We raised anchor in Gibraltar at 12:10 pm on 6 Oct to head through the Strait of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic. One of the problems going west to east through the strait is that there is a constant inflow of water from the ocean to the sea. This is the only source of make-up water for all that is lost due to evaporation. The current that one sees is affected by the tides. There is some outflow after the high tides at Gibraltar so travel out should be timed accordingly. The other major factor is the winds. The strait acts like a wind tunnel as well as a pinch point for the water inflow. Saturday night did not look good because of the winds so we waited until Sunday�'s high tide. We still experienced significant head winds and currents coming out of the harbor at Gibraltar. By the time we passed Tarifa point, where the strait starts to widen, the winds had decreased significantly. There was still significant current around the point and the water was swirling.

It�'s unbelievable how much traffic goes through the strait. The chartplotter with AIS targets displayed is an excellent tool for negotiating the traffic. Night had fallen by the time we cleared the strait and started crossing the traffic lanes. The AIS displays on the chart the vessel name, course over ground, speed over ground, bearing and distance to target, and best of all the closest point of approach. With all this data it is much easier to take evasive action and know if any is needed. Monitoring the VHF radio you hear the ships communication with each other on which way they are going. We even had one call us by name to clarify our intentions. They ended up safely passing within 1/3 mile of us.

We are currently sailing SW along the Moroccan coast and plan to arrive in Agadir on Friday. In the meantime we are enjoying the sunny warmer weather. Water temperature is up from 65 in Gibraltar to about 74.