Wander Lost

Tag: Sailing

  • Gibraltar to Motril

    The Spanish Costa del Sol coastal towns have held little interest to me being full of hotels, bars and clubs. I am glad to be passing out of season when they are quiet. The scenery on the other hand is stunning with mountains right up to the coast.

    I am currently anchored in the harbour at Motril. I will stay here for a few days exploring and move on next week, weather permitting. I think I have found a vet willing to issue a pet passport for Dotty, I need to go to the clinic on Monday, cross fingers on that.

    Loneliness has crept in a little bit again. I am determined to be positive though. I am taking steps to fight it, friends should expect a barrage of ” How are you?” messages soon 🤣 and those of you thinking of holidays this year, check out cheap flights to the med to join me for a week or two 🤗

  • Gibraltar with Marina

    Now this could be confusing so bear with me. Marina is a good friend who flew to Gibraltar to spend a week with me on Lady Cindy, who is in Gibraltar at a marina. As I explained to my mum…

    Yes, it’s Marina. I am going to a marina to meet Marina and will stay with Marina at the marina for a couple of nights at least to walk from the marina with Marina up the rock. Then Marina and I may leave the marina to go to a marina at Cueta to stay a couple of nights and Marina and I may get a bus into Morocco. Then return to the marina. Then Marina and I will sail back to the marina in Gibraltar to stay another night or two before Marina flys back from the airport near the marina. Come on mum, keep up 🤣

    And that is exactly what we did 🤗 for once, everything went as planned and we had a great time.

    Tetouan in Morocco

    But, all good things come to an end eventually and my time with Marina in Gibraltar is one of them. Yesterday she flew home but as the marina is right next door to the airport, I got some video of her leaving..

    I plan to spend a couple of days in Gibraltar, there is a Yanmar dealer here where I can get engine parts so I will service the engine, do a few maintenance jobs and then sail into the med and up the Spanish coast. I am in exploring mode now so although I have a rough idea of direction (Italy) I can wander to get there. The weather forecast shows a windy week of 20 knots or more so I will wait till that blows away.

  • Arrived in Gibraltar

    It’s taken a lot longer than expected but I have finally arrived at the gateway to the Mediterranean, Gibraltar. Its been a difficult journey with bad weather, rough seas, finding out my mother is very ill, feeling low at times plus other difficulties. But we have done it, we are here and I feel fantastic.

    Sunrise at The Rock.

    We arrived at night so threaded our way through the busy harbours of Gibraltar on one side, Algecires on the other, I don’t think I have seen so much traffic on AIS, even in the Solent. We dropped anchor on the Spanish side at La Linea and took a well earned sleep after 3 days and 2.5 nights of non stop sailing.

    The next day we moved to the marina and spent a few days looking around, shopping, fixing things and chilling. Today we moved to Ocean marina in Gibraltar so technically we are back in the UK 🇬🇧.

    This is a big milestone because we switch from travelling mode with a destination, to wandering mode where we can go in any direction. At the moment I am think Balaerics then across to Italy and Malta. I will stay in and around Gibraltar for a week or two first.

    Tomorrow, we get a new guest aboard. Marina will be joining us for a week. We plan some sight seeing, sailing, fishing and possibly a trip to Africa, about 3 hours away across the strait.

  • Portimao and farewell Nelly

    After Christmas we left Sines and headed to Portimao. Good winds down to Sagres died completely after we turned the former so anchored overnight. After starting the engine the overheat alarm went off so we drifted into anchor. That night I replaced the water pump impellor and we were good to go. The next day there was no wind so we motored into Portimao in flat calm seas.

    Portimao is where Nelly leaves Lady Cindy😔 she will be ashore for a while working on a beautiful 3 masted cruiser that is in for maintenance. Nelly will help with painting etc. to get it ready for it’s next leg around the world. She has been a great help in what have been difficult sailing conditions from Santander to here. I wish her all the best for her onward adventures, she will always be welcome back in the future but maybe not in such rough seas 🤢🤣

    After 2 nights in Portimao, Dotty and I set sail for Gibraltar, via Cadiz. Sailing so far has been with good wind strength and calm seas but with the wind more Easterly than forecast, talking back and forth is slowing progress. We have just passed Faro and are on a Southerly tack. At this rate we should reach Cadiz late tonight.

  • Merry Christmas

    We never left Sines and are here for Christmas 🎄 ❤️.

    Overnight one of the mooring lines broke which put a lot more strain on the remaining lines and the stern fairleads. This ripped the stern gunwale off (wood deck surround) 😔. That together with a change in the forecast meant following mother natures suggestion to stay.

