Strait of Gibraltar ⛵🏎️

We are finally doing it! We are passing through the Strait of Gibraltar! It is an almost 50 nm sail from Barbate to La Linea/Gibraltar and this trip will take us through the strait. At first we sail downwind further south along the most gorgeous green hills and mountains. Then the Strait starts to get narrower and narrower. We smoothly sail 15-20kts downwind towards Tarifa. Here Europe and Africa almost touch.

We have done it! We have, almost, sailed our Nimrod to Africa. The continent where many generations ago my far far ancestors were taken away by boat under very different circumstances. Now we are here on our Nimrod. Africa is no longer just in the distance but it's only a couple miles to our starboard. Since the orcas are very active in this area we do not cross but keep to the European side of the Strait of Gibraltar. This is definitely a milestone. And we are going fast! Downwind, current with us, we reach a high speed of 8.6 knots over ground! What a blast!

By the way, we heard from Beautje that they had caught a massive bonito just before Tarifa. So we had three lines out. We got lucky just past Tarifa: a small and a medium bonito and a large mackerel. That's going to make for a festive reunion dinner with our Beautje friends. That is, if we make it safely through the Bay of Gibraltar and into the harbor.Read more