This is my 6th day on board Oceans of Hope. We are currently going through the Strait of Gibraltar. We have sailed some 500 nautical miles since we left Barcelona on Sunday.

Gary, my fellow MS crew member, has been steering all he way from Puerto Sotogrande to here. The weather is calm, though the beautiful views were accompanied by rain and thunder when we were having lunch outside of Gibraltar.

Before we entered the strait, our engine, Mr. Perkins, resisted to go to the other side. At least that is what we think. He wanted to stay in the Mediterranean, thus he overheated. But with some soft words and lots of love, Kristian made him happy again and we can continue our journey to Portugal, where we will do our next stopover.

Though it is hard to capture on camera, we are able to see Africa from here. This tells me, that this is probably the most southern turn on this leg of the journey. Soon we will be heading north towards darkness and cold.

I would like to make a final comment on the permanent crew. They are all very experienced and very patient with us. Because of the calm weather and the easy sailing we have had the time to learn a lot from them. Yesterday, Jens taught us how to navigate by the six-tent, and the day before, Josefine took us through a lesson of the marks at sea.