    I have decided not to fix the gunwale just yet. Its not structural, it needs a carpenter to fix properly and renovating the gunwale is on the project list anyway. It will go on the list for the next haul out. I have had the boat moved to a more sheltered spot in the marina.

    So here I am on Christmas eve, in shorts and T shirt sat in the cockpit with a glass of wine in the sunshine. Life is good 🙂. I have a turkey leg 🍗 for dinner tomorrow and plan a lot of video calls to friends and family tomorrow 😊. I want to get moving after boxing day, the forecast is looking good for that. I need to be in Gibraltar in the first week of January to pick up a guest at Gibraltar Airport.. more on that in a future blog 🤫.

    Merry Christmas everyone.

  • Sines

    We have been in Sines a few days and getting ready to move tomorrow down to the Algarve. Its a bit of a milestone because we change from travelling South to travelling East, hopefully away from the big Atlantic swell from the North West that has plagued us for so long.

    Sines is a pretty little town and very sleepy at this time of year, a big contrast to Cascais a few days ago.

    There are several boats in this marina missing rudders, plus one with some obvious damage. It serves as a reminder those orcas are out there and we have been lucky so far not to meet them.

    I have been suffering the last 24 hours with tummy problems, probably food related. It’s the second time in the last week. Nelly has been fine.

  • Porto to Cascais via the UK

    I have been home to the UK for 11 days while Nelly looked after the boat and Dotty. On returning to Portugal, we did a 36 hour sail to Cascais.

    Why home? My mum is seriously ill so I returned to spend time with her and other family members. It was a special time with some lovely memories.

    After returning to Porto we set sail heading south, back into the big Atlantic swells and passing storms. It was a bit of a marathon and we pushed until we needed to rest our weary bodies. On the morning of the third day we entered Cascais marina where we have spent two nights.

    Cascais has been a complete surprise, it has a very upmarket marina complex and the town in all its Christmas’s glory is beautiful. A Sunday evening walk with the dog turned out to be a walk through a Christmas wonderland.

    Tomorrow we are off again, just a short hop of about 9 hours to Sines. This is the area where there have been a lot of interactions with Orcas ( killer whales ) so we will stay close to the shore and keep a close watch. We have precautions on board if they try to get too friendly with the rudder.

    Before flying home I had been struggling mentally with a lot of issues. It was a mix of personal matters, lack of progress due to weather, my mums illness etc. Things have really turned around for me now and feel much happier, confident and looking forward with renewed energy. Thank you to family and friends (old and new 😉) for helping me to do that.

  • A Coruña to Muros

    We left A Coruña after waiting for a weather window and a package sent from the UK and are now in Muros waiting for yet another storm to pass on Monday. The current forecast then gives at least a week of good weather to move South to Portugal.

    While in A Coruña we did some boat maintenance. We had a rigger up the mast to replace a broken halyard and replace a nav light bulb. The light is still not working so I will need to get a new light fitting. I also got strengthening strips sewn onto both sides of the main sail where it has been rubbing against the stays, a stitch in time?

    Biscay has not been a pleasant sailing experience mainly because of frequent storms and big rolling Atlantic waves mixed with locally generated waves from a different direction. Nelly has suffered from seasickness and I have felt queezy on several occasions; but we did it and things should improve as we head South.

    We arrived in Muros today and ate out in a seafood restaurant. Calamari pie was new to me but was delicious. A big storm is passing through in the next 24 hours so we are in the marina for 2 nights, maybe 3. Its less than 1/2 the price of a UK marina.

    At either Porto or Lisbon a friend of Nellie’s may be joining the boat for a short stay and I may take advantage of having a dog sitter to fly back to the UK for a week or two. I have had to deal with several emotionally difficult situations recently and want to spend time with people I love.

  • A Coruña

    We reached A Caruna last week and have been carrying out various repairs, sightseeing, resting etc. We need to stay a few more days but the weather is not looking kind to continue around the corner to head south to Portugal and Gibralter.

    While sailing here we had a problem with the main sail halyard and had to switch to a spare, the mast top tricolor navigation light stopped working a few weeks ago too so we have paid for somebody to go up the mast to put in a new halyard and to replace the bulb in the light. The light is still not working so I may need to get the mast wiring replaced or checked. In the mean time we will continue with the motoring nav lights on the bow. Lots of other minor jobs have also been done.

    on the way here we anchored and explored Ferrol.

  • Sailing with Nelly

    Nelly joined me in Santander and we have sailed West along the North Spanish coast to Gijon. We had hoped to get to a Caruna but very rolly seas and little to no wind forced us to come in for fuel. The masthead navigation lights have stopped working and we had hoped to have them fixed but nobody is available to climb the mast. I should be able to do it, I have the equipment but I would rather not.

    Tomorrow we leave and head further West.