THURSDAY 26TH APRIL 2007.
POSITION: 13 miles east of Europa Point
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 16 miles in 1. 2 hours
WIND: South Westerly at 22knots
WEATHER: Fine and Sunny with only a little haze which is typical of this area.
NEWS:
We left Queensway Marina, Gibraltar, at 0830 this morning so that we could be the first customer at the fuel dock which opened at 0900. We took on 13 tons (13,000 litres) of Marine Gas Oil (diesel fuel) in pretty quick time and then loaded the 12 new batteries on board using the Mizzen staysail halyard. Each battery weighs in excess of 200lbs.
We were able to leave the dock at 1030 hrs and were clear of the harbour 15 minutes later and on our way. Europa Point is the southern most tip of Gibraltar about 3 miles south of the harbour and as we rounded that we hooked our first fish, a nice Bonito which we released. However speaking with our local agent who is a keen fisherman he told me that they are good eating (not usually the case with Bonito) so we kept the next one that came on board about 10 minutes later. We will try eating this one and see how it tastes. So two fish in quick succession is a good start for the trip to Palma where we hope to arrive on Saturday morning.
Regards = PHil