Left Croatia in short order after having cleared out in Split and weather was pushing us too, made good speed towards Bar and arrived there as estimated early morning around 0700hrs. The wind was really brisk with around northerly wind 30 knots off the coast and inside the harbour 20+ going up and down. As I entered the port from north I went all the way down to the southern end of the breakwater, whipped her around and made fast port side to. It didn't take long to receive the booked top up to get us to Gibraltar and in about 1 hours time we were done and prepared to depart after all paperwork was signed and stamped to the authorities satisfaction.
Bar port
Bar port
The wind was pushing us slightly towards the jetty and my bow was pointing in the wind only slightly so with the weak bowthruster and was trying to get the bow off the quay and get an easy departure but it would hardly budge so I kept my aft spring on and did a kick astern with the bow thruster to get her off and it worked, she opened up a gap between us and jetty. I told them to let go the spring and I made a F1 take off, i.e. put both engines on dead slow ahead that equals 7 knots for us and then fingers crossed that we'd make it ahead so our aft quarter would not scrape on the jetty. It went along the jetty with less than a meter to spare and slowly a gap was opening. I helped a bit with the rudder but still had to try get off without swinging into the breakwater. We cleared the corner of the jetty at hairs breadth but that was what I needed, no scratches.
Pelorus off Bar
Pelorus off Bar
I continued out of the port and headed south towards the Italian coast and then along the bottom of the boot towards Malta that was our next destination. Just off the port I spotted the famous yacht Pelorus probably lining up for fuel, that was a bit odd to me, as they could've taken fuel in Tivat where they had been moored earlier. Anyway, I'm sure they had their reasons, also can't say what the reason for the visit was.
Sunset
New moonrise
We motored on and had actually pretty good weather, all from the stern. As we rounded the heel of the Italian boot the weather calmed down considerably and we set course for Malta, somewhere around the middle I came across in the evening a tanker, the name evade my memory, that was drifting about, probably waiting for orders or doing engine maintenance as the weather was good. The officer on the bridge hailed us on the vhf radio in a broken english "mosai-queue mosai-queue", I didn't bother replying, then he went on to flash the aldis lamp at me. I passed about half a mile by her stern and was watching her through the binoculars, the decks were deserted but all lights were on, the officer was on the bridge wing peering at us. As I came on her other side I could see something odd through the binoculars, from the glare of her decklights it looked like there was something in the water maybe 150m off her side, I could not make it out but maybe it was a small buoy. Of course my imagination started running wild with shadow fleet and clandestine submarine encounters, maybe that's why the officer had tried to get me further off. As I then drew further away a false echo appeared on my radar screen that persistently followed ahead for many miles, probably pinging off their square superstructure and stern.
Fake echoes
m/v Ramform Tethys
Interesting research vessel off Valletta, almost as long as she is wide, length is 100m and beam 70m and draft of 6.4m. Built in 2016 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan and she has a massive gross tonnage of 20637. Deploys 16 streamers as standard, but is structurally configured to scale up to 24 steerable streamers simultaneously. Each reel can hold up to 12 kilometers of dual-sensor cable.
Valletta
The next morning we approached Valletta and the medieval fortresses slowly came over the horizon. As I hailed the port control we got permission to proceed and slowly entered the Grand Harbor, the view is as always breathtaking with the imposing ramparts and walls on both sides. Then we contacted the Grand harbour marina and got them standby to take our lines and so we backed into our berth and tied up. There we were met by Agents and people to bring us stores as well as crew changes had been arranged.
Valletta
Valletta
Senglea and Grand harbor marina
Valletta
Birgu, Valletta
m/y YTL Princess
We then spent a few days in Valletta as the weather further on west looked a bit poor to continue. I also met my old colleague Avnish from the Kalizma times who was looking after the YTL Princess, also an old acquaintance I had seen years ago in Phuket or Langkawi, it took me awhile to remember why she looked familiar. She's an Italian build from Viareggio, made by Tecnomarine in 1987, GRP hull with twin MTU engines she can make up to 30knots. Length 36m and GT 262.
Undersigned and Avnish
Antique Renault
Mosaique stern to in Birgu
Senglea
Then it was time to depart and I woke up to a totally overcast leaden sky and wondered what's going on. The wind was completely from the wrong direction as forecasted and very strong, over 25 knots. Soon we were drenched by torrential rains that lasted perhaps half an hour and then the localized weather moved on and everything returned back to normal again. We made ready to cast off and I radioed port control that told me to go ahead, no traffic in the port. So, we slipped our lines and came out of our berth and turned to starboard to head out to sea. As we exited the breakwater we met a Malta - Sicily speed ferry and other traffic. We then turned to a westerly course to go south of Sicily towards France.
