Our first passage of 2019 is in the books!

Dock fever

After almost 6 months in Almerimar, both Ryan and I were getting really anxious to start our season in the Med.We had originally planned to leave late March / early April, but Ryan had to go to Singapore for work and a very strong Westerly wind delayed all our plans once he got back. So here we were, reaching mid-April and still working on the boat.Eventually, we decided that enough was enough and that certain projects could be worked on while on the go. We waited for one last package to arrive at the marina office, and monitored the weather to catch the first weather window available.That window occurred yesterday. And although the forecast had predicted some nice westerly winds that would push us all the way to our first destination: Cartagena, it also showed clouds and heavier rains. But hey, if the winds are OK, it doesn't matter if the ride is wet. So off we went, venturing out of Almerimar in the rain for our first passage in almost half a year. 

Hellish sea state and AIS troubles.

What we hadn't anticipated was how agitated the seas would be at the exit of the marina.For the few first hours of our passage, we got bashed in 2 to 3 meters waves. At the exit of the marina, we had to ride against them and some would crash on our bow before Polar Seal would herself crash her flat hull in the water, causing the entire boat to vibrate upon impact. Our girl doesn't like to ride the waves upfront :/When we turned East towards Cartagena, we ended up having the waves crashing on the beam, causing Polar Seal to roll 45 degrees both to port and starboard. Not a lot more comfortable, and I am glad I took some extra time to pick up all the potential flying objects in the cabin that day.My legs were shaking.One of my hands was gripped on the grab rail as hard as possible, the other one was handling a wheel rendered very heavy by the waves. A year ago, I would have freaked out and probably even asked to turn around. But we pushed the throttle forward to give Polar Seal more juice in the waves, and went on.That is when our AIS decided that it wasn't going to show us any of the marine traffic around us. We started to feel like this was a lot to handle at once, but figured that the seas would get calmer offshore. Besides, now that we had a functioning radar, it could make up for the traffic data we were missing, so we decided to carry on towards Cartagena.Photos never do the waves justice. What you are looking at on the photo above is Polar Seal at the bottom of a 2 meters waves. Not the worst we've seen, but the waves were so close to each other that they made Ryan got seasick.I had put a patch of Scopoderm behind my ear the night before departure, and in spite of the boat's motion and some serious nervousness, felt completely fine. Ryan had been trying the fix the AIS in the cabin and had to get out to let the nausea pass.I was quite happy to be back on the water, even if the ride was wet and choppy. I loved reconnecting with the sea, and admire the beautiful landscapes that we passed on the way!

Cabo de Gata

One of the landmarks of this passage was "Cabo de Gata", the mountains on the photo above. Cabo de Gata lies at the South-Eastern tip of Spain and is notorious for its shifty winds, creating choppy waters around it.And although the winds weren't even high enough for us to kill the engine and fully sail, we felt the full "Cabo de Gata" effect as we crossed the Gulf of Almeria. I can't imagine what this place is like in strong winds...But as we passed its beautiful mountains, Ryan got up to take a peek. Eventually, the sea state got much calmer, and the wind got high enough for us to get the genoa out and get 6 knots out of the wind behind us. And so on we went! For the first time in over 6 months, we got to admire a gorgeous sunset at sea while preparing for a night of watch-shifts.We had timed our departure to get the lowest winds possible around Cabo de Gata, which meant that we were going to arrive in Cartagena in the small hours of the morning. 

Docking at night

We made landfall in the Bay of Cartagena at 4:30AM, in even choppier seas than the ones we had left behind in Almerimar. Ryan had been on watch since midnight and was seriously tired, but too nervous about the situation to take a nap. This was the first time that we were going to dock the boat at night, and the winds were picking up to 20 knots. But we made it, docking Polar Seal at night and in 15 knots of crosswinds without any incident. Our good friend Marky Warren, who lives on his boat in Cartagena, woke up early for the occasion and joined us on the dock.I loved the possibility to go straight to bed after my shift, without having to worry about waking up 4 hours later to do it all over. But above all, we are really excited to be sailing again!