Gibraltar

Our passage from La Linea to Marina Bay in Gibraltar was all of 100 yards or so, something we could handle. By contrast the marina in Gibraltar was old and rundown, and maybe 50 yards from the airport runway. A big surge would run through the place and boats would slosh all over. We damaged some stern trim trying to hold the bow off the concrete, non-floating dock. Not pleasant. However, we wanted to leave Spain so as to stop the Schengen clock and this was the way to do it. In hindsight, it did not matter. We could have gone to the Canaries and stayed with some 'latitude', so to speak. While there were many things to like here, it was much more expensive than La Linea. The main grocery store, Morrison's, while having a welcome selection of Anglo foods, was expensive since everything is imported from the UK. ( Spain is still smarting over the loss of Gibraltar and refuses to provide utility service or supplies. ) If we would have had our druthers, we would have sought succor in Spain. The people, the provisioning, the country has much too offer the curious yachtsman.

The admiral stands in front of the 252' yacht Samar, which boasts a swimming pool, 3 elevators and a helicopter. We looked it up and you can rent this beauty for the new low price of only $500,000/week, not including "expenses" (fuel,food,etc,etc). What are you waiting for?? Certainly the hydraulic bed in the owners suite is worth the price. It is designed to raise and lower the sleeping accommodations for a grand view over the deck. Supposedly its owned by some Kuwaiti who named this grand gin palace after his daughter.

This is our view of Samar from our ghetto dock location. As you can see, the dock is concrete. What you can't see is the surge that ran through the marina and caused all the boats to slosh to-and-fro, often resulting in crashes into the dock. The only way to prevent this was to use winches to pull on the mooring lines to hold the boat away. As a result, getting off the boat was a big pain as we had to jump from the bow to the dock, a maneuver you didn't want to fail. It also made loading provisions a huge pain as well. Being only 5 feet 4, the challenge was indeed more than doable. Adding injury to insult, my left knee was needing an arthroscopy to repair torn cartilage.

Speaking of provisions, we were generally disappointed in what we found here. Gibraltar is supposedly tax-free, but the retailers just raise the prices and keep the difference themselves. The notable exception was booze, which we took advantage of. The other discovery was a large selection of canned goods at Morrison's. Med countries generally don't eat from cans, making boat shopping rather challenging.

An unusually clear and sparkling day. Our lovely marina (just don't look too close).

The epic battle of Trafalgar was fought not very far from Gibraltar. The wounded were brought here.

Those who didn't make it are buried in a small cemetery.

The Rock as seen from Europa Point. The Rock makes its own weather, i.e. the clouds above form when the wind blows over the crest. The missile-toting pre-victory mosque defacing our view was a recent "gift" from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.

Emblematic of Gibraltar are its apes, a tailess variant of macaque. They originally came from Morocco.

Posing for tourists takes a lot out of you...

The family that picks nits together, stays together.

Here a gang of apes guard the Moorish Tower, about all that's left of the Muslim fortifications. They installed things to keep them off the walls but as you can see they get up there anyway. Then they jump on you. Don't try that at home...

A view across the harbor at Jebel Musa in Morocco. Jebel Musa and Jebel Tariq, aka Gibraltar, formed the Pillars of Hercules that marked the end of the world.

We toured the tunnels in The Rock. Many date back to the Great Siege of 1779-1783. The cannon on display was modified so it could shoot down on the attacking Spanish and French troops below.

The tunnels were greatly extended during WWII. We were told that they were simply open until recently and anyone could walk in. Nowadays you need a guide.

Where did all the rock go that was quarried to build the tunnels? It went to build this airfield, which was used in WWII during the Africa campaign. You can see our marina on the left and the town of La Linea just across the Spanish border. This is the only airport we've seen that had a road crossing it; they stop traffic when airplanes land or take off. This is a panorama, hence the distortion.

Or last Med sunset. Join us as we head for Morocco!

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