Malta - Sicily speed ferry
m/v NS Arlecchino
I went on Equasis and checked her out, she is built in 1987 at Bijlsma yard in Holland as m/v Nes, then renamed Kelt, RMS Rahm, Arlecchino and now the current NS Arlecchino under Albanian management. She flies the flag of Belize, her class is today ARS (American Register of shipping Inc) that is closely connected with Belize, a non-IACS entity having been handed down from BV to DNV and RINA. Originally she was under Dutch flag, then German, Antigua-Barbuda to Belize. Despite the exotic flags she seems to have been trading in all corners of Europe. There is on record 49 port state inspections and one detention in Brindisi from 2023, the grounds for detention was a slew of them:
Records of rest: Incorrect entries
Emergency fire pump: Not properly maintained
Fire drills: Lack of training
Personal equipment: Fire fighting, not of approved type
Nautical publications: Missing
All typical things you might find on any ship but I guess all together made the detention. Especially the missing certificates, no drills carried out (or the demo drill failed) and cooking the hours of rest as well as the probably not working fire pump could be a recipe for disaster if something happened.
Comino island
Comino island
As we motored on westwards we passed all the Maltese islands, Comino and Gozo. The sandstone cliffs towered high up and church spires could be seen from afar. Slowly they disappeared behind the horizon and we continued towards Sardinia to go up along her east coast and then to go through the Bonifacio straits towards Gulf de Lyon. The nights were pretty 'electric' as we could see thunderstorms passing and on one occasion we got hit by a squall that with 30 knot winds ripped a ceiling panel off on the bridge deck, another thing to repair. But we got to enjoy some spectacular sunsets as the clouds were riding over the mountains of Sardinia.
Gozo island
Rainbow
Sunset off Sardinia
Sunset off Sardinia
Sunset off Sardinia
French coast near Toulon
Sunset in Gulf de Lyon
Sunset in Gulf de Lyon
Port Vendres, France
Sunset off Spanish coast
Sunrise off Barcelona
Cartagena in evening
Cartagena in evening
Cloudy night with moonshine
Orca pod sighted
m/v Gulf
The Gulf (IMO 8937352) is a general cargo ship operating under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda under Turkish management but a bit of a naughty girl as could be seen from the port inspection perspective.
Length overall/ beam: 96.3 m/ 13.4 m.
Tonnages: deadweight 4325 tons and GT of 2914 tons.
Powered by an SKL 8VDS29/24AL-2 diesel engine of 1,800 KW.
Interestingly she was built in 2000 at Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard in Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia. That's like in the middle of the country along the river Volga so she must've used the Russian inland Volga-Baltic waterways that goes through lakes Onega and Ladoga, river Svir, and finally exited at St Petersburg through river Neva to Gulf of Finland, a 1400km trek, elevation over 100m from sealevel, through locks, lakes and canals, it would be an interesting experience.
Sormovo at the red dot
(credit: Google maps)
1400km of waterways to St Petersburg
(credit: AI)
Formerly named Gorky (until 2013) and Transworld I (until 2000), then Gulf. Looking through her history in the European waters she's been subject to 66 port state inspections of which 3 resulted in detention.
The first one in Aveiro Portugal in 2021 was seemingly just lack of housekeeping and admin:
ISM related deficiencies: Not as required
MLC, 2006 Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering: Sanitary facilities not properly maintained
MLC, 2006 Health protection, medical care, social security: Cleanliness of engine room
Then in Augusta, Italy in 2023 she was again detained for following grounds, this time more serious matters:
Emergency systems, emergency lighting, etc.: Inoperative
Fire fighting equipment and appliances: Inoperative
ISM, related deficiencies: Not as required
Life saving appliances, embarkation arrangements survival craft: Not properly maintained
Structural conditions, steering gear: Not as required
The 3rd time was the same year, 2023, again in Italy at Porto Nogaro she was detained on a list of defects long as a hunger year. The Italians really threw the book at them whilst going through the vessel with a magnifying glass:
Crew - Certificates, Seafarers' employment agreement (SEA): expired
Fire safety
Emergency generator: not properly maintained
Doors within main: malfunctioning
Evaluation of crew performance: lack of familiarity
Fire control plan: wrong information
Fire fighting equipment and appliances: not as required
Fire pumps: not as required
Means of escape: not as required
MLC & ISM
ISM, related deficiencies: not as required
Galley handling rooms: not hygienic
Heating, a/c and ventilation: dirty filters
Sanitary facilities: not as required
Engine room: not as required
Pollution prevention - MARPOL Annex IV: other
Auxiliary engines: not as required
Propulsion main engine: not as required
Compass correction log: not as required
Signalling lamp: inoperative
Voyage or passage plan: not as required
Structural Conditions, ballast, fuel and other tanks: not as required
I can only guess the reason for so many defects but in the end it comes down to Owners and Master onboard to see that the vessel is crewed properly and kept in ship shape condition and not a liability for the crew, ship and environment.
