North Atlantic passage day 24

Wind started to die slowly yesterday evening, we still had good daily average of 7,1 knots.
At around 22.30 we sailed over the shallow, where minimum charted depth is 28m. Tomaz and myself had a good fright when the depth sounder (globinomer) showed 44m and quickly ascend to 2,3m. This was a bit before the shallow, and we still don't know what that was. The shallowest place we sailed over afterwards was 67m. Funny how shallow it can get in the middle of the ocean.
The night was good, with less wind the waves got smaller also. Morning was bright and sunny and it's getting a bit warmer. Finally.
At around 10 we rolled in the genoa and pulled up the genacker in hope to gain some speed in gentle wind - during the day it was about 10 knots true wind from 120° - 140°. Our speed was also not very high, around 5 - 6 knots, and our average over these last 5 days fell from 7,1 to 6,9 knots.
In the late morning we saw three whales, quite close to the boat. I tried to take some photos, but it's hard to catch a moving target. It might have been Blue whales or Fin whales, judging from their sprays.
We made good use of calm and sunny day and grilled steaks, we had eggplant risotto and salad with them. Today would be a good day for icecreame, but we don't have any any more.
Maybe we'll get some tomorrow, there is a good chance we will stop in Barbate, a place with the marina in Atlantic Spain, for the night. It is 30 miles west from Gibraltar and as the wind and our speed is at the moment, we will not be able to get into Gibraltar before tomorrow night and we can't slow down so much that we would sail in on Tuesday morning. So to avoid trying to find anchorage or marina in the middle of the night we might spend the night in Barbate and sail to Gibraltar on Tuesday.
In 116 hours we made 827 miles, there are still 173 miles to Gibraltar. Our position is 36° 25' N and 08° 49' W.

North Atlantic passage day 23

Dolphins came by twice more yesterday evening, will full show with jumps, synchronous swimming etc.
Night was a bit bumpy, still we got some sleep. It was probably the coldest night on the passage. Please remind me - why did we leave Caribbean again? The big cargo ship crossed path with us in late evening, they came 1,5 miles close to us.
Morning was grey, but good for fishing. Tomaz caught another tuna. I have to get creative with tuna recipes. We ate tuna yesterday, today we ate it with lemon, garlic, onion and olive oil and boiled potatoes. And in the fridge there is still the one we caught today.
By noon sky cleared up, and it stayed mostly sunny during the afternoon. We saw three more ships around us.
In 92 hours we made 675 miles, we still have 317 miles to go to Gibraltar. Our position is 36° 47' N and 11° 51' W.

North Atlantic passage day 22

Yesterday evening was nice, good weather and lots of wind, we had good speed again. Every now and then big pointy steep waves come from N, and the life on board is not very comfortable and our sleep disturbed. Obviously the Low, that we're riding it's lower edge, is creating some seriously bad weather up N.
Morning was sunny, but very cold, there were only 17°C in the boat. Today sea has only 16°C. I thought it would be warmer when we leave Azpres, but I underestimated Atlantic in this regard.
The dolphins must have read my blog yesterday and heard the complaint, because they sent one dolphin to perform couple of jumps around our boat this morning. We saw couple more in the afternoon, but there was no show.
Day was sunny, so we spent more time out in the cockpit than yesterday. We ate original Hungarian Atlantic-tuna-paprikas with pasta today, with a glass of very good white Azorean wine afterwards. We drank it also in celebration that we sailed over one half on the distance to Gibraltar this afternoon.
In 72 hours we made 503 miles, and we still have 490 miles to Gibraltar. Our position is 37° 04' N and 15° 22' W.

North Atlantic passage day 21

Yesterday evening dolphins came by once again. And afterwards a big front of gray clouds came, with some rain and a lot of wind. We reefed and reefed the sails and after some time decided to roll the genoa in and pull out the storm jib. It proved to be a wise decision, around 22.00 we had between 25 and 27 knots sustained wind for over an hour. Around midnight wind slowed down and down went the storm jib and genoa was rolled out again. Because of all the wind there are quite big waves, that rock and roll Heron all the time. Still our speed is good, just the ride bumpy.
It is still very cold, the temperature inside the boat just reaches a bit over 20°C in the early afternoon. I'm wearing long underware and a fleece cap even during the day.
Nothing major happened during the day, just a few clouds with a bit of rain and couple of knots more wind passed by. There were no dolphins, no whales, just couple of birds. We ate steaks with potato and cabbage salad. And ice cream.
In 48 hours we made 330 miles and still have 657 miles to go to Gibraltar. Our position is 37° 31' N and 18° 52' W.

