Just before my departure to the UK there were some ferocious winds here. The highest gust I registered was more than 50 knots and even though we were moored in the marina the boat was heeled so much that things were falling out of the cupboards and bottles were falling over. Some of the yachts here were damaged by banging into the pontoon and several had torn sails. We were therefore very relieved to find that all was good on the boat and nothing had been damaged whilst we were away.
It felt a bit strange to be in England after so long away and the weather was a bit grim after the mild temperatures we have been enjoying here in Spain for the past months, but it was lovely to see everyone and we had a very pleasant Christmas with Jan's family in Yorkshire. I must take this opportunity to give Laura our special thanks for putting us up at her farm in Henley for 10 days, it was greatly appreciated!
The sun was shining and it was very warm when we got back here so the first thing I did was use one of my Christmas presents. Our daughter Miranda gave me a Gin Pennant and this is a special flag which when flown indicates you are open for drinks. Fortunately no-one else in the marina recognised the flag so we weren't inundated by mobs of thirsty sailors, but it gave us a good excuse to sample the gin collection we have built up whilst we have been close to the duty-free shopping in Gibraltar.
We had originally planned to set off for Morocco, but yet again we have maintenance issues. Our on-deck chart plotter has a touchscreen and this has been giving us intermittent problems. The screen seems to fail at the most inconvenient and inappropriate moments - for example when we are approaching ports; rocks; or other things we would rather not hit. It's a Raymarine plotter and still under warranty so when we first arrived here in La Linea we contacted the Raymarine dealer who had to send it back to the UK for repair/replacement. The repair was supposed to have been completed by now but inevitably it has been delayed so we had to postpone our departure. Hopefully it should be back in a couple of weeks.
We have now spent quite a long time in La Linea so we decided that whilst we were waiting for the plotter to be repaired we should go across the Straits of Gibraltar to explore Ceuta for a couple of days. Ceuta is a bit of an oddity,.....it is a Spanish enclave in Morocco and I must say I think that the Spanish are a bit cheeky with their demands for Gibraltar to be given back whilst they maintain their foothold in Africa!
It is only 15 miles across the Straits of Gibraltar and the weather forecast was for light winds so we expected the trip to be fairly benign - WRONG! The Straits seem to experience a micro-climate which defies prediction. As we motored out of Gibraltar Bay the wind increased steadily....When the wind reached 10 knots we unfurled the sails and revelled in the opportunity for a decent sail. When the wind reached 20 knots we reefed the Main and enjoyed the speed and exhilaration. When the wind reached 25 knots we decided to put on our lifejackets and also put on oilskins to protect ourselves from the spray that was hitting us constantly. When it peaked at 30 knots we were more than half way across, so it was easier to carry on than go back - but had this been the forecast we wouldn't have left Gib! We were very wet and very relieved to arrive safely and without breakages when we finally reached Ceuta.
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| Hercules Statue at the entrance to Ceuta Harbour |
We stayed for a couple of nights but then noticed that the forecast for the next week was for strong winds so after our experience on the way over we decided to curtail our exploration and return whilst we still could. Again our journey across the Straits wasn't easy, because in addition to the brisk winds there was a 6 knot current running and we had a couple of quite close calls with the ships in transit.
We are now safely back in La Linea and the weather is grim with lots of wind and rain! Roll on Summer.......
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