Well, this is it. Pandora will be hauled for the season next Friday and my months of passage making from Trinidad to Spain is over. As much as I enjoy being aboard, I am ready to depart and head back to being a land-lubber for a while.
The last few days have been a whirlwind since we arrived on Monday after an overnight motorsail from Gibraltar. It seems that the wind blows from the east like crazy and then dies. Not a lot of west winds in these parts. Bummer but we made it.
For the first quarter of the trip, we hugged the coastline on the off chance that there was a lone orca that might want yet one more piece of Pandora.
Alas, the run, with little or no wind, as expected, was uneventful and we arrived at the marina in good shape. What better way to end the many nights at sea than with a beautiful sunrise.
Steve and Peter left Pandora to do a bit more exploration on Tuesday and that marked the beginning of getting Pandora ready for her time on the hard.
The list of items that need attention is long and I was lucky to find a guy that does a number of jobs on boats, including fixing “orca adjusted” rudders.
This marina is huge, with slips for more than 1,100 boats. I have never been in a marina this big and within the property, and it’s confusing on how to get around, there are dozens of restaurants. As with much of the Spanish coastline, the only shelter is in the marinas as the coastline doesn’t have any natural harbors. Fortunately, they are not all that expensive except in some of the more upscale regions popular with the .01% crowd.
Here is Pandora tied up, Med Moor style as is typical in Europe.
Personally, I prefer this verses fitting in-between finger piers as there are less things to scratch the boat on. When you pull up to the dock you tie the stern to the cement dock and then an attendant hands you a light “lazy line” that runs from the dock along the bottom to a mooring out in front of the dock. That line connects to a thicker line that you cleat onto the bow and pull in tight to hold you off of the wall.
Pandora’s dink is trussed up on deck and all sails are off to minimize sun damage for the winter as it is really sunny here. Soon I will remove the cockpit enclosure to minimize the sun issues with the canvas in advance of hauling her next Friday for the season. I have someone who will keep an eye on her and act as a GC to help coordinate everything that needs to be done to Pandora while she is in storage.
The boom is up on a weird angle because I had to remove a fitting from the mast for work and it will be returned early next week.
Beyond this huge marina and nearby beaches and resorts, the area is known as an agricultural powerhouse, growing half of all fruits and vegetables consumed in Europe. As the landscape is arid, with less than 12″ of rain per year, the growing is done in greenhouses. And, there are so many greenhouses here that they cover 100 square miles and this area has the greatest concentration of greenhouses anywhere in the world.
The landscape from the water shows as a vast sea of white in the foothills of the mountains. So much area is white that they can actually measure a drop in temperature in that area due to the reflective nature of all that white.
This short CBS piece gives some interesting background of what is the largest concentration of greenhouses on the planet and likely a look into the future of intensive farming with a low carbon footprint.
Almerimar is also a great spot to be if you want to explore some of the most historic parts of Spain. The southern region, also known as the Andalucia district and is home to some of the oldest cities in Europe and given the number of times that different cultures were in charge over the centuries there is a wonderful mix of architecture.
Forgive me but yet another short video that gives a feel for what this area has to offer. Our plan is to begin exploring this area next week and after Pandora is hauled next Friday, move up to Madrid for about a week before flying home on the 14th.
So, tomorrow evening I pick Brenda up at the airport and will get a car for exploring. Between the final details of getting Pandora ready for 7 months on the hard and all the projects that need addressing, along with our planned day outings to explore the area, we will certainly be busy.
I now also realize just how much effort it took to bring Pandora from Trinidad all the way to Spain and now that I am here, it makes me realize the scale of the accomplishment and effort of working hard to support a constant change of crew along the way.
So, there you have it. Journey done or is it just beginning?
All I know is that after months on the move, I am happy to be winding down here in Almarimar.
And having Brenda back with me is the best of all.
After four nights in Gibraltar we are headed to our next, and final port, the PUERTO DEPORTIVO ALMERIMAR marina near Almeria, Spain where Pandora will have her rudder fixed and a number of other repairs managed. She will be on the hard for the winter until Brenda and I return in the spring for some cruising. The marina is in a more industrial area than the one located in the heart of the Almeria historic district, some 30 miles farther up the coastline. Not as quaint but they have the facilities to address what Pandora needs and a yard to put her on the hard, something that is in short supply in Spain.
The marina we stayed in while visiting Gibraltar, Queen’s Quay, is a really nice place, reasonably well priced, well protected and central to the sights with Gibraltar rock in the background.
The marina is Med Moore, with easy to pick up lazy lines to tie to the bow. You back into the slip, tie up to the dock and pull up on the lazylines, that are tied to the bow, to secure you in place. It’s a nice system and way better than having to pull in between pilings as is the case in the US.
My Gibraltar courtesy flag.
The marina is central to the historic area with buildings that span hundreds of years. Especially from the early days when England used this port to establish dominance in the Western Med as any ships heading into our out of the Med had to pass very close to Gibraltar.
Everywhere you go, beautifully preserved buildings and forts.
Passageways opening up into courtyards.
Beautiful historic streets all to yourself on the off hours.
And yet jammed with tourists during the day.
Charming narrow streets everywhere. Not really room for cars to pass on many streets and others, just a series of steps.
With all of the narrow streets, scooters are very popular and everywhere you look hundreds are lined up. Parking is an issue but less so if you are on two wheels.
Outdoor cafes on every street corner.
Endless choices of places to sit and pass the time people watching.
