Orcas on my mind

We come into Lagos Marina as the wind and swell is on it’s way up. The anchorage off the beach isn’t as beautiful when its rolling.
The entrance into Lagos is memorable because the footbridge between the town and the Marina has to be opened to allow the boat through. Ronan and I came under this bridge once before when we arrived in 14 years ago with Donal, Fergal, Neasa and Kevin from the Azores on Re Shuanta on the return Atlantic Rally. We are brimming with memories again and the kids indulge our reminiscing. There are ARC boats here now preparing to sail to the Canaries before they cross the Atlantic. We see the lovely camaraderie between these boats and their shared excitement of fulfilling the dream.
Lagos is lovely and there are a number of factors that lead us to decide to stay here until Donal and Margaret (a.k.a Nana and Grandad) fly out to visit in a week’s time.
The most unusual factor being the presence of Orcas in the bay. There is a small group of Orcas who in the last year or so have got a taste for ramming sailboats. It just so happens that they are in this area now. Two Yachts are towed into the boatyard after being attacked. They target sailboats rudders with the apparent intention of disabling the boat. It seems to be a game they play with yachts under 15m in length and so they would like the look of us. I have watched videos on YouTube of these encounters and it looks like a very unpleasant and frightening experience. The fright I got when I saw the Risso Dolphin’s off Figueira da Foz gave me a tiny insight into what crew must feel like when the Orcas come. There have been reports of an attack lasting two hours and one I read about where the Orcas appeared to try and push two yachts together. This does not make for good bedtime reading when you are sailing in these parts.

We have been keeping an eye on updates on the internet. In July and August there were attacks nearly every day, all around the Gibraltar region and this is an area we must pass through in order to get into the Mediterranean. There were so many attacks in the area that the government put a no sail zone in place for a number of weeks. They had done the same in Galicia in September 2020 where the first reports of this new behaviour were in the news.

Lots of boats are going in and out of the Marina here in Lagos. There are hundreds of sailboats on the water in these parts everyday so the likelihood of an encounter is very slim. All the same, we are very happy to enjoy the pleasures Lagos has to offer and see online or hear on the grapevine what the Orcas are up.Read more