Heavy weather conditions

The last days of the crossing were heavy.
Winds changed all the time.
No wind with high waves, later wind 27-30 knots with ca 6 meters waves from all directions. A washing machine! After we sailed on the engine half a day because there was no wind, but again high waves. Finding ourselves just before Gibraltar with a lot of wind ca 27 knots on the nose with short, high waves!


The Swan performed excellent and is now parked in Marina Bay.
Tomorrow the crew will continue the trip to Barcelona.

Bachatelle is just 102 miles from entering the Strait of Gibraltar and finish the Atlantic crossing. Current conditions are 20 knots wind with high and short waves. The forecast for the next 3 days is low winds.

Bachatelle is reporting 30 Knots wind, on the nose with high waves. Speed is plus 7 Knots. The crew is experiencing the worst weather of the crossing, just days from reaching the Mediterranean Sea. It looks like this will be the last weather system before Gibraltar, and finish a "Doubled Handed" Atlantic crossing !!
Go Go Go Bachatelle !

Yesterday we left Horta Marina with lots of wind, finding ourselves to be out of wind soon. Now we motor sail! on our way we saw many dolphins and whales hunting for fish. All at the same time. This morning we had about 50 dolphins playing in our bow wave. All good, but brr it sure is cold!!

We visited part of the beautiful island of Faial.
The Capalinhos lighthouse and vulcano. Very impressive!

The Capelinhos (from Capelo + -inhos diminutive, which literally means "little Capelos" or the "little cape") is a monogenetic volcano located on the western coast of the island of Faial in the Azores. It is part of the larger Volcanic Complex of Capelo, that includes 20 escoria cones and lava fields that are aligned west-northwest to east-southeast from the Cabeço Gordo caldera. Although the name "Capelinhos" is associated with the volcano, it technically refers to the western cape of the parish of Capelo.

A volcanic eruption lasted for 13 months, from September 27, 1957 until October 24, 1958, which may have been two overlapping volcanic eruptions. While enlarging the land by 2.4 km², it spawned 300 seismic events, hurled ash 1 km, destroyed 300 houses in the parishes of Capelo and Praia do Norte and caused the evacuation of 2,000 people (emigration to the US and Canada). On October 25, the volcano entered a period of dormancy. Although it is not considered potentially active, it is a part of an active fissural volcanic complex.

Yesterday night lots of wind and rain in Horta Marina. Not very pleasant!
Fortunately today things are looking more friendly. Tomorrow the wind will go down to 15 knots.
And tomorrow we will set sails again to Barcelona!