No need to worry about the angle of the sun in at cafes except perhaps at noon when the sun is high.
To see the shops intermingled with beautiful military stone work is fascinating.
There is no missing that Gibraltar has a long history with the Royal Navy as witnessed by many statues including at least one of Lord Nelson.
And charming homes beautifully preserved.
No end to the interesting architecture.
And everything in the shadow of forts built over hundreds of years by the various groups that controlled the island.
Yesterday I took the tram up to the top of Gibraltar and toured the sites.
Of course, what the rock is best known for is the monkeys and there are plenty. This one, a mother with her baby. As cute as they are, they look like they have plenty of fleas and other issues. Not particularly cuddly.
The big males look pretty sure of themselves.
The rock has been an important strategic point for the military for centuries and many battles have been fought over who was going to control it.
During WW11 there was a tremendous gun emplacement overlooking the strait. The specifics on this gun are impressive. Of course, compared to today’s arms, this was remarkably crude.
The gun sat up high on the end of the rock. The barrel is no longer on the emplacement but the housing and base are impressive.
The mechanics for pointing the gun below. Imagine the shockwave that hit this when such a massive gun was fired.
The allies dug many tunnels through solid granite to move supplies.
There was a good deal of equipment behind the scenes to power the gun, pivot the base or move ammunition including this massive generator.
Out side near the gun were these laughably tiny fire buckets filled with sand. Hard to imagine that they would do anything in the event of a major fire.
The scale of the rock and how vertical it is made me wonder how they got the materials and equipment up the rough roads in the age before engines. Answer, they must have lugged it up with block and teackels as along the roads were massive iron rings cemented into the rocks. I suspect that they used ropes and block and tackle to slowly pull the heavy guns up the hill.
You really get a feel for the scale of the place when looking out over the harbor.
And a view of the marina where Pandora was moored.
There were many sites to see and each one meant a walk up and down hill, sometimes a lot of steps, hundreds. This view is just a very small part of the steps that I traversed, both ways.
There was a sign at the top of the stairs warning visitors that the apes in that area were particularly aggressive. They hang out on steps that are only about 18″ wide so it is very hard to avoid them.
So, down I went carefully picking my way past the apes. Suddenly I felt a violent tug on my camera bag behind me, and turned to see an ape with his arm jammed in one of the pockets, grasping a bag of nuts. I had forgotten that it was there. He must have smelled it as I walked by. It was pretty funny. Of course, I didn’t want it back.
I hope that he disposed of the bag properly. Based on the amount of trash in that particular area, I wasn’t hopeful and no way was I going to try and retrieve the empty.
One of the highlights of the visit was my visit to St Michael’s Cave. The scale of the cave, which I explored for an hour or more, on well paved walkways fortunately, was amazing.
The vaulted ceiling was lit with colored lights. Very impressive. Note how small the staircase looks.
The scale of everything was breathtaking.
And in one area there was a rock formation that looked a lot like an angel and has been revered for hundreds of years as a sign.
The main cavern was huge, so big that they had hundreds of seats set up to watch a lightshow.
Every few minutes a show accompanied by music. The idea sounds tacky but I really enjoyed the experience. Checkout this short video as it captures the moment well.
I seemed that everywhere I went I was experiencing a bit of vertigo but none more than when I walked across this suspension bridge over a deep ravine. With every step, the bridge swayed… Not my favorite.
Big drop.
The views were dramatic everywhere I looked.
Watching these climbers made me weak in the knees. Nothing below the guy on the right for 1,000 feet down. Perhaps farther than that…
Our destination when we arrive tomorrow about mid morning, is Almeria, Spain is about 130 miles from Gibraltar and because of the continued threat the from orca, and my being terribly skittish about encountering more of them on this leg, we hugged the coastline until we were 20 miles from Gibraltar, the farthest east that any encounter has been recorded since 2020 when the attacks first became an issue. Conventional wisdom is that you stay in water that is under 100′ deep as very few attacks have happened in water that shallow.
As I approached Gibraltar, I relied on attack records from the last few weeks and assumed that because nothing had happened recently, that I was safe. Well, I was wrong. I should have hugged the shoreline as I am doing today.
So now, I am not taking any chances and am staying close to shore until I am farther away from Gibraltar than any attack or sighting has been noted.
We will see as the rules keep changing and it seems that the number of attacks show no evidence that the problem is going to go away and may very well be increasing as more and more orcas learn the trade.
As we departed Gibraltar today, a lovely shot of “the rock” receding into the distance.
And speaking of being hit by orcas, when I was in the cave, after the light show, I heard someone call “Bob, Bob is that you?”. It was almost too dark to see anything but somehow someone recognized me from Salty Dawg, another boat that had done the rally.
Well, it turns out that he was hit too and the damage to his boat was much more severe. His rudder was badly damaged and his autopilot ram was trashed along with the internal components of his wheel steering. After the hit he was unable to steer, only going in circles, and had to install his emergency tiller and steer with that with the part of the rudder that was left.
So, what are the odds of being attacked by an Orca, a question that I have tried to find an answer to? Well, if you are a member of Salty Dawg it would be about one in three as I believe that only about six of the boats that made the run into the Med and two of us were attacked. Those are not great odds.
So, as we made our way northeast we stayed close to the coast until we were about 30 miles from Gibraltar and the coastline turned east, beyond the furthest point where orca have been sighted and now we are heading directly east to our destination. So far, so good but we will see if this strategy proves to be good.
