“36:44.8N 6:25.8W”

1,562 Miles since leaving Sandwich

Another two hops and we are in Chipiona 3^rd November 2022

The exciting news up front, I have caught a fish!!!!!!!  After 1500 miles of complete failure, I finally decided to change my attack method I removed the trail of white squidy things and just kept a single large blue and white squid lure on the wire trace. I attached a 250 Lb leader to the wire trace to which I added a bunch of lead weights in order to sink the lure a meter or so down. All of this attached to my smaller reel which was loaded with 80Lb line, and it worked. Not a very big Dorado but a game fish none the less, half of which is in the freezer and the other half is in me and it was delicious.

Dinner is served and it is very fresh

The day before we left Santo Antonio we jumped on the ferry and went over the river to Ayamonte in Spain for a look around. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day which rather put the dampener on things. On top of that we arrived just as the whole town shut down for siesta leaving us not much to do apart from wander around the rain swept streets before having a very nice tapas lunch and then heading back to the ferry for the 15-minute trip across the river. One bonus of this little adventure was that we walked past a shop selling gas on the San Antonio side of the river. As soon as we got back, I dashed down to the boat and grabbed our empty Camping Gaz cylinder. For the princely sum of €13 we are now all gassed up again and should be good for another 3-4 weeks. I will not be able to fill my UK bottles until I get to the Caribbean and so I am very keen to keep them full for as long as possible. This only leaves one small camping Gaz cylinder that I recycle as quickly as possible every time it empties. Hopefully I can get it filled in Gibraltar and then we will be fully loaded with five gas bottles for the Atlantic crossing and beyond.

On the subject of Gibraltar that wasn’t on our original itinerary but the lack of any response from the Moroccan marinas has forced our hand. We have now decided that we will go to Gibraltar instead and head west from there.  To that end we have managed to get ourselves booked into the Queensway marina from the 12^th of November through to Christmas day. That seems at first glance to be a bit of an extended stay but we have alternative travel plans in motion. We will go to Morocco by ferry for 12 days, visiting Tangiers, Rabat, Casablanca, and Marrakesh while we are there. All of that has been booked, ferry tickets, trains, hotels, and excursions courtesy of Gemma my daughter who is an absolute whiz at planning itineraries for disorganised geriatrics like myself. An added bonus is that we will be meeting up with Chris, Julie, Tommy, and Sue for a few days in Marrakesh which should be fun. After Morocco we will fly back to the UK for a couple of weeks to visit family before we head out into the Atlantic. That should leave us a couple of weeks either end and a bit in the middle to get Spectra all polished and stocked up for the crossing. Chris is joining us on the 24^th of December and Shaun is still to confirm. If Shaun can’t join us on the 24^th we will pick him up on about the 28-29 December in the canaries and go from there. If we do a direct crossing from Gibraltar, it will add 4 or 5 days to the journey, if we drop down to the canaries it will probably add a week to the total crossing time. I am still working on a 4-week crossing form Gibraltar and have tentatively booked us into Jolly Harbour in Antigua to meet that deadline. That’s the plans for the future now back to the present.

Our last meal ashore in Santo Antonio was the best. Nothing too fancy but a very interesting restaurant where the food was given a final flame off at the table top by the very enthusiastic/eccentric French owner.

Cooking off the Chorizo at the table

Final impressions of Ville Real De Santo Antonio was that it was a very friendly and well run marina backed by an unusual town of very un Portuguese architecture. After an earthquake and tsunami in 1755 which flattened Lisbon as well as San Antonio the town was completely rebuilt on a modern grid pattern. It is very clean, bright and the open squares are very pretty but to be honest we found the place a bit soulless and drab. Maybe that is because it is definitely end of season now and everyone is hunkering down for the winter. Anyway, I am probably being very picky there as it was a good stay and we headed out on the tide planning to go to Mazagon for a few days.

Ville Real De Santo Antonio main square in the sunshine

Nothing much to report on the trip up, 30 odd miles and I caught a fish which is mentioned above. Mazagon itself was a disappointment, the marina was very empty and the shops inside the large complex were mostly closed. I think the covid lockdown has hit this place hard as it appeared to be struggling to get itself in gear again. We wandered up the steep hill into town and ate ashore on the first night and then headed back to the boat. The wifi in the marina was not working along with over half of the electric hook ups and so it was an early night for us. We had planned to stay for a couple of nights but over coffee in the morning, while we watched a sparrow investigating our furled foresail as a potential nest site, we decided that there was nothing holding us to Mazagon and we would push on.

He actually flew up into the open fold above and had a good look around.

We had a very fast motor sail along the coast to Chipiona with just enough wind to fill the foresail we averaged 6.7 knots all of the way and were tied up to the visitors pontoon 32 miles later at 1430 just in time for siesta. The only excitement on the journey was a race with a trawler that I got myself into as we approached the river mouth. Needless to say, I lost that one badly and had to tuck in behind him as we went across the channel. We could travel up the Rio Guadalquivir to Seville from here but it is 55 mile each way with several locks to negotiate and berthing for Spectra at the top is pretty limited. Time is pressing so perhaps the next time we pass this way we will give it a go.

Spectra sailing along a sun beam on our way to Chipiona

The marina is again very friendly but showing a bit of wear and tear at the edges. The gate to the pontoon is not working meaning we have to radio the office when we want to be let in. I had my doubts about this arrangement which were proven correct when we returned to the boat at 2100 and couldn’t get anyone to answer the radio. Luckily the security barrier on the gate is a pretty rubbish design and It was quite easy for me to climb around the outside and then let Norma in. Anyway, enough moaning all is well with the world. We went into town yesterday afternoon and liked what we saw. Today we will return and among other things try to get a data card for the wifi box on the boat this will give us TV and internet for the next while as we finish our journey to Gibraltar. I’m not sure if the data Sim will work in Gibraltar but I suspect not. The Portuguese one that we had previously actually stopped working half way across the river when we were on the ferry to Spain.

Spectra in the sun on the arrivals pontoon at Chipiona.

A final note on Orcas. After we moored up in Chipiona we managed to get ourselves onto the marina wifi and a report came in of another yacht sunk by Orcas. This is the second sinking this year, the first one being an older small wooden yacht but this time it was a modern fibreglass yacht. From the report it would seem that the shock dislodged or broke one of the skin fittings which caused water to come in and the boat to sink by the bow. Rescue services were alerted but the crew were able to abandon ship onto another yacht before it finally sunk. At least no one ended up in the water which In the circumstances is a small blessing I suppose.

We were very lucky that our brush with the Orca was quick, and Spectra is such a heavy solid boat that we escaped unscathed. Considering the amount of attacks this year and the damage done to so many yachts it is only a matter of time before someone gets killed. As you travel down the Atlantic coast it is shocking to see the sheer number of yachts on the hard standing with underwater damage at nearly every marina you pass all caused by Orcas.

The Orcas claim the second yacht of the season – Someone is going to die if this carries on!

And on that sobering thought I will call it a day. We will be in Chipiona for three nights before heading to Cadiz.

Bye for now.