It was gusty as we slipped the lines and made our way out of Mahon – once again paying close attention to traffic and port and starboard buoys marking the channel for us. We were overtaken by a somewhat larger yacht as we headed out of the harbour entrance.
In reality the conditions were excellent – there was even a little more wind than we had anticipated and we got a couple of hours sailing !!! We were very surprised and happy to get to do this. We also had the pleasure of seeing lots of dolphins, hundreds of dolphins – all across the bow, swimming alongside Gemini J and well into the distance too. It was a truly memorable and amazing sight.
The crossing was due to take around 40 hours so we got ourselves into a shift pattern with one of us on deck at the helm and the other resting. Around sunset time low level clouds gathered making for a hazy sunset and moonrise. We were lucky in that the weather window for the crossing coincided with a full moon making our night sailing spectacular. Something we will definitely bear in mind when planning future longer trips.
Wednesday came and we carried on taking shifts – and the time came for the first re-fuel of the trip. All went really well and 20 litres were added without incident. It was pretty much flat calm, and there was just enough wind in the right direction to enable motor sailing so we ambled along with the engine on low revs and mainsail. Around 4pm we re fuelled once again and charted our progress.
We worked out we could arrive at 4am – we were making much, much better progress then we had planned. This was amusingly problematic – we had really not anticipated this and one thing we did not want to do was arrive in the dark, tired after a long sail. We were able to slow the engine and Gemini J down to enjoy the flat calm afternoon. We were rewarded with a view of a whale off the stern – blowing water in the air, another truly amazing sight (and a first for both of us – sorry, no photo this time, we were too engrossed watching). I had made a hot chocolate at nightfall on day one and as I came to make morning coffee…..the gas ran out !! Skipper Nigel could have changed it underway but we decided not to worry about it – cold food and drink for 24 hours or so would be fine. That’s when I invented banana hot dogs (cream cheese, honey and banana in a hot dog bun) – what fun!!
We had another couple of hours under sail alone which was wonderful – at more or less the same time as the day before around 4pm to 6pm. Skipper Nigel really struggled to slow Gemini J down overnight – we were motoring at only 1000rpm and still making over 4 knots. At one point we thought we would have to circle offshore to wait for it to get light but luckily that didn’t happen. It was my turn on watch as it got dark and I had a little “wobble” we were about 40 miles offshore and close enough to make out the shape of the island (with a bit of imagination). At that time between full light and full dark everything seems to loom out, although there really was nothing to see. A lighthouse was flashing ahead of us and I started to get alarmed about how close we were ….. of course we were still about 30 miles off shore but it’s very deceptive and I called Skipper Nigel for a bit of moral support. He ended up taking his sleeps on deck overnight and I was much happier with things. I was way happier once it actually got dark and again we were accompanied by the stunning moon.
It didn’t seem long before the amazing sunrise over the island of Sardinia and although we were absolutely shattered we very much appreciated the gorgeous coastline.
We had amused ourselves on the crossing by taking photos of each other whilst asleep (unbeknown to each other). To keep ourselves fit we were dancing (very glad Skipper Nigel installed those new speakers). Our favourite song was of course Dancing in the Moonlight played at full volume in the moonlight – who would have imagined this when they saw us having our first dance at our wedding ??
The crossing had gone much better than anticipated, we saw only 5 other ships the whole way, all in the shipping lane close to Menorca. We went 24 hours without seeing any other traffic which is a first for us. So now we are in Sardinia, Italy, a new island and a new country for us and Gemini J, and no doubt more adventures to come. Buongiorno XX
The Adventures of Gemini J 