One issue for me is that with only half of a rudder, there isn’t much to steer the boat so if we were to encounter any real wind we’d have a lot of trouble keeping the boat on track and one thing that I have noticed in reviewing the forecasts over the last few months for the western Med is that it either blows hard from the east or there is no wind at all. It seems that there is almost never a decent time when the winds are favorable to sail east.
Another issue with the wind is that when it is calm, the good conditions for motoring only last for a day or two so you have to move when conditions are good. In our case, the wind calmed down as of early Sunday morning and kicks back up from the east on Tuesday morning. This means that we had no choice but to hightail it out of Gibraltar this morning when there was no wind or get stuck for four of five more days.
And, timing is everything as my crew needs to depart on Wednesday and Brenda flies in on Friday so off we go.
I plan to rent a car to pick up Brenda at the airport in a few days. I’m excited.
So, setting aside the orca “thing” I loved Gibraltar and look forward to checking out Almeria, our next port.
As we approached land after our run from the Azores, I was putting my thoughts down about a very difficult night that we had when the wind was so much stronger than the forecast suggested. I had roughed out the part of the post that follows below and had set it aside to focus on what laid before us our final approach to Gibraltar.
For months I have have been very focused on the orca risk and was terribly disappointed that the acoustic pinger I had ordered from Germany had been delayed and I was forced to depart without it.
Along with any possible mitigation of the risk of attack that the unit promised, I also studied www.orcas.pt to see what track to take to minimize risk. I had decided to go toward Morocco as there had only been a single attack in that area over the last few weeks verses more farther north along the Portuguese coast as the orcas had mostly migrated there, following the tuna that they hunt.
Well, I was wrong and we were hit, in a big way. But, before I get into that, and there is plenty to tell, some highlights from that nasty weather we encountered.
After a week on passage, we sighted land, Morocco off of the starboard bow. Not much to look at…
Land ho!
Seeing land for the first time in a week and after 1,000 miles of ocean sailing was a big deal and we were excited. Only a few more miles to go and I will have completed my transatlantic passage aboard Pandora that began in early April when I left Trinidad.
I mentioned in my last post, on our last night at sea we were anticipating wind in the low 20s with gusts to 30 yesterday afternoon and overnight, as we approached Gibraltar, about 150 miles out.
Forecasted conditions turned out to be a massive underestimate and while the models predicted one thing but we experienced something altogether different.
Instead of low 20s predicted, we experienced 30kts sustained with gusts to 35kts. I am not a good judge of waves but these were among the biggest that I have encountered, likely in the 10′ to 15′ range. Sorry, no photos as we were busy…
The only seas larger that I have experienced were surfing down 25’ rollers that I encountered on a passage to the BVI years ago from Beaufort NC but that is a story for another day.
We knew that strong winds were coming but clearly did not anticipate how bad it would get. In preparation we had put two reefs in the mainsail and as it got worse we rolled up the jib to half size, only the second time that I have done so but it did take some of the pressure off of the boat.
During the height of the winds, for 8 or more hours, the wind was directly on the beam and waves were slamming against the boat every few minutes. As the waves rolled by they bashed into our port side and tossed Pandora around violently. In spite of this were still moving along at 9+kts with bursts to over 10kts.
There was one particularly big wave that struck us around midnight, breaking completely over the boat from bow to stern. White water engulfed Pandora, driving her sideways with so much force that the leeward rail was driven under and water piled up into the cockpit. Fortunately, not a lot of water actually ended up aboard but it was very dramatic.
On the weather side (the side facing the waves) the wave broke with a roar, sending solid water and foam as high as the top of the dodger, breaking over the entire boat and cascading down the other side.
The front of the dodger took a solid hit and water sprayed right through the zipper and down below. It was amazing how much water can find it’s way through the teeth of a zipper if it hits hard enough. It made a bit of a mess in the galley.
With each hit water came up under the side curtains in the cockpit and even sprayed upwards onto the underside of the hard dodger, and with all that pressure, sprayed up 4’ in the air.
Down below things held up very well and the only real leak was around the deck mast boot which remains the one meaningful leak that I have not been able to solve.
As things began to settle down, I went below and when I woke up for my 03:00 watch, it was still windy but manageable and much calmer. The speed with which the wind abated was amazing. In a few hours from 30+ to high teens. The difference of 10kts may not sound like much but it is.
As I finished up this portion of the post, we were about 15 miles from entering the Strait of Gibraltar, a corridor that is busier than any place I have ever been. And most are upwards of 1,000′ long. Big boys…
Each ship bigger than the last.
Morocco to starboard.
To Port, Spain.
Our plan was to head into the marina which was fortunately open until 10:00.
I was proud to have sailed all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. My late dad remarked more than a decade ago, “wouldn’t it be nice to see Gibraltar from the deck of Pandora”. Here is that photo. Mission accomplished dad.
As we approached the straits of Gibraltar we were moving along nicely with a powerful inbound current, making better than 10kts over the bottom. All of a sudden, the wheel started spinning violently.
We had no idea what was happening and looking around, saw nothing. But, moments later we spied a huge orca under the stern and realized that he/she wasn’t alone. A pod of perhaps 4-5 of these huge animals had targeted Pandora.
Steve had the presence of mind to get out his camera and take a video. As they say “if an orca attacks a boat and there isn’t anyone to video tape it, did the attack happen? Well, we did record it and it did happen.
