefully, only just fitting into their 70 tonne travel hoist.  A couple of hours later and with a hired pressure washer, Joy was sporting a clean bottom and she was gently lowered back in.

The next day we waved goodbye to Albufeira and with a hop skip and jump, or the nautical equivalent, Joy slid through the water with ease, achieving at least an extra knot and a half of speed.  Smiles all round.

We anchored for a couple of days in a beautiful little spot back up the coast towards Portimao where we were sheltered by surrounding cliffs.  The first night we arrived we had a strange noise suddenly appear that sounded like fire crackling.  It was echoing through the hull and as we frantically hunted in the bilges, engine room, cupboards, we came to the conclusion amongst the mess of lifted floor boards that we didn’t have a raging fire in the boat, it must be something echoing through our steel hull.  This is where Google comes in handy, a quick question “ What’s that crackling noise I can hear through my boat?” soon revealed we had shrimps popping bubbles in their big claw!  We then had visions of angry fisherman arriving in the morning, perhaps we may have anchored among their shrimp nets.  Anyway, no fisherman came near for the next two days, as we sunbathed and fished (nothing caught) and the crackling noises continued pretty much day and night.  I managed to get some dorade vent covers sanded down, all the old varnish removed so that they look a bit tidier ready for our arrival in Vilamoura to collect Jez’s parents who are coming to stay for a few days.

We part motored, part sailed the 15 miles or so to Vilamoura on Sunday 23^rd June, scorchio hot again (sorry you guys in UK).  We arrived at 2pm and spent quite a while in the marina office checking in, not as friendly and efficient as Albufeira and double the price!  We made the most of our berth by using every electrical appliance on board to get our moneys worth, as the washing machine went wild we topped up our water tanks and gave Joy a wash down.  It’s even hotter in this concrete jungle, and a late afternoon/early evening trip around the shops and stock up at the supermarket left me sunburnt, well my feet anyway.  My feet were actually blistered all across the top, the sun is so fierce and my feet must have been so white.  Jez’s parents arrived that evening and we indulged in a meal out at a superb buzzing restaurant just outside the marina away from the tourists.

The following day we motored on eastwards heading for our planned anchorage inside the Faro/Olhao lagoon and as we approached at HW-2 the waves were crashing against the outer breakwaters and the water in the entrance was literally alive and bubbling as the waves hit the sand bar across the entrance and went into shallow water. We watched our speed through the water increase from 6 knots to over 11 as the incoming tide carried us through, brilliant fun.

We anchored by Ilha da Culatra and went ashore to explore.   This is a very quaint island, no roads or cars, just tractors bringing supplies up from the beach.  A path winds its way through the sand and individual houses onto a board walk which takes you across the sand dunes and water inlets over to the Atlantic beach.  Red flag flying and only brave surfers in the crashing waves, the noise was incredible.

Father and Son Time

The following day was Jez’s birthday.  We made our way back out to the Atlantic to get a few hours sailing in before returning for a meal out in the evening.  Our exit through the breakwaters was once more exciting, the tide was going out and taking us with it but the Atlantic rollers were still crashing in against the entrance making it a very confused and angry sea.  With a shout from the Captain for everyone to hold on tight, Joy pushed her way through the waves with ease and we couldn’t believe how well she handled it, good old lady.  She is such a strong little ship, we are so proud of her.

We managed to get a few hours sailing in, but unfortunately with a rolly sea and dying winds we calculated our entrance back through the breakwaters could be done a little earlier than advised.  We knew we had plenty of water over the bar at about 2pm so headed back by motor, another interesting entrance but not at such high speeds as the previous day.

Once back in our anchorage, we took the dingy about 20 minutes back up towards the entrance later that afternoon to explore the other end of this sand dune island, Farol.  A bit more of a touristy venue as the beach is not so far across the dunes, and it has a fantastic bar on the beach. We enjoyed a birthday meal of local fish, and when we arrived back at our dinghy later that evening, the tide was racing out with great force and our dinghy was pinned against the floating pontoon.  Jez manhandled the boat to a position where he could hold on to the pontoon whilst we all hesitantly clambered down, once in we had a job to get the dinghy away from the pontoon, and as the water started to rush over the side of the boat Jez opened the throttle and we made our getaway. The currents are so strong here, but with a 15hp engine we had no trouble punching against it back to the mother ship.

