Slight detour to Marbella

I woke at 08.30 and was disappointed that I had missed my Italian friends who had left about forty minutes before.
I too had hoped to leave earlier but seeing that Dave was already up, we didn't waste any more time and left ten minutes later.

I was surprised to find no swell outside after two days of strong winds which was a pleasant surprise but as usual after a bit too much wind, there was now none. It was flat calm outside the harbour.

We planned an overnight voyage to Gibraltar, but we had to leave without filling up with diesel as the pumps were out of order in Adra. The tank was still almost half full so I felt we should have more than enough especially if we got a bit of wind.

We didn't get that wind. It stayed flat calm for the whole day.

On the way we saw our first Sun Fish lazing on the surface. We made a slight detour to see what it was as we hadn't a clue until we got a good look. I think it was Dave who identified it for us.

The water was flat as a mirror and it got very hot as the morning wore on.
A few miles away in the haze a tug was pulling a barge with a large container crane on it and we were kept guessing what it was until it got closer.
An American destroyer passed us heading east, it seemed to be in no hurry and later what we though was a submarine turned out to be a container ship when it too came closer.

We hoisted the main and unfurled the genny in the afternoon when we felt a light breeze but the genny was furled again after fifteen minutes when the wind again eased and the main wasn't doing much for us either.
We had a few visits from dolphins to keep us amused.

With no wind we had to motor and I was watching the fuel gauge as it continued to drop a bit more rapidly than I expected and by midnight when the Mary's came on watch, it had just touched the red zone.
I did some calculations and while my figures told me we had still enough fuel to get to Gibraltar, this was the first time I had seen the level so low on the gauge.

Basically in the end I bottled it and decided with the currents and shipping in the straits that I wasn't going to chance it running out of fuel, given that we had no wind to sail as an alternative.
We changed course to the north west for Marbella where we knew we'd get fuel at one of the marinas. and reduced speed to conserve the fuel that we had.Read more