Unfortunately, this short video on YouTube can’t be embedded but you can click on this link to get a feel for at least part of what we experienced. It wasn’t fun to be attacked by orcas
It was terrifying and I had fears of the rudder post snapping or the bottom of the boat cracking open as has had on a number of other boats. Pandora’s rudder post is large, made of carbon fiber and it held up well. However, about half of the rudder was ripped off, left hanging by a slab of fiberglass fabric.
It wasn’t until we tied up in the marina and took a look under the boat that we realized the extent of the damage. The next morning I purchased an aggressive hand saw, put on a wetsuit, hooked up my hookah air compressor and spent an hour under the boat sawing through the remainder of the broken rudder.
After my work underwater was done. trying to make the best of a difficult situation.
Here is a shot of the hydrovane rudder. This is one tough piece of equipment and it was no match for a 9,000lb orca. Now bent 90 degrees.
Rudder rubble on the dock.
Fortunately, what is left can be pieced together to make a template for the new/repaired rudder which I will have fabricated in Almeria Spain, where Pandora will be hauled for the season in mid August. The damage is severe but there is enough rudder left to at least steer when the wind is light and we are under power so making the 150 mile run to Almeria should go well.
Today it is a beautiful day in Gibraltar, a spectacular place to visit but I will say that after ten years of anticipating being here, the experience in the wake of my orca encounter has taken some of the fun out of the visit.
Quite a backdrop to Pandora in the marina.
Gibraltar in the distance. Actually, not far at all.
And, of course, the Gibraltar courtesy flag which I will display proudly in my home office. And speaking of castles, I am going to take a cable car to the top of Gibraltar rock tomorrow morning so there will be more to tell about the fascinating history of this place.
It’s a bit tough to go east from here as the winds blow hard from the east much of the time but beginning on Sunday morning they subside so I can likely motor all of the 150 miles to Almeria in calm conditions. Sailing, with my “adjusted” rudder isn’t practical so motoring is a good option.
After we arrive in Almeria my crew will help me take sails off of the boat for service. After they depart, I should have a day or two to get the boats settled for storage so when Brenda arrives we will be free to have some fun and then drive to Madrid for a few days before we board a flight home.
After being aboard since early April, I am very much looking forward to saying good by to Pandora for a while. I am sure that after 7 months I will be more than ready to head back.
And, as far as my “orca encounter” goes, as they say, “experience it once, tell the story forever”. And I WILL for sure!
“Hey kids, remember when Grandpa’s boat was attacked by an orca”? “Tipi? What is an orca? Can we go outside and play ball.” Tipi is what my grandchildren call me. And no, I have no idea what it means but our oldest came up with the name.
Orca or not, Gibraltar is a beautiful place and it seems that orcas like it too.
Overall the passages from Trinidad to Gibraltar were pretty good overall. Well, that’s if you ignore getting my rudder ripped off by a couple of 9,000 lb brutes.
All I can say is “Dad, I made it to Gibraltar if a little bit worse for wear”.
And yes, orcas bite boats and unlucky me, they choose to bite Pandora.
Last night was sporty as we thrashed along with two reefs in the main with wind gusts to the low 20s. The wind really picked up around dusk and with a second reef in the main the boat settled down, mostly.
I tend to sail conservatively when on passage as I do not want to put excessive stress on boat and crew. To that end I subscribe to “reef early and often” and have the boat set up so that the process goes quickly.
The process of reefing goes like this…
The first step is to release the boom vang so that the end of the boom goes up which takes pressure off the back of the sail, the leach.
I adjust the autopilot to head up more into the wind, generally 30 to 40 degrees. This gets the sail luffing as the pressure of the wind is less. Then it comes down smoothly which makes it easier to tension the luff (front) and pull in the leech (back) as we reduce sail area.
The main halyard is marked with a single black mark at first reef, two for the second and three for the third so all I need to do is to drop it until the appropriate mark on the halyard lines up with the line break/clutch. This sets the head of the sail up properly so I can pull the foot down and secure the luff, front, and the leech, back.
Next, I hand pull in the luff reef line in as much as I can and then use the winch to pull in the last foot so that the bottom of the sail is the right height off of the boom. Again, that line is marked and while I generally know when it is properly tensioned I take a look to be sure that it looks right without any odd wrinkles in the sail indicating stress on the fabric.
I pull in the leech, the back of the sail, as much as I can by hand and then bring it in the last few feet with the winch. The loads on this line are alarming and I am always worried that something is going to break.
As with all heavily loaded lines great care is needed and I can generally hear when the electric winches are overloaded, something that is not obvious to someone who is not intimate with the boat.
I recall the first time I furled the big code zero, when I was new to the boat, accidentally pulling on the wrong line with the power winch and ripping the line right out of the furling drum. At the time I was not tuned to the sounds of the winch when it has too much load to be safe. I learned my lesson.
Finally, I take the slack out of the remaining reefing lines to be sure that they do not get tangled, wrap around the end of the boom or catch on something. Left hanging and they can catch on something like the hatches in the dodger and rip it off, which has happened twice.
Once all lines are secure and everything is properly set I pull the vang back down to a position so the boom is roughly parallel with the deck.
And finally, bring the boat back down to the prior course.
All of this takes about ten minutes and can be done easily in the dark with a red headlamp. I generally do not let crew do this as there are just too many opportunities to break stuff and I would rather be the one that messes up if things go badly.
