Trip Report #5-2004:  Balearics to Gibraltar

Filed From Gibraltar

36   09 N     005   21W

September 25, 2004

Photo:  Leaving Barcelona

    We said goodbye to Barcelona late in the morning on September 16, bound for Espalmador, a small island in the Balearics, 160 nm away, and a wonderful place to anchor.  After being in a harbor for more than a week, Tom wanted to stop to scrub the bottom before setting off on a direct course to Gibraltar.

    The day was sunny with a warm haze and 10-15-knot winds from the SW.  We were able to sail all day until nightfall, when the wind dropped and we reluctantly started up the engine.  During the night we passed several freighters and a few Barcelona-bound ferries and cruise ships, and by 3 am, the loom of Palma on Mallorca was plainly visible.

Photo: Freighter carrying liquefied natural gas to Barcelona

    We motor-sailed most of the next day and arrived at our anchorage at 6pm.  After we anchored, we discovered that the head was not working, so before dinner or anything else, Tom had to change the jockey valve on the head and clean some of the connecting hoses, which had developed a bad case of sclerosis.  This was not what we had planned for the evening's entertainment, but it was vitally important that it be done.  Dinner was very late and more of a snack that night.

Photo;  Approaching Espalmador

Photo;  Tom gets into working mode

    The next morning Tom got out his diving gear and spent a good part of the morning under the boat scraping barnacles and scrubbing slime, while I cleaned the inside of the boat, did laundry, prepared kabobs and a potato salad, and then swam to scrub the waterline.  We used our new Magma gas barbecue grill, newly mounted on the stern pulpit, to grill the chicken kabobs.  It was a delicious dinner, sitting in the cockpit watching the sun go down, making up for the evening before.  After dinner, we watched a movie,  "Suspect" with Cher!, Dennis Quaid and Liam Neilson, which was surprisingly good.

Photo: Tom gets into cruising mode

    We weighed anchor the next day and motored the few miles into Sabina, Formentera, for fuel before we began the 360 mile trip to Gibraltar.  The price of diesel in Sabina was $4.17 a gallon (converted from the Euros per liter that is commonly charged) and we knew that it would be a great deal lower than that when we got to Gibraltar.  So we took on the bare minimum, enough to motor 3/4 of the way.  We anchored that night in a quiet little hook at the most western tip of the Balearics, ready to jump off at first light.

    As it turns out, first light occurs at about 8 am now.  We finally left the anchorage at 8:45 am on September 20, sailing in light air and flat water.  Our first waypoint is at Cabo Palos, 104 miles away.  There was no traffic (that we could see) during the day, but we began to pass eastbound freighters during the night, as we continued sailing down the moon's light on the water .  The next day, with the wind behind us, we got a good chance to use our new whisker pole and work out the easiest maneuvers to use to get it up and down, in and out and to jibe it.  We expect to be using the pole often on the downwind trek to the Caribbean, and we wanted to get the technique down pat before we have to do it in big waves.

    On the nights of the 21st and 22nd, we began to see lots of freighters, especially around and after rounding Cabo de Gato.  Standing watch required vigilance and a detailed knowledge of how the lights of other vessels appear from varying perspectives.  The radar helped a great deal.  At first, we had our radar range set at 8 miles, but we found that we were starting to take evasive action way too soon, and finally set the range at 4 miles - soon enough to take action if necessary, and not so far out that we had too many "blips" to manage.  There were times that we had 20 vessels coming and going around us.  Quite a busy stretch of water.

Photo:  Lights of a freighter passing us 2 miles away

    We do look forward to showers in the cockpit on hot sunny days when we're cruising. But on the way to Gibraltar, our water pressure failed.  Tom thought it must be the pump.  He checked our supply of extra pumps, and indeed, we had exactly the pump required.  An assessment of the system, however, revealed that the problem was a clogged filter in the galley, a fairly easy fix.  We could have our showers and arrive in Gibraltar looking like civilized people rather than grimy "tars".

Photo:  Lighthouse at Gibraltar, approaching from the east

Photo:  Freighters come and go at Gibraltar

Photo:  Coming into the harbor at Gibraltar

Photo:  The anchorage, northwest of the airport runway, Gibraltar

    The anchorage at Gibraltar was filled with many more boats than we had seen there in 2000.  This is due to the fact that Sheppard's Marine is in the process of relocating, reducing capacity, and was filled with boats needing to have work done, and both Queensway and Marina Bay were filled as well.  We were lucky enough to get a berth at Marina Bay, as we wanted to be near laundry, chandleries and groceries, at least for a day or two.  If we have to wait for weather to leave, after we have our supplies, we'll go out to the anchorage.

    After we checked in at the Customs dock, we proceeded to the fuel dock right next door and filled our nearly empty tank and put an additional 37 gallons into containers to carry on deck.  The charge to us for 106.5 gallons (426 liters) was $209.54 (117.06 pounds), or $1.97 per gallon.

    As we pulled in, we were met by a welcome hail from Barb & Don on Lutana II, another voice from the Mediterranean Cruisers' Net, who will also be sailing to the Canary Islands.  Don and Tom are organizing another net for people on their way to the Canaries and to the Caribbean  on SSB 6224 at 0615 UTC, and already there are people like Becky & George on Sirius and Tim on LaBelle checking in regularly.  

Photo:  Don and Barbara of Lutana II, Gibraltar

    Our next reports will detail the trip to the Canaries, some 600 nm away and our cruise through the islands.

                     Cheerio, 73s,88s, love & hugs

                     Peg & Tom

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