I slept well. Ready for departure! We're taking our time this morning, but hey, not too much anyway. Louis will bring back the car (next to us) and finalize with the marina while I prepare the boat. We have a cereal breakfast and get ready to leave. I took 2 ginger gravols this morning.
10:10 we cast off. I hold the helm while Louis goes to remove the bumpers. We're almost out of the bay, so I'm doing everything I have to do before, Louis doesn't want me to move after that. The purpose of this day is that I do not get sick. We leave the bay at 10:30.
Louis gets me my new goggles for seasickness. I have to try them on. The only problem is that I can't have my real glasses at the same time, but hey, you have to try it at least once.
For now, everything is okay. The wind is strong, much stronger than we expected, but we were also further from the coast. It is always windier between the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
No clouds on the horizon, the weather is nice, the wind is good, the waves are very present. We are sailing up to 9.5 knots with only the genoa. Awesome!
I even see a sea turtle pass near the boat, orange in color!
The waves are getting bigger and bigger, we have to take off the autopilot because it can't handle this size wave. Louis takes the helm. He does it masterfully. It’s even more controlled than with the autopilot. I must tell you that he works a lot. The muscles in his arms are fully awake. His exercise for the day is done, that's for sure.
We put the autopilot back on for a while, then we have to retract the genoa a little because the winds aren't weakening at all. I winch and winch. I'm doing my exercise. We are still at 9.3 knots with 60% of the genoa.
Waves, waves, do you want some? I've never been in such rough seas, but I'm holding on. I'm doing well. We love our day. We take a lot of videos but it doesn't even do the reality justice. Huge waves. We spend our time saying, “oh that one”, “oh, look at the big one coming”, “ouiiiiii”. We take lots of videos.
We dine on tuna canes (for Louis, and 2 bites for me), carrots (for me) and soda biscuit. Just to have a something in my stomach. Now is not the time to go cook something.
The sail area is further reduced to 40%. Around 2 p.m., we see a second turtle and a wave, what am I saying, a wall of water. Well, I'm exaggerating, but being in the hollow of a wave and seeing the wave arrive 4-6 meters high (or more), on the side of the boat, is a wall! There's even an "oh" that came out of my lips. Everything is going well, don't panic, but let's say that, by force of circumstance, I changed sides of the boat for a few seconds without having asked to.
I spend the next 2 hours with a little less energy, but it's windy a lot, so I'm a little cold. I end up sitting on the floor in the cockpit and swapping the white blanket for the red one. I remember being cold with my white coat in Newfoundland until I changed to the purple coat. Simply put: color absorbs heat from the sun, white reflects it.
Around 4:30 p.m., I go down to the radio to call Marina San Miguel and see if they have space. They said yes on the phone yesterday, but we're not taking a chance. They have some. I ask them if they have a quay to moor on the port side, I am told yes so Louis put the fenders on the port side. I then go forward to change the mooring line and wait.
The breakwater wall to our starboard, we begin our entry at almost 180 degrees. Young people bathe nearby. I see the marina employee running to the back dock to greet us. But the wharf is to our starboard with, in addition challenge of many boats moored in line. There is room at the end. I ask Louis if I should change side with the bumpers but that would leave me little time. He decides to turn 180 degrees to moor on the port side. It is difficult to explain the distances to you because on the water, it is misleading, but everything is close. So he continues to move towards the central platforms. There is a small channel between the central quays and the reception quays on the starboard side. A small boat and several personal watercraft must therefore wait for a turn before being able to continue because their passage is temporarily blocked. It's very tight. We have little space. Everything is very close. We approach the reception quay practically from the front, I would say at 45 degrees from the quay. We are really close. I hear the people on the sailboat next door bustling about. One goes to the platform, the others watch us attentively, because we are quite close to them. The marina employee is concentrating on the end of the boat and the anchor to be able to push I guess, if things go wrong. I don't know what he thinks. We are so close to the wharf and not yet parallel. You might think it's almost like we're going to crash into the quay at an angle, but that would be not knowing my captain. The boat starts to turn at the last second, the boat approaches the dock, I almost give the front line to the marina employee instead of throwing him from afar. Louis puts the boat into reverse so the prop wash gently carries the back towards the dock. The fenders gently touch the quay and Louis gives the rear mooring line to the owner of the sailboat next to it. So we moor like pros, 3-4 feet behind the neighboring sailboat. Really, I give my hat to the captain! Flawless! Didn't even have to reverse/"back up". Really, this extraordinary arrival at the wharf will remain in my memory for a very long time! When you see perfection, you remember it for a long time! Amazing!
The marina employee then asks me if I was the one who called on the radio. I tell him yes and he apologizes for not speaking much English. That may be why he hadn't understood about the port fenders. No problem because everything ends well.
We pay for the night and tomorrow we will go to the marina to see employees who speak English to reserve a dock for us for a few days. Now is the time to relax a bit.
We then warm up the super chili that Louis made us yesterday. We have enough left over for 2 meals each. I've been dreaming about it since yesterday. We also put on a movie to relax because we are both exhausted: tickets to paradise (with George Clooney and Julia Roberts). Very well thought out as a light film. We both end up looking at each other and agreeing that we have eaten little today and that we will therefore finish the chili with a 2nd bowl each. Too good!
Shower with cool enough water, let's say, and sleep before dark. A superb day of sailing in good company, what more could you ask for?!
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