It took a lot of practice to get everything set up in a way that makes the process smooth. The right sort of slippery reefing lines, marking the lines so I know when they are in the right place and other more subtle issues like how the winch sounds under load took some experience to get right.
The reefing setup was not quite right when I purchased the boat and it was not until I had a rigger look at it that I was able to get it to a point where I felt that the process would reliably go smoothly.
The forecast predicts that we will hit stronger winds over the next 12 hours, increasing to the low to mid 20s with gusts up to 30kts. That is a lot of wind but the good news is that these peak winds are expected to be during daylight hours and should subside largely before it gets dark.
Once the winds get lighter, we will be in prime orca “play area” so that should be fun too.
As slow as the first half of the run was, the second is certainly faster and sometimes downright sporty but overall, it has been a reasonable passage.
Having said that, I would be lying if I said that I will be sad to see my voyage from Trinidad to Spain come to an end. I have had more than enough sailing for now having been underway for two and a half months which is more than enough for one season.
But as they say, “you have to do what you have to do” and getting Pandora to the Med was necessary to allow us to do some exploration over the next few years.
After so much advance planning and so many days at sea since Trinidad, it is a bit surreal to realize that, if all goes well, in perhaps 36 hours my first transatlantic voyage will be completed.
With the looming orca “issues” ahead of us tomorrow, I do not know if I will take time to do another post but for sure, once we make landfall, hopefully late on Wednesday, there will be more to tell and I am hoping that my next post will not be all about orcas.
A lot has gone into making this trip beginning more than ten years ago when an offhand comment by my dad “Bob, wouldn’t it be great to take Pandora through the Strait of Gibraltar?” planted the seed.
Of course, that is not all of it but making my way past the “rock” will cap off a number journeys that have brought me here not the least of which was starting this blog more than 15 years and 1,200 posts ago which I started to share our journeys with Dad and Mom.
And I continue to type away in my “office” aboard Pandora.
If you are curious about how my blog came to be, check out “why I keep this blog” at the top of this page. It has been a long journey and perhaps, in some ways, it is just getting started.
For now, the seas seem to be settling down but I have no illusion that it is going to be smooth sailing for the next 24 hours with winds piping up between us and the Strait of Gibraltar.
Here is to the last mile or at least the last 36 hours.
For me, the hardest part of passagemaking is when the winds are unfavorable, either not enough wind, too much or from the wrong direction. On this passage the wind has been very light which has slowed us down a lot. It has been quite frustrating to slowly motor sail much of the time.
Fortunately, with a bit more than 400nm left to go, Things are improving as the wind has gradually increased so, with brief lulls, we have been sailing well for the last day so I am happy. As we get closer to Portugal, we will likely have too much of a good thing but at least we will be moving toward Gibraltar at a good clip.
We cannot see Gibraltar yet but I am sure that it is out there somewhere…
Pandora has a distinctive hum when she reaches 7kts and I am hearing that welcome sound a lot now and the weather files from this morning predict that we will have fair winds for the remainder of the run.
Sails setting nicely in 15kts.
It is hard to believe that with 400nm more to go it seems like we are “almost there” but after more than 4,000nm under Pandora’s keel since departing Trinidad more than two months ago I do feel like we are getting close.
Of course, “arriving” assumes that we do not run into any delays (orcas). I checked www.orcas.pt again today and no new attacks have been logged. I am not particularly superstitious but I am unwilling to predict that we will make it through without incident. Although, I am counting on it.
Originally, I had anticipated arriving in Gibraltar late on Tuesday afternoon but now it looks like making landfall late on Wednesday or very early on Thursday morning is more realistic. With some luck we will be able to make it to the entrance of the harbor during daylight but it is more likely that we will be picking our way into the harbor in the dark.
I contacted the marina to ask if there might be a place in the marina to tie up after dark but was told that they close off the marina and that I would have to anchor nearby, north of the marina and come in the next day.
He said something about “putting up the boom” as a reason that I was unable to enter after hours. I guess that is some sort of barrier in the marina but who knows.
I have heard that with the north coast of Africa so close; a fair amount of smuggling goes on with small craft making the run into the harbor at night and unloading on the beach. Perhaps the boom is about deterring small craft from entering the marina.
I am looking forward to being in Gibraltar for a few days and am really interested in making a trek up to the top of the rock, an image that has been with me since I was a kid watching “Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom” with the famous Rock of Gibraltar predominantly featured at the beginning of the show.
I understand that there are resident monkeys on the mountain and that they are quite adept at snagging items, especially food, from unaware visitors.
Based on the wind predications that are forecasting strong easterly winds between Gibraltar and Almeria, I expect that we will spend three days or so in Gibraltar before being able to move east.
Down below, a bit of a mess, in cruising mode.
Of course, Peter and Steve playing cards.
Peter
Steve
Our wake streaming to the west and it’s all downhill, in a good way I hope, to Gibraltar.
It is hard to believe that once I make landfall in Gibraltar that I will have been aboard or underway with Pandora for more than 2 ½ months, beginning when I left Trinidad on May 4th. Along the way I visited more than a dozen countries, made crew changes 4 times, 5 if you count Brenda, sailed with a total of 8 individual crew members covering 4,500 nautical miles.
Just for fun, down below when Pandora is rigged for a nighttime run.
And all that sailing included more “fixing broken stuff” along the way, than I want to think about. And who can forget the root canal I had done in St Marten?
With about half of the 1,000 miles from the Azores to Gibraltar under our keel, my thoughts turn to the “last mile “where we will possibly encounter the dreaded orca.
