Day: 4 June 2015

Another day without wind. The initial plan to sail to Mazagon was dropped. It makes little sense to motor to Mazagon first and then to Cadiz. It would have been 5 more hours on the engine and Mazagon is not known for its attraction. The decision was taken to head directly to Cadiz. This way we would arrive at about 23:00 and could spend the whole next day exploring the town.

The calculation was wrong. At about 18:00 the Levanter (an easterly wind known to blow through the Gibraltar strait with up to 40kn and more and extending up to this area) became apparent. After about one hour it had reached F5 to F6 and was blowing from ESE which was exactly where we wanted to go. Soon steep waves built up, and the speed dropped to sometimes below 3kn. That was motoring against the waves. Sailing to Cadiz would have meant tacking which would have reduced progress to below 2kn. It was still more than 30NM to go. I secured the dinghy on the foredeck and prepared for the long night. We arrived finally at 04:00 in the morning with the Levanter still blowing unchanged.

Cadiz Marina

Faro is located at the NW end of a tidal lagoon system which runs along the coast for some 30NM between the mainland and the sea. After approximately 8 hours of motoring, we arrived at about 18:30 and had the tidal current against us when entering between the breakwaters. There were heavy eddies because of the spring tide and the current was setting with up to 4kn. It took a while to reach the anchorage off Ponte Cais located 2.5NM further north where we dropped the anchor in between 10 to 15 other “long distance sailors”. We inflated the dinghy and visited the little fishing village on the island. Lying here at anchor between so many other sailing boats from almost any country in northern Europe was very satisfying. I had arrived; I am now part of the cruising sailor’s community.

Leaving Lagos

Sunshade

At Anchor

Arrived