Beach bar at Farol overlooks the Atlantic

We explored the Island once more the following day, at low tide all the sand islands appear and the locals all go out to collect shellfish to sell to the local restaurants.  It looks strange seeing people ‘walking on water’ in shallows alongside the channel where we are anchored.  It seems that the women do the back breaking digging and collecting, the men ferry them to and fro in their little fishing boats.  The view constantly changes with the tide, lots of wading birds can be seen and heard and we even saw quite a few storks here.  Thursday was time for Jane and Geoff to return home, so we caught the local ferry from Culatra to Olhao for a last meal together before their flight later that evening, and we caught the last ferry back at 7.30pm.   A great few days of chilling, exploring, and tending to sun burn which we all had in different places!

The wind is unfortunately not in our favour for continuing to Gibraltar, easterlies with a swell in the same direction so we aren’t going to bash against it, but what a beautiful and peaceful place to be stuck!  29 degrees according to the local forecast.  We have therefore spent the last couple of days taking off various shrouds (the wires that hold the main mast and mizzen up!) so that we can sand down and repaint the chain plates that they secure to, they were so desperate for some TLC.  We have also taken the Genoa sail down to do some various repairs to it, we are waiting for the sun to go down now before we continue as it’s so hot today with no wind.  AAhhhh I could get used to this!!  Oh, and Jez has just caught his first fish since we left home!!  It took a bit of googling to find out it was a Needlefish and quite edible, it’s got a long needle like beak with little razor teeth inside, very strange looking and apparently it has green bones!

Adeus meus amigos!

We arrived at our anchorage tucked around the corner of Ponte de Sagres at around 3.45am this morning, having left Bayona Thursday morning some 360 miles away.  We encountered all sorts of conditions, the only constant one was the large swell, we tried changing our angle to the swell to make it more comfortable but it didn’t seem to matter.  On Thursday we started with the asymmetric sail, a glorious sail which achieves great speeds but with an increasing wind speed and swell poor Joy lurched from one side to the other, fighting as best she could the swell and the huge kite we were flying.  Eventually we gave up and furled away, with difficult conditions the sail didn’t furl very well on its torsion rope, the rope continually twists when it shouldn’t and the sail wraps itself around it in different directions and when we finally got it down we realised the torsion rope had actually come off the furler at the head, breaking the shackle and pin.  It went back in its bag to be sorted when the wind drops.

The wind did drop in the night, and the Genoa flogged in the light air and rolling swell.   No sleep in between shifts.  Jez took over at 6am and I had a sleep in the bed rather than on the sofa in the saloon – bliss!  I woke suddenly to a lot of banging about on deck, I rushed upstairs to see what the problem was and found Jez hauling in his catch – a Seagull!!  Unlike all the fish in this ocean, a Seagull had taken the bait and by the time we jointly pulled in the line to release it, it had suddenly become free and flew off – unfortunately with Jez’s prize lure that he bought in Bayona.

We spent Friday morning with the huge Asymetric sail lying from bow to stern and then some, trying to untangle it from the not so taught torsion rope.  Success, and with a few farmer adjustments which involved the angle grinder and hammer (and thankfully no bailer twine), we changed the way the sail furls away in a bid to make it easier on us and the sail.

Hoisting the sail once more in the afternoon, we were relieved to find the new furler worked, although the torsion rope is so twisted it clearly just isn’t fit for purpose with such a large sail and heavy boat.

The afternoon brought us another two delights – sunshine and the sighting of a baby dolphin.   Swimming up close to the boat in between two other dolphins was this tiny 2-3ft baby, just to say hello and then move off again.  Plenty more dolphins played with us that afternoon, they are much smaller than those encountered in the Ria’s, but more acrobatic diving out and slapping the water with their tails before going back in.  The wind died again overnight and we helmed in a painful  3-4 knots of speed with sails flogging, with not much to concentrate on I was delighted to be joined by more dolphins at 5am who followed us for an hour.

We sailed past Cascais in the morning and with another check on weather we were confident to carry on as Monday sees winds increasing to 30 knots around Cape St Vincent.

The Asymmetric came out all day and we achieved good speeds, until overnight when yet again the wind died and our sails flogged.  Rounding Cape St Vincent in the early hours of Sunday found the wind increasing and as we nudged into Enseada de Sagres to anchor, the wind accelerated to 30 knots as it passed over the headland and hit us head on.  Anchoring in the dark isn’t the easiest, especially with as much night vision as a mole with a bag over its head, earplugs and a peg on its nose – oh and 30 knots of wind blowing in its face and having been deprived of sleep for three days and nights! We also came across another yacht with no anchor light on which wasn’t very helpful but eventually found a spot and dropped anchor.