I have written a good deal about the orca menace and their attacks on pleasure boats along the coast of Portugal and the waters around Gibraltar and am very focused on trying to avoid becoming a statistic.
For the last few years there have been many incidents where orcas bit/broke off the rudders of cruising sailboats, rammed the hull and in a few cases, sunk boats.
There are several websites focused on chronicling these incidents including www.orcas.pt. On that site you can select a time period and see how many sightings and attacks there are in any given area.
This image shows a years’ worth of sightings for 2024 (in blue) and “incidents” (in red). Yikes!
Incidents in July and August of last year. Still a lot… but mostly up north.
Looking at just the last three weeks, sightings and incidents. Not so much. I am encouraged.
And finally, hits on boats in the last three weeks. Not terrible, unless it’s you…
Having personally met two skippers over the winter that were attacked certainly brings home the scale of the risk.
Nobody really knows why orcas hit sailboat rudders but the leading theory is that the are doing this for sport and that the number of orcas involved in this sort of behavior is quite limited.
There is also evidence that this behavior is being “taught” by a small number of adult females. Yet another example of bad behavior among young males being encouraged by women. Just sayin…
The primary food source of orcas in this area is tuna and a leading theory is that the matriarch is encouraging juveniles and adolescents to “practice” catching tuna by going after the rudders of boats.
Early in the spring the risk of attack in the area near Gibraltar and southern Portugal is at it’s peak but as the season progresses, many of the orcas move north, following the tuna, up the coast of Portugal so the threat on the south coast of Portugal and near Gibraltar is less during the summer months.
Additionally, most reports of sightings are near the southern coast of Portugal and less far offshore between Portugal and Morocco. That area, about 100 miles from shore is also where the commercial shipping lanes are located and my plan is to transit that area.
Much advice is shared on Facebook and other resources on how to deter attacks such as sticking a metal pole in the water and hitting it with a hammer. Dumping gasoline over the side, tossing sand in their path and even tossing big firecrackers into the water.
One of the most popular though is to tow an acoustic device that is supposed to repel them. Sadly, the one that I ordered never arrived in the Azores before I departed. I have written all about this but alas, I will never know if it would have worked.
Of course, none of the active approaches that involve deterring them will work unless you can see them coming and it is not uncommon for them to hit the boat before the crew is even aware that they are in the area, especially in the dark.
I heard of one report recently where the boat was hit so hard that it turned 360 degrees in its own length and many “victims” have reported steering linkages being broken. It is advised to disengage the autopilot, turn on the engine and go as fast as possible away from them but also being careful to release the wheel so as not to be injured when it is yanked violently.
It is hard to comprehend the power of one of these animals that weigh thousands of pounds.
If my steering gear is damaged, I have an emergency tiller that will allow me to steer the boat and I also had an auxiliary tiller fabricated for my wind vane steering as a backup of a backup.
This whole thing is quite unsettling and all I can hope is that we are not one of the unlucky few that sustain real damage and that we can pass through the area with a minimum of fuss.
So, here we are, half of the way to our destination and as I noted in a recent post, “everything on a cruising boat is broken, you just don’t know it yet.” I sure hope that does not include my rudder at the hands, or should I say mouth, of an excited adolescent orca.
So, to the question of “do orcas bite?” the answer, sadly is yes. But for me, the real question is if they will bite Pandora.
In contrast to the nearly three hours, between midnight and 03:00 that I spent swapping out the dead alternator yesterday, the last 24 hours have been decidedly uneventful.
My crew Steve and Peter have settled into the rhythm of passage making and I am happy to say that not a lot has happened.
Brenda likes to say that when we are cruising that “nothing happens aboard Pandora until noon”, typifying the relaxed approach to getting stuff done aboard.
One basic truth is that even the simplest task takes a lot of time when you are on a boat. Whether it is meal prep, general cleaning or fixing broken stuff, somehow the next day rolls around with a lot of sameness.
Swapping out the alternator only meant taking off a handful of bolts but getting to them was anything but simple and required a good amount of sweat reaching around a hot engine and it took a long time. Time that I should have been sleeping.
When I got up this morning, I noticed that I had a few more bruises likely related to my midnight contortions.
Sadly, decent wind continues to allude us but we are hopeful that it will begin to fill in later today.
As we loaf along, waiting for wind to fill in, engine rumbling away, Steve challenged us to a game of hearts. I have never played and the rules seemed a bit daunting to me. Fortunately, a brief rise in wind called the game off after a few rounds…
As I have mentioned in past posts, strong north winds are common off the west coast of Portugal and while the wind to date has been frustratingly light so far, we should have more than enough wind to move us along smartly for at least the last several hundred miles.
Even when there has been wind, it has either been too light or from behind us so that we have been unable to keep up a decent speed. As a result, we have motored a lot and today I decided to transfer some of the fuel I have in jugs to the port tank. We have plenty of fuel and transferring from can to tank is yet another SLOW activity aboard Pandora.
We are facing a deadline late on Wednesday evening to finish our transit of Gibraltar before strong easterly winds will begin blowing from the east. While I prefer more leisurely sailing we will need to make up speed as we have not covered enough distance each day to ensure that we pass Gibraltar before adverse winds make progress impossible.
As I write this we are about 300 miles into our 1,000 mile run and it will be a nailbiter hoping that we get through Gibraltar before the wind turns against us.
