Today was a very long day; we anchored last night outside of the Olhao estuary near Faro in Portugal so that we could make a 3am start without worrying about the tidal streams on the ebb of the river. When we arrived yesterday evening the anchorage was deserted but had a nice and clear sandy bottom. We calculated the fall of tide, chose our position, found transits and finally anchored in 5m of water. Adrian had a swim around the boat and dived down to check that the anchor was set correctly. It was, and we were being held firm.

After a few hours sleep we both got up at 3am and were underway by 3.30. We had 80 miles to do to Cadiz across the bay, so we needed plenty of time just in case the winds were light and to give us some other time at the other end.

In the darkness we threaded ourselves out past another boat that had joined us and numerous lobster pot markers. It was quite a dark night with a new moon, but by starlight we sailed heading across the bay. Fortunately we encountered little fishing traffic, apart from one trawler that seemed to be going the same direction as us – which we eventually caught and passed.

Breakfast was a nice bacon sandwich – lovely!

During darkness the winds were variable so we motored and sailed until the morning where the winds rose to 20 knots and we had to reef to maintain boat balance. Later on the wind calmed to a nice 10-12 knots, which saw us making 5.5 knots on a nice steady beam reach. It was a bit strange doing an offshore passage again after so long pottering around the coast. At the middle of the Bay of Cadiz we were about 50 miles from land.

Despite taking turns to catch up on missed or fitful sleep, we were both still quite tired by the time we reached Cadiz harbour 15 hours later. After eventually mooring up (using Alan’s new technique) we had a bit of a snack then both collapsed into bed.

Well, here we are back in Spain, next step is Gibralter, after a rest day tomorrow.