So near - and yet so far

During this cruise, we have been VERY fortunate weather-wise. Apart from the gale force winds we encountered for about twelve hours after leaving Greece, we have had virtually no rain at all - certainly none that has significantly interfered with us in any way. But there has been seriously heavy rains in areas we have visited or sailed through - either just before we arrived or just after we left. Most parts of Eastern Asia that featured in this cruise had very heavy Monsoonal rains just after we left them - and now, the low pressure system that caused our high winds in the Meditteranean has subsequently caused damage to the Middle East. We estimate that if our cruise through this area (Suez Canal/Red Sea) had been 24 - 48 hours later, we would have had a nasty experience - possibly even a delay in transiting the Canal.

But now, we are approaching Lisbon Harbour after two quite pleasant days in the Meditteranean. It was a "funny" kind of "pleasant" - because it has been windy, reasonably cold (around 10C), with a weak, watery and low sun over a sullenly quiet sea. But it signifies that we are now well and truly in Northern climes, getting close to our destination and the completion of one of the "must do's" of my life - a sea passage between Australia and the UK. We have been surprised at how little we have seen on this three day cruise through the Mediterranean. We understood that when crossing big oceans, all you see is the sea. But somehow, we thought that passage up the Red Sea and through the Med would be somehow different - it has been enjoyable, BUT we HAVE seen a lot of water. The only place we got close
to after Athens was the southern tip of Sicily - but we passed it in the night. However, yesterday we were very pleased to pass through the Strait of Gibralter during daylight hours - we got a very good view of "the Rock" and it's Harbour/surroundings on one side of the ship plus the Atlas Mountains and the port of Tangiers in Morocco on the other side. The title of today's blog comes from my feeling of sadness that we were just so close to what I think would be very interesting ports to visit - Gibralter and Tangiers - but not able to visit them. I was interested to see a very modern high speed catamaran Ferry plying between Tangiers and a Spanish town outside Gibralter. I can't really explain my surprise - but I was not expecting such a thing. I was probably more expecting ferries of the type we have seen in Vanuatu which travel to the outer islands there. It looks like another of my "perceptions" of this part of the world are incorrect again. We have been a bit nervous about what kind of weather/sea conditions we would encounter after entering the Atlantic Ocean - but so far so good!! We are also nervous about the weather conditions we are likely to encounter when we get to the UK - but as we approach Lisbon, it is 17C outside. We know it is only around 3C in London right now - so something has to give very soon for us. We just HAVE to drop from 17C to 3C sooner
or later - and it is going to be a sudden shock.