This morning after a sleep, Sagres looks like a beautiful sandy bay in amongst the rocks with a couple of hotels up on the cliffs, the wind is still blowing very hard but the sun is shining.  Jez squeezed into his wetsuit to go and check out the hull as we can see she has a weedy beard.  Quite a comical moment as he hasn’t worn it for 18-20 years, with a bit of determination and lots of breathing in the zip finally zipped and he was in and I was banned from going near my camera, sorry girls.  The water was so cold it didn’t take him long to confirm that she needed a lift out of the water and a clean, she was covered in green slime and weed.  I will make a few phone calls and find a big enough lift to take her.

We decided to leave Portosin despite unfavourable winds and misty rain, we would prefer to be at sea and very often the conditions are better further out than onshore.  So midday sailed out of the Ria and continued to put in long tacks throughout the night, whilst conditions certainly improved the wind did die a little which made slow progress, but we weren’t in any rush.  Early morning, just before sunlight, we could make out Isla Cies in the darkness before tacking back out to sea once more ready for the correct wind angle to enter Bayona.    We arrived at Bayona around 9am and anchored outside the marina, inside the protection of the harbour wall.  Dinghy ashore to explore after a little sleep, and we were welcomed by sunshine and a very  beautiful town.  Well kept, lovely public areas and beaches and a grand Castle on the headland,   I would highly recommend this as a stop over.  A quick check of the weather and the winds were due to swing Westerly some time during the day, then veer north/north west early morning– perfect for our sail south.  With a three day window of N/NW winds we decided to continue on to get around Cape St Vincent before the wind changes.

This is day four of rain, fog and alas – not even enough wind to blow the skin off a rice pudding. The sea and sky look gun metal grey, infact we haven’t seen  a blue sky since Thursday last week.   So the engine has unfortunately been propelling us south bound but we have found some beautiful anchorages along the way.

After a  good soaking on Friday we tucked ourselves into a sandy bay at Corme for the night, anchoring alongside three other boats.   The following day we continued under motor and in the afternoon we nudged our way into Ria de Camarinas, where our anchorage found us surrounded by beautiful countryside, still waters with steep tree lined banks – Oh, and there were the same three boats, anchored on the far side of the bay near the town and  marina.  We inflated the dinghy and sped around the bay to explore, very clear water even in the harbour where we found all the fish that have been avoiding our lines.

We were pleased to find that the harbour had a few places to tie up the dinghy and walk ashore without having to climb over fences or locked gates – and even better still, two supermarkets in sight.  A nice little town with a few bars and restaurants, we filled Dolly the Trolley to the brim and the icing on the cake – Glenfiddich at 25 Euros.  Our first sniff of Whisky for about 2 months.

The anchorage here was so quiet and peaceful, not a ripple on the water.  In the evening sitting on deck fishing (and no I still haven’t caught anything),  I watched a graceful Buzzard soaring above the hills, until it was rudely attacked by several sea birds who chased it away.   The following morning, with a bit of a Whisky head, we motored into more fog and rain, dolphins were surfacing in the entrance to the Ria but wouldn’t come and play.   We continued south in our waterproofs and thermals, and as we approached a fog covered Cabo Finisterre some 20 or so race boats surrounded us heading north with spinnakers up and only just filling with 8 knots of wind from the south.    I discovered how to use the deck wash hose so that next time I raise the anchor I can get rid of the mud before it fills the anchor locker! Actually, probably too late!

As we entered  Ria de Muros and headed for our planned anchorage at Portosin, the dolphins came to play at last. About 20 or so large dolphins riding the bow wave and jumping out to say hello.  They were all scarred on their backs, some with criss crosses and others with chunks missing from their dorsal fins.  I even heard their high pitched squeak, and then they were gone as quickly as they arrived.  Our best encounter so far with these magnificent creatures.

As we rounded the corner of the harbour wall into the bay to anchor, one of boats that we had shared anchorages with the last 2 nights was just dropping his anchor!  Two more followed in behind us some time later, out of the many anchorages in the area we obviously all have the same idea.

In between showers we went ashore to explore, unfortunately a disappointing harbour at Portosin with run down houses and land mines littering the pavements from local pooches.  We got a soaking landing on the sandy beach for a walk and a beer, the shore is very steep and waves break onto the dinghy before you land.  Quite exciting getting back out too!

With wind forecast from the south for the next couple of days, we may stay put for a day or so until the wind turns to a northerly later in the week and we can then get sailing again and continue our journey.

We finally left Bilbao Saturday lunch time, after a stormy start to the day it brightened up and we seized our opportunity to escape – after a very friendly visit from Spanish Customs who came aboard to check we had no illegals on board.  All paperwork in order, so off we tacked out of the harbour against a strong swell and even stronger wind.