Gibraltar rock
Then the weather kept reasonably well, we just managed to pass Gulf de Lyon before it started blowing there, we got a good stern wind as we crossed into Spanish waters. When we rounded the Cape Creus south of Port Vendres the weather calmed down for us and we continued on our westerly course. Sunrise and sunsets were once again spectacular (or pollution filters), I also got cool moonrise pictures with clouds. Shortly before Gibraltar I came across a large pod of orcas in the sea, I first thought them to be dolphins but as they just lay there I started wondering and with binoculars I could see the fins being different shape from dolphins and soon I saw the white and black snouts confirming the species. There has been in past years several incidents of orcas disabling and also sinking sailing yachts off the Spanish and Portuguese coast, I think with us this time they didn't bother trying.
Mosaique at the fuel dock
The wind and current slowed us down for the last hours so I creamed on the engine rpm's a bit to get in at a decent time so we could get going early as the weather on the Atlantic looked just right. I did my approach and Gibraltar traffic cleared us for going in straight away so I entered the port by the northern breakwater and did a left turn to the mole by the old fuel dock that was now being reclaimed for residential development, the idea was to come port side alongside with our bow in. The approach had to be redone as the southerly wind grabbed my stern and it dropped the stern at the corner of the mole at a rate too fast for me that I could not correct it properly so I backed out rather than risk some dings and did another try and this time I had better control of the stern.
The Flying Angel for sailors in Gibraltar
The new bunkering jetty looked a bit like a dump with a lot of discarded boats on it and the bunker guys had a manifold in the ground to connect the hose. I guess as it is a new arrangement it still needed some work to organize and clean it up from debris. I met up with our Agent Philip, the bunkering got underway and I went ashore for a walk and a bite to eat as they carried on. Unfortunately a fire started on a high rise building that surrounded the whole of Gibraltar in thick billowing black smoke so it was not very pleasant outside. By 2200hrs we had completed our bunkering and so we made ready to cast off and 30 minutes later we were underway for Falmouth. I read later in the news that by this time the 30 firefighters had brought the fire under control.
Fire in Gib
Sunset
Sunset
Sunrise with seagulls
We left Gibraltar in good order and continued west along the Portuguese coast among all other cargo ships etc that were on the same route, one did not feel lonely at all with all the ships constantly coming or going. I even spotted on the AIS an old 'acquaintance', the m/v Seadrive that I had spotted some years ago in Cape Town. Again we had the lovely scenery of sunset and sunrises with a waxing harvest moon that gave me cool night sky views. At first we had a slight wind against us but we still made good speed, then it calmed down but then tidal current pushed against us maybe about 0.5kts. At A Coruna the wind turned to the east and blew offshore and then veered to southerly, the Atlantic base swell became more pronounced and we rolled on at a sedate pace whilst stabilisers kept the worst heels at bay. The first night crossing was almost dead calm and in the moonlight it looked like we were traversing a puddle of gleaming oil, the sea was gunmetal dark blue or grey as the surface rolled in the dark of night illuminated by the moonshine.
m/v Centurion Juktas, Japan built bulk carrier from 2023 with Barbados flag
Sunset
m/v Thor Highway, China built car carrier from 2024 with Liberia flag
f/v Noche de Paz, they saw me photographing and honked
Spanish fishing vessel built in 1999
Harvest moonrise on the Atlantic
Then the last day at sea was the worst of the whole transit, the wind increased in the morning to 20 knots and then during my watch when I was passing Ushant island it increased to 30 knots from northwest that only lasted a few hours and then calmed down to 20knots or less. The swell was around 3m high or more at times, the girls onboard became queasy and were out of action as it became more westerly and we took it on a broad reach. As I approached the British Isles the swell still kept rolling and wind was the same steady 17 knots or so, it calmed even further when we passed Lizard point and made our approach to Falmouth. we passed midnight as we puttered up the channel and let go anchor on Falmouth bank opposite the Pendennis shipyard.
Mosaique at Pendennis marina
We had arrived to the same place we left from in June so now our summer season had been concluded, we had logged in total some 8300 nautical miles. Even if there was no wind or waves the swell still surreptitiously came up the channel and made us roll like pigs at times so the zero speed stabilisers were kept working.
Mosaique at Pendennis Marina
(credit: A. Thimmaya)
Then next morning I called the marina to check for our berth and by 0900hours we were tied up at the Pendennis marina pontoons and we started unstowing the yacht for guests to arrive. The yard came for a visit to fix some snags that had been discovered during the summer and so we started our winter season in UK.
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