We left Cartagena on June 3. It was a two-day trip (240 nm) to Gibraltar, so we anchored overnight at Almeria. We saw a few dolphins along the way, but they didn’t visit for long so I only have a few not-so-great pictures.
We expected to have an entirely uneventful trip to Gibraltar. We did, for the most part. But then this happened in Almeria.
‘Twas the night of our passage, and all through Seahike
Not a creature was stirring on this anchorage site;
The wind was blowing outside o’er the sea
And the waves were rolling, though we were alee;
And Michael on his side and I on my back,
Had just settled down for a long summer’s nap,
When out on the water there arose such a noise,
I threw off my sheet and lost all of my poise.
I gave Michael a nudge and said, “Someone is here,
And I don’t think it’s Santa or his tiny reindeer.”
We donned all our clothes, threw open the door,
And said to the darkness, “We’re coming, wait more.”
The moon in the sky gave sort of a clue,
But the flashlights they held gave us the full view.
When what to our wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature boat and three Spanish señores.
Their uniforms and papers, no need for credentials,
We knew at that moment they were Customs officials.
They came on Seahike, the sugar scoop, with care,
With hopes that our documents would all be there.
Our boat cert, our passports, our address and more,
Our length and our beam, and our draft and last shore;
To the officials we gave them, all wrapped in a bow,
While our pillows and bedsheets called us from below.
When the info was entered and we’d signed both the forms,
They went to their dinghy to find other moors.
But we heard one exclaim as he tugged on his vest,
“Go back to bed and continue your rest.”
Yes, that is exactly how it happened. It was 11:30 p.m. when they arrived.
We weren’t able to sail the entire trip, but it was enough to make us happy.
As per usual, I had the 2:00-8:00 a.m. shift so I got to see the sunrise. Lovely.
And, suddenly, there was Gibraltar in the distance!
The Strait of Gibraltar is a major seaway. It is the only natural link between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. It is 36 miles (58 km) long and narrows to just 8 miles (13 km) in width between Point Marroquí (Spain) and Point Cires (Morocco). It is quite complex to navigate due to several different forces. Here is an interesting article about the Strait, if you would like to learn more about it: https://www.sail-world.com/news/231275/Navigating-the-Strait-of-Gibraltar-tides
I should note that we had originally planned to go through the Strait to visit Portugal and northern Spain (and maybe even a bit of France), but due to the extensive “layover” in Cartagena, we no longer had time to do that. Plus, the orcas were quite active and we wanted to avoid them at all costs. We had even hoped (longshot) to go to the UK. But that all fell apart.
So we changed our plans. We went to Gibraltar for a couple of nights, then moved to a marina in Spain (about a 10-minute motor from Queensway Quay marina in Gibraltar). We kept Seahike in the marina in Spain during our month-plus visit to the UK and Ireland (by plane). We planned to visit Portugal by plane later in July, also by plane.
Back to our Gibraltar story. We were leaving for the UK on June 7, so we basically had a day and a half to visit Gibraltar before we headed to the marina in Spain. We would be returning to the area, so it was fine.
We took it easy the first day since we were both a bit sleepy. We walked around Gibraltar a bit then walked to Spain for lunch. Ha, I love saying that we walked to Spain for lunch. But it’s true. To get between Spain and Gibraltar, you just walk across the runway (that separates the two countries) and check in to the other country. Yep, you heard that right. A couple of white lines indicate the walkway for pedestrians. It’s not a busy airport, so it’s not as though you are dodging a lot of planes.
We had a quick bite and walked back to Gibraltar.
Oddly enough, they stamp your passport when you enter and exit Spain, but not when you enter or exit Gibraltar. Hmm.
The next day was a full day but we slept in so it turned out to be more of a half day. We elected to go to the top of the rock, of course! We took the cable car. From the top, we saw the apes (actually monkeys) and beautiful scenery on both sides of the peninsula.
The “Apes” are actually Barbary macaques, semi wild monkeys that call the reserve home. While they are funny to watch and tempting to photograph, visitors are warned that they’re prone to steal food and rummage through bags when given the opportunity. Visitors are also warned to leave them alone, as they can become aggressive and bite. We were extremely polite to them.
Here are some pictures of the marina and our visit to the Rock.
Beautiful flower arrangements at the marina!
We had to go down these stairs to get back to the cable car to go down. We tried to tiptoe so as not to bother them!
This must be where the employees who are working really hard go: 😉
A little more of Gibraltar.
It was time to head to Spain. We took the route past the airport by boat this time.
There are ships just sitting around in quite a few spots. Our theory is that they are either waiting to be loaded or offloaded or for a weather window to go through the Strait.
The houseboats were just about the first thing we saw when leaving the marina. I was enthralled by them! Still am.
It took some time to figure out where we needed to check into Spain, but we got it done. Now we had to pack and get ready to leave the next day for the UK and the Island of Ireland. So excited!