As mentioned the weather was pretty unsettled in the Mediterranean and we had been watching the surf break over the harbor entrance and breakwater in Canet. We checked one last the last time the morning we were due to depart, and there well still some swells rolling through but no breaking waves.
When we stopped at the fuel dock we saw Jo and Wilfred from the Catana factory, who were there setting up for a used catamaran show. They were mighty surprised to see us on board the 62 Lagoon and not the Catana we had left on back in July!
It was a pretty uncomfortable 24 hrs but at least the wind was behind us so we made some good speed motor sailing. For the 2 days after that, we had some gray calm spells and a squall with 42 knot winds and “smoke on the water” rain. The crew enjoyed excellent meals aboard and a daily happy 1/2 hour at sunset before the regular watch schedule started. There was a fair bit of commercial boat traffic,which intensified the night before our arrival in Gibraltar on Saturday October 20th, 3 days and a few hours later. Although it was great to be in the rhythm of sailing for consecutive days, we were excited to visit Gibraltar for the first time and get a decent chunk of sleep! Scotty had organized a slip at a marina on the Spanish side for a night, and we were planning on visiting ships stores that afternoon to procure a fuel bladder or jerry cans for the upcoming Atlantic crossing. Unfortunately they all closed at 2 pm on Saturday and remained closed on Sunday, (on both the Spanish side and in Gibraltar). We missed the deadline as it took 2 hours to check in, but we did get most of our grocery shopping done that evening.