Perhaps I will close with a lovely sunrise photo, just in case you might have missed the countless sunrise photos I have already posted this season.
I guess that is about it for now, a post that is nearly as interesting as our day has been.
So far, a good day and not a lot happened aboard Pandora, so far…
My friend Mark loves to say that “everything on your boat is broken you just don’t know it yet”.
That is so true an on just about every passage something important breaks.
A belt, water pump and more things than I can count have given up the ghost on passage and on our first day out, Pandora acted true to form.
Yesterday after a days of preparation, we dropped our lines and headed out, bound for Gibraltar.
As expected, there was very little wind so we had to motorsail for about the first 18 hours and finally, about dawn today the wind picked up enough to sail sans engine. Well, at least some of the time.
On passage I carefully log information every few hours about boat speed, wind speed, location and other stats that help me keep track of how things are going. I also log the battery status so that if anything unusual happens I will see it. Is the solar keeping up with the loads, is the engine charger working well?
At midnight as I logged the numbers, I noticed that the battery charge was dropping even though the engine was running. That wasn’t right and it was clear that the alternator was not putting out power.
We tried several tests to confirm that indeed the engine was not charging the batteries.
I have an alarming number of spare parts assuming that “everything is broken” and along with a spare for every pump on the boat, I carry a spare high output alternator,
It has been sitting in storage for seven years just waiting for the “old” one to fail and it did last night.
So, at midnight I turned off the engine, now 175 degrees, and carefully removed the very hot alternator. The entire process took more than two hours but I got it back together.
We turned on the engine, held our breath, and NOTHING… No charging at all. Same problem.
Ok, now what. I took a deep breath, checked everything again looked all around and discovered one tiny wire that was not attached. I plugged it in. Started the engine and… still nothing.
We turned off the engine again and I scratched my head…
Not ready to give up we started the engine again. This time I waited longer and much to my surprise the power slowly came up to full charging, more than 100 amps at 24v.
What happened? I had forgotten that on a big alternator the voltage regulator is designed to “spool up” the load slowly to minimize the shock to the system and I had forgotten that.
Problem solved and after two hot hours working on the engine, problem solved…
Now I will take the old alternator and have it tested to see if it has indeed failed and if so, have it rebuilt.
I am not absolutely certain that the old one failed or if there might be a wire somewhere that was jostled during the “repair” and now works.
The point is that aboard Pandora “everything is broken you just don’t know it yet”.
Yes, Mark is right and like him, I keep a LOT of spare parts aboard, just in case.
Of course, if I was to carry spare parts for literally everything there would not be any room for us so all I can do is to carry parts that seem “likely to break” and hope for the best.
I do not know what I would have done if I did not have a spare alternator to charge the batteries but I do have a small Honda generator and that would have helped at least a bit. And, of course, we have solar panels and a wind generator…
All better now.
Well at least until I discover another part of Pandora that needs fixing.
Let’s just hope that I have a spare…
It was a long night but all is forgotten, thanks to having a spare and a beautiful sunrise.
Oh yeah, as I write this the wind continues to be fickle so the engine, now charging happily, is off for a bit and then on again.
We have to keep moving with about 850 miles to go even a half not difference in boats speed will mean a difference of 12 hours of passage time to Gibraltar.
It’s hard to believe that I am scheduled to depart for Gibraltar today. It’s been a wonderful month in the Azores and I am so glad that we were able to explore a number of the islands. After a week here in Sao Miguel, my crew has arrived, Chris Parker says that the weather is good for the run so here we go.
Pandora is about ready with her dink securely strapped on deck. A bit more to do but almost ready. Interestingly, sister ship to “old Pandora” our Saga 43, is on the dock next to us. It’s hard to recall much about our SAGA as it’s been so long since we sold her. “New Pandora” does look a lot different, that’s for sure.
Sadly, the electronic orca pinger, deterrent, thingy, never showed up and after visiting three DHL and local delivery offices yesterday, it was determined that the package was lost. You would think that at least they would know something. I do hope that it finally shows up so that it can be returned to the seller. , Thursday as I don’t want to be out $600 for something that I never received.
I have sweated about being attacked by an orca for some months now and hopefully I will be able to make it to Gibraltar without a hit. Fingers crossed.
I have been following www.orcas.pt to see who has been hit and where and it shows that for the last month, there have been fairly few attacks. Fingers crossed.
Since leaving Trinidad in April I have traveled over 3,000 miles and stopped more times than I can count as I made my way north through the eastern Caribbean to St Maarten where I met crew for the 800 mile run to Bermuda.
After taking on new crew in Bermuda we headed the 1,850 miles to Horta, enjoying the best passage I have ever had for that 12 day run. Perfect conditions and we only ran the engine for less than a day. Amazing.
This run promises to be easy, sans orcas, as well with fairly light and moderate winds on or aft of the beam. If anything, we will have to run the engine a bit but I hope not.
Normally the winds off of the western coast of Portugal are very strong from the north but they are forecast as being fairly light. That would be nice.
And we might even get all the way to Gibraltar without stopping. Of course, the orcas might have something to say about that…
Yesterday Brenda flew to Scotland for two weeks for some travel and to give a talk at the Dovecot Studio, a tapestry workshop where the subject of her book taught for many years. She also has a behind-the-scenes tour of the Archie Brennan’s work, the subject of her book “Archie Brennan, Tapestry as Modern Art”, that was donated to the National Museum of Scotland. I am excited for her.
