Online before the jump

Ahoy there, dear ones, good news first: Biosphera can now be found on Vesselfinder.com. Just go to vesselfindercom, enter the boat name and you will see our current position. We are shown under the French flag, which is because the French bank insisted on a French registration.

The second piece of good news: we finally had conditions in which we were able to apply the second lettering. The Biosphera now has a name on both sides, so it has been christened, which we celebrated accordingly!

I would also like to take this opportunity to raise a toast to my co-sailor: Katja has little experience as a sailor, has followed her children to regattas rather than sailing herself, and not long ago stepped onto a larger boat with me for the first time. We now sail through the night together, travelling through currents and areas with lots of wind and Katja keeps night watches on her own. Chapeau! She crawls into the engine compartment with a great thirst for knowledge and helps me to find and rectify faults with an analytical eye! She is now the only one who knows where everything is on board... Thank you, dear Katja, you are a great fellow sailor!

As you can see, we are still close to Gibraltar. After spending a few days there in the marina and taking care of the electrics and other things, we moved to the bay of La Linea, where we are anchored again. This saves harbour fees and is pleasant as you can also jump into the water here. Otherwise, this is a really quirky place: In the background you can see the Rock of Gibraltar, to which a small cluster of houses cling where the British way of life is cultivated. On the other side is La Linea, where a rowing race is currently taking place and is being loudly moderated. On the west side is Algecieras with a huge goods harbour. In Gibraltar it is narrow and the traffic is loud and although only 60,000 inhabitants actually live there, it is more hectic than cosy. The rock itself is a nature reserve where the famous monkeys can be admired. After taking the cable car up, we slowly hiked down and looked at the many defence structures carved into the mountain in all sorts of places. It doesn't really inspire a pleasant, peaceful energy.

We had a completely different experience in Genovese Bay just before Almeria. It was calm, the water was clear and there were lots of fish. Before that, it was the Ebro Delta, which mesmerised us with its nature reserve. For me, this is the first realisation of the trip with the Biosphera: if we concentrate on visiting biosphere reserves, we are automatically in more beautiful areas. The Spanish coast in particular is partly overbuilt without restraint, but in these places it was rather natural and quiet. The tourists were mostly Spanish and everything felt respectful.

It's a completely different story here, with the aforementioned rock on one side and La Linea directly in front of us, where the rowing race is slowly approaching its climax. This time it is a dubious pleasure to anchor in the front row. Behind us are the harbour facilities of Algecieras, which is probably the fifth largest harbour in Europe. Large ships are moored everywhere. In the dark, we have more lights from all sides. The town is known as a jumping-off point before the south-westbound crossing to the Canary Islands or Morocco. You can wait here and leave at any time of day or night. The Strait of Gibraltar is a challenging area. In addition to the intense shipping traffic - I believe it is the busiest route in the world - it is the weather and currents that cause us problems. The surface current generally runs from west to east. The Mediterranean is saltier than the Atlantic and warmer, which means that there is a constant inflow of water from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean. We already experienced this when we arrived here, where we had a current of 1.5-2 knots from the front for about 20 hours. Added to this is the tidal current, which is accelerated by the narrowness of the strait. The wind also experiences a jet effect, so there are often very strong westerly winds. So we need a weather situation in which there is always an easterly wind and the right time to have the tidal current with us. Today was actually the perfect moment for this, or so we thought. Yesterday, however, it became clear that the easterly wind we were expecting would reach a force of 40 knots in gusts, which would be too exciting for crossing the Strait between the huge ships. So safety first, we'll wait! Tomorrow it looks as if the wind will calm down. We may have to motor a lot, but in view of the challenges described above, this seems to be the lesser evil. Our first destination is Tangier. There we are in Morocco, another new world and the most difficult part of the Strait of Gibraltar is behind us.

Today we will enjoy Spain, eat delicious tapas and study the weather forecast. The boat is ready, refuelled with cheap diesel from Gibraltar and we have also managed to get the supplies on board safely with a long walk and dinghy ride in the dark. Keep your fingers crossed for good conditions!