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.
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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.