June 2010 Port Marina del Este / Canary Islands
This first stage is relatively easy if we are talking about the navigational aspects thanks to the Nordic winds that guarantee an easy exit from the Mediterranean, this was the reason that the Canary Islands were so popular for the merchant ships that followed the alisio or Silk Road route to Africa, Orient or America.
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On our arrival at the Straits of Gibraltar favorable meteorological conditions should await us, if not this stretch could become an unsurpassable obstacle. The Mediterranean sea, given its smaller size, evaporates more quickly than the Atlantic Ocean and this causes a constant current of water from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and in order to advance against this current the ideal wind is an Easterly one or “Levante”.
It is as important to make the most of the wind´s direction as it is to use that of the tides. The ideal moment to cross is to leave Gibraltar about 3 hours after the high tide, that way we will only navigate against the current for about an hour and by staying parallel to the Spanish Coast we will achieve a favorable current until we reach Tarifa more or less at which point the tide would start to go down until being completely low. Given the direction of the currents at this point it we should not navigate close to the coast.
If we find ourselves up against strong Easterly winds and we can no longer continue to sail, there is a safe place to drop anchor and to wait for more favorable conditions downwind from Tarifa.
As you continue sailing towards the Canary Islands and you get further away from the strait of Gibraltar the situation improves.
The next port is Lanzarote
Everything in the world flows, without delay.
You will not enter the same river twice. Here in love´s hands, you go mad ¡submerging in the Magic of Now!
Heráclito de Efeso (544 adC - 484 adC)