December 6'th 2016 - arriving in the Atlantic Ocean

Shortly before arriving in the street of Gibraltar a huge thunderstorm was crossing us...how I hate this. Rain like hell and lightnings like crazy. One light really exploded right above us an suddenly the AIS (which is an automatic identification system) is not working anymore. Shit... how I hate this technique stuff. Anyway, fact is that from now on I have to deal with the fact that I'm not able to see other ships on the plotter which makes sailing (especially during night) a little bit more complicated. After passing the street we were heading WNW in strong winds then in the middle of the night a left turn and pointing SW -  the result was to cross a long line of cargo ships which where heading for the street of Gibraltar....it was a nightmare....But with a few extra maneuvers we finally managed to go trough. To be honest after almost two nights without sleep and really bad and cold weather I was completely destroyed ....and somehow not able to eat anymore. I decided that the most important now is to sleep enough and then try to eat. That plan was working. In the meantime we surrounded the low pressure system and are on the way south. The weather has turned into warm and sunny and the winds are stable and not strong from astern. Today I wear first time shorts and t-shirt. Right now we are a little bit south of Casablanca and still heading south or south west. Things became routine and nights as well as the days became much more easy. Somehow we are still in low pressure systems (which is unusual for this time of the year) but it seems to work out no so bad. Going to cook a steak now and watch a movie & having a glass or two of red wine. Happy "Samichlaus" to everybody.

Markus from 33.50.126 N / 9.16.197 W