So, Brenda to Scotland and me heading on what will be the final leg of my 4,000 mile run from Trinidad to Almeria Spain where Pandora will be hauled for the season.
It is always challenging to predict weather for an ocean passage and the 900 mile run to Gibraltar is no exception. The primary issue is that you approach the coast of Portugal the wind is generally much stronger and when it is blowing hard from the north, which is most of the time, there will be an easterly wind blowing out through the straights of gibraltar.
Fortunately, the current forecast looks quite moderate and if we are lucky, we will be able to make it through the straight and into Gibraltar with a favorable wind, and without stopping. Well, that assumes that the orcas don’t “stop” me along the way.
Last evening, my last in the Azores, I headed to a lovely little restaurant for a dinner alone, just me and my tablet to catch up on the always upsetting news from the US. In spite of all that, I had a lovely octopus salad and some local wine along with some fresh from the oven bread, the best I have had in the islands.
It was a nice walk through the historic area on my way back to Pandora in the twilight. It was interesting to see some decorations that had been recently hung. I am pretty sure that these exact pieces were hung in Horta while we were there. Traveling decorations…
On one of the evenings that Brenda and I stayed out after dark. No easy feat as that’s way after “cruisers midnight” it was magical. The buildings are beautifully lit at night.
The ever present tile walkways, wet from earlier rain.
I will miss Brenda and look forward to joining her in Almeria when I arrive with Pandora. We will stay there for a week, putting Pandora away for the season and then will drive to Madrid and tour there for a few days before flying home.
It’s been a wonderful visit to the Azores and while I don’t know if I will ever be here by boat again, perhaps our travels will bring us back at some point.
For now, focused on Gibraltar, the last 1,000 miles…
Wish me luck.
Note: You can sign up to receive a notice when I post, which I expect to do most days during my passage in the upper right of this page.
And, you can track our progress under “where in the world is Pandora?” at the top of the page or by following this link to my Garmin tracking page to see where we are.
It’s been nearly a month since I made landfall in Horta with the Salty Dawg Azores rally. As I write this, Brenda and I are now in a marina in San Miquel, our last stop before she flies to Scotland on the 16th giving us more a week to tour the island together before she departs.
Over the next few days my crew, Steve and Peter will arrive with their partners who will also tour the island before everyone flies out and the guys move aboard to prepare for our run to the Med.
As I write this It is not completely clear to me where our first landfall will be, perhaps in Lagos, on the southern coast of Portugal, Morocco or maybe Gibraltar, at the mouth of the Med itself.
I say that as so much has to do with the orca “situation” and the uncertainty about how well the “Pinger” i have ordered from a company in Germany, will be at deterring attacks on our rudder. Some suggest that making a beeline for Logos in Portugal and then hugging the coastline until Gibraltar is best or going toward Tangier and pass on the southern coastline into the Med. I suppose I will have to decide on what course we will take, but not yet.
After a very nice few days in Sao Jeorge, Brenda and I left mid-day on Monday to make the 140nm run from there to San Miguel, a run that was somewhat spoiled by a very large number of squalls that hit us.
I suspect that had I used a Chris Parker, our weather router, he would have cautioned me on this but I didn’t so he didn’t. I got very little sleep so I was pretty beat when we arrived and while I rallied to have a very nice lunch out I was in bed by 19:00 and slept for 11 hours.
Our good by view of Sao Jeorge.
And, of course, one last photo of Pico, our constant companion since arriving.
Unlike many of the squalls on prior voyages, these did not bring increased winds, but killed the wind totally from the gradient winds of 15-18kts that were powering us along. The wind died to perhaps 5kts, and stayed that way for an hour or more but the seas were still up with a one meter chop, so the boat wallowed terribly until the wind returned. Pandora’s uneven and sometimes violent motion did not sit well with Brenda and once she was sick it was clear that nothing was going to solve the problem except “sitting under an apple tree,” which was not an option.
That was very unfortunate as the near dozen squalls that we had overnight was a lot in comparison with a single squall during my nearly two week passage to Horta from Bermuda. Brenda has all the luck.
As the biggest island in the Azores, San Miquel is very cosmopolitan, with the historic areas mixed with modern offices and hotels.
The marina is huge. And while I wasn’t able to book a slip in advance, as I approached the marina I was told “there are a number of open slips, just pick one and tie up”. After weeks of being told that the marina in Horta was packed and we’d have to raft to someone, this was a welcome change.
And for less than $200/week you get a slip on a very nice floating dock with free water and electric. The marina has a lot of boats that look like they have not moved in years so clearly living here is a very economical option for the “house or income deprived”.
This view represents perhaps 50% of the marina. And, there is Pandora in the slip at the end on the left.
Of course, what post is complete without a photo of Pandora up close?
Can’t sail here and yet want to be in the marina? Rent a house boat.
They are pretty neat and in a terrific location to tour the city. However, you won’t be alone as there is a whole row of them.
But, just like Pandora, you will have easy access to the city and the beautiful promenade along the waterfront.
And so begins the second day of our last visit in the Azores before we head our separate ways, Brenda and me, until she flies to Almeria Spain on August 1st where we will meet up again.
I will be giving a number of talks about our trip in the Azores and my passage there from the Caribbean so I thought it fitting to fly a few burgees, just in case I need them to illustrate the point…
I guess that’s about enough for now. On with our day. Lunch and dinner out and a bit of exploring.
Hopefully I will be able to stay awake long enough to have dinner out.
