Into the Atlantic

Well this post is a few days after the fact, but oh well. Last week we got a beautiful weather and tide window to make it through the straights of Gibraltar. With the wind at our back, and the current only a little bit against us we made it through in about 4 hours. We shared the straight with a US Carrier Group for a while too! They called us on radio and asked that we adjust course so that we do not get between the escort destroyers and the carrier. Turns out that it was not actually us that were in the way, but it was fun saying “Warship, this is Adiona, over” on the radio.

Then it was 5 days of sailing heading straight for Madiera. And it was all DOWNWIND!!! That was such a nice change, not having to bash into the waves. The Mediterranean can be such a bitch in winter

We ended up arriving at Madiera at 2 in the morning, so we just hove to and hung around a couple of miles offshore waiting for dawn. I don’t want to go into an unfamiliar harbour in the dark. We tied up in the Funchal marina behind a monster huge 67ft catamaran that makes our boat look kind of quaint and sports car-ish.