Heading onwards or returning
After Iberia, yachts may head to the Mediterranean, the Caribbean or return north. July and August are hottest and most crowded. It can be difficult to find a slip and marinas fees escalate. Advance planning is advisable.
Typically, yachts heading to the Med stop in Gibraltar with a call to the historic port of Cadiz along the way. Gibraltar’s duty free marketplace makes it ideal for equipment upgrades and topping off fuel.
The Caribbean circuit remains popular and the Iberian Peninsula is an ideal place from which to depart. The 600-mile passage from Portugal to the Madeiras and Canaries off the coast of northwest Africa is the route taken by explorers since the 15th Century, and follows the wind and ocean currents. These islands are temperate year round and make for delightful cruising destinations in their own right.
Returning northwards can be a challenge and involves one of four options: 1, waiting for breaks in the northerlies; 2, sailing from dawn to midday when the northerlies build to 20+ knots; 3, sailing to the Azores and back into Biscay; or 4, hiring a delivery skipper.
We got lucky and had a weather window of four days allowing us to motor north from the Algarve to Bayona. Often that’s either impossible or unpleasant. Hence a new cruising circuit has developed from Portugal to the Azores and back to the British Isles and northern Europe.
Some cruisers are even making a circular loop from Portugal to the Madeiras, Canaries, Azores and then back to Europe. It’s a temperate cruising loop allowing overwintering in warmer climates and enabling in-depth exploration of the places where early adventurers crossed paths. And it’s all within Europe.