North Atlantic passage days 19 and 20

The night in the marina in Punta Delgada was calm, we slept well and long, as was expected. The day went as we planned. In the morning we went to chandlery and afterwards boys took care of boat projects - changing the main halyard (dviznico glavnega jadra), repairing the salt water pump in kitchen, that was leaking a bit, and some smaller stuff. I went to market to get fruits and vegetables and then to supermarket for bread and wine. We had a late lunch and we were ready to go at 17.00. The day was cold and cloudy with rain drizzling down, and rain got heavier in the afternoon. Because of the bad weather it was not hard to leave the Azores, I'm only sorry that I didn't have the time to go on one of whale-watching tours. We sailed off in good wind, that came from N, but after one hour wind died. When we sailed along the Sao Miguel, we almost did't see the island because of the rain and low clouds. Two groups of dolphins came to say bye, both Atlantic and Bottlenose dolphins. We motored along the island and as soon as we got pass the eastern end of it the wind was there, over 20 knots of it, blowing from N. So our sailing was wild and fast again.
During the night wind got weaker and moved to NNE, so the ride was more comfortable. We fell into the rhythm of night watches again.
The day started with dolphins, that came by three more times during the day. Wind is almost steady at 16 knots from NNE and we're sailing at good speed. Skies cleared up in the morning and weather is nice, but it's still very cold. We ate tuna (like yesterday), but today made by Tadej's recipe, and a glass of wine and ice-cream. In this cold weather it is very easy to keep the fridge cold.
We made 159 miles in 24 hours and we still have 825 miles to go to Gibraltar. Our position is 37° 46' N and 22° 23' W.

North Atlantic passage days 16, 17 and 18 - Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, Azores

 After spending  Saturday in Lajes on island Flores we lifted our anchor in late afternoon and sailed off towards Horta on island Faial. That's what we thought at least. Throughout the evening and whole night wind refused to turn south enough that we would be able to sail in the right direction, we were forced to sail much more to the North. So in the late morning we were 20 miles N from Faial and changed our plan - instead of motoring 20 miles S to Horta we continued towards Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel. This meant another day and night on the sea and getting to marina one day later than we thought, but also 150 more miles made and less to go to Gibraltar. We passed N of Sao Jorge and S of Terceira and reached Sao Miguel this morning, after sailing for 44 hours and 285 miles. In the morning Tadey caught a nice tuna and later on we saw some whales. We tied Heron to the marina pontoon at 13.30. We spent afternoon on internet (of course :-) and walking around the town. Except for couple of new high buildings that hurt the eyes the town is very pretty, lots of historical buildings and very clean. We had a nice dinner in local restaurant, we'll eat tuna tomorrow. And the day after.

Tomorrow we need to change the halyard for the main sail, do a little bit of shopping, mainly fruit and vegetables, and we're set to go. We will probably leave for Gibraltar tomorrow afternoon, unless the weather forecast changes by then. At the moment it looks like we will be able to ride on a lower edge of a Cyclon (low pressure area) all the way to Gibraltar.

Here are some unedited photos from the passage, stories will follow.

First sunset

 
Next morning

This is North Atlantic too

Happy captain with freshly baked banana bred and coffee for breakfast

Another perfect and calm day ...

... and the wild, windy and cloudy morning after.

Greater shearwaters

Meeting sailboat Ruby in the middle of the ocean

Portugese Man-of-wars (Spanske ladjice)

Wild ...

... and fast

With good food everything is easier

It's getting cold here up north

Dolphins

Flores

Escort into Lajes anchorage

Ducks in Lajes marina

Lajes

Warm meal - how nice in cold weather

Sao Jorge

Graciosa

Catch of the day

Heron in marina in Ponta Delgada

Wi-fi antenna with a booster - yes, it's a steak pan

 Ponta Delgada

Reward

LAND HO!

After 15 days and 15 hours we arrived in Lajes, island Flores, Azores.
This passage was a good and fast one!!! We're all great, anxious to
stand on "terra firma" again.

We're spending the day on the land, of course, and are sailing to
Horta, island Faial, in the evening (anchorage here is way too rolly
to spend the night) and expect to arrive in the marina tomorrow
afternoon.