The afternoon and evening brought rain and north westerly winds, but we knew this was about to turn as the forecast promised us a change of fortunes.  1^st June and we have thermals and so many layers you struggle to mountaineer across the heeled boat.  I now have so many bruises on my knees, all those sticky outy things knee height (and those that aren’t – my knees are like bony magnets attracted to metal objects).  We tacked all night, pushing poor Joy into wind and swell, but at least we were sailing and not still stuck in Bilbao,  timing our three hourly shifts to coincide with a tack, and in the early morning we were sure that we could still see the wind turbines at Bilbao!!  Aaahh.

Sunday brought lighter winds and sunshine, yes that’s right… sunshine…and with the sun we removed a layer whilst getting the asymmetric out of its hole, a beautiful sight achieving  7-8 knots in 10-11 of true wind which now had turned north easterly, pretty good for a 37 tonne old lady.  And then the dolphins briefly came to play, by this time the wind had dropped to 6 knots and we were lolling about at 2-3!!  No bow wave for those dolphins (more like a stern wave, I think at times we were actually going backwards) so on they went in search of fun. With sails just flogging in the swell,  at about 6pm we gave up  and the donk went on, and we motored reluctantly all through the night.  A beautiful sky with bright stars and a new moon, and lots of annoying fisherman coming to investigate us, either nosey or protective of their grounds.

By morning the wind picked up and at 6am the asymmetric went back up and we sailed almost down wind all the along the coast.  Couldn’t actually see the coast as it was shielded by menacing clouds and mist, however we had sunshine although the wind was still bitingly cold.  Jez finally found the fishing line and lures that we had been searching for all week, packed in the bilges,  so now we were after a fish supper –  but the last home grown lamb joint was out defrosting just in case!   The wind picked up to 20 knots so down came the asymmetric and back into its hole ‘til next time, and out came the genoa.  We continued to achieve good speeds, even in the very heavy swell. They would have to be keen fish to catch our lure!  We calculated a 1am arrival in La Coruna so pressed on, rounding Cabo Ortegal early evening where the winds were gusting to 30+.  Continuing at a great speed we helmed the old lady past La Coruna into the Ria entrance en route for our anchorage about 6 miles in.  With the smell of roast lamb wafting from the galley (yes I know, at 1am, but we hadn’t had chance to eat as we had been keeping a vigilant look out for the last few hours as there was so much traffic around La Coruna and we just seem to attract fishing boats, oh and the lack of success with the fishing!) we slipped silently into Ensenada de Ares and were relieved to find an anchorage where the fisherman hadn’t laid their lobster pots.  We devoured the lamb and  I fell asleep at the table!

When we finally awoke this morning (Tuesday) we discovered just how beautiful our anchorage was, panoramic views of sandy beaches and greenery.  And at last, a break through – the shorts and t-shirt cupboard, which we have been longingly looking at for the last 6 weeks, was finally opened!  Sunshine, blue skies and idyllic scenery,  we slapped on the sun lotion and laid on the aft deck, finally Summer has arrived – or we have arrived at Summer.

We also caught something on our fishing rod too – no not supper unfortunately, a local motor boat that had rudely come so close to nose at us whilst sunbathing – he caught our line and looked very embarrassed as he unhooked our float from his engine.  Two other English boats arrived into the bay this evening and anchored behind us, our exclusive anchorage no longer so exclusive.

A very enjoyable few days and hopefully a taste of what is yet to come.

Arrived Bilbao Sunday after a fantastic sail from a beautiful town Lequeitio, Northern Spain where we spent the night tied up to the town quay with lots of onlookers, don’t think they get many visitors!

We are anchored in Bilbao inside the sheltered bay waiting for the stormy weather to move on. Think we might be here until Friday looking at the grib files. We finally found somewhere to tie the dinghy to today where access to the town is not inhibited by locked gates! I think they don’t want cheap skate anchorers, they would much rather you paid for a mooring!

Jez ran out of beer today so an urgent trip for provisions tomorrow in between down pours is required before mutiny sets in…….

We have a quick update on our ARC plans.  We have transferred to ARC+ which leaves earlier than the main rally on 10th November with a group of about 50 boats, sailing 850 nm to Cape Verdes Islands first for a couple of days exploring, then catching the trade winds for the 2100 n. miles to St Lucia.

We are very excited and thought that this slight change of plan would be a great opportunity to visit these beautiful islands on the way.

So, 10th November is our new departure date from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria…   then 20th November from Cape Verdes, arriving St Lucia probably around 18-20 days later.

Bye bye for now from a very rainy, gloomy, windy Bilbao.