Atlantic, here we come!

After our last post, we spent a few more days in Gibraltar. A big highlight was that a local climber took us to a local climbing crag, which was located at the end of a labyrinth of tunnels built 250 years ago. We would never have found that area without his help and it was a very unique experience!

Spending some time in Gibraltar also put into perspective the size of our tuna caught a few weeks ago… While we were quite proud of our 3kg tuna, Gibraltarians clearly have better fishing techniques and go for the 300kg version. We were very impressed by the size of those beasts but also glad we didn’t fish one of those!

Gibraltar was superb but at some point we had to go. As you’ve probably guessed, we have now reached the Atlantic! Well, strictly speaking, the Mediterranean sea ejected us into the Atlantic with stormy winds and we cruised through the Strait of Gibraltar at 7-8 knots (that’s pretty fast). There was no possibility of turning around but we were very happy for those stronger winds and sporty sailing conditions as the winds had been rather weak over the past 6 weeks 🙂

As we reached the Atlantic, we entered the Orca’s territory. Not wanting to try any of the fishing techniques taught by the Gibraltarians on the Orcas, we decided to play safe and navigate close to shore. We successfully passed the most risky portion, which was near the Strait of Gibraltar, without orca sighting – phew! Needless to say, Sara jumped 3m high every time we saw a dolphin or anything looking remotely like an orca, such as a crashing wave for example…

We could finally get our first taste of the main differences of sailing fashion between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic: We had, for example, to stop 5 hours after leaving Gibraltar as the currents were turning against us, due to the bi-daily cycle of tides. This means however that by having a good timing, we can gain an extra +30% of speed 🚀. The approach to the winds is also very different: previously, what mattered was mostly whether or not there is wind. Since the winds in the Atlantic are so much more stable, it’s rather about the direction of the winds, as they can stay consistently against us for days and weeks in a row. It’s nevertheless awesome to encounter so much change and having to rediscover how to go about moving forward !

So back to what happened :p After two night sails and a few short stops along the way, we have reached Faro in Portugal this morning. We haven’t left the boat yet as it’s stormy and too risky to leave the boat alone at the anchorage but we’ll explore Faro in the next couple of days 🙂

So what do we do on stormy days on the boat? We write blog posts, upload a video for the sale of the boat, get into arguments with our telephone providers, and just hang around…

In Portugal, it is definitely going to be challenging to make progress: the famous trade winds of central Atlantic create a constant blow North to South… too bad we’re going on the opposite direction! Our next big stop should be in Lisbon, where we’ll take any opportunity to go northwards. We’re still optimistic about reaching it before the 3rd of July to meet some friends there. If we stop in Sagres along the way, we might also do a bit of climbing or surfing there… if anyone has any surfing recommendations for Sagres, we’d be interested (we’re absolute beginners). Thanks 🙂