Location: 36* 06N 003* 28W
Last night and into this morning, we passed smoothly through the Straight of Gibraltar, a terrifying experience of watching at the bow for buoys, quick maneuvers, and hoping ships ten times our size followed the traffic regulations enough to not run us over, leaving Tom with two hours of sleep for the night. I, on the other hand, woke up well-rested after sleeping from 4-12 and was disheartened to go back up on deck and see only a faint outline of Portugal off to our North, a far cry from the unforgettable sight of both the Moroccan and Spanish coastlines at once during last night’s watch. Seeing Africa and Europe together during a moonrise was an unforgettable experience, but it was more fun to binocular a passing cruise ship and to ponder the dining options aboard. Today felt just like any other from our passage, except with 8-10 massive cruise ships, tankers, or cargo ships on our horizon at all times, a very slight view of Spain, and water slightly grosser than the deep, clean blue to which we’ve become accustomed. We had both leadership and seamanship classes and were supposed to have turned in our group reflection papers at 6 pm (sorry Leoni, it will get done eventually). Spirits otherwise are generally high. Everyone is excited to get on land again, as both snacks and downloaded movie supplies are dangerously low. One of these days, we’ll hopefully get close enough to the Spanish coast to get some cell service, so I’m sure you’ll all hear from us soon that we are alive after the Atlantic passage, but let me be the first to say that it is a pathetic little ocean and is easy to cross.
The best to ever do it,
Case
Image 1- Each blue triangle is a 900-foot cargo ship that would run us over without noticing a bump. The red triangle is us
Image 2- Sunrise mountain in Morocco
Image 3- Today’s edition of ‘Boat Food’- chicken, mayo, and olive tortilla, considered a delicacy in many cultures.