Gibraltar
Alan's Log:
Joan's Log:
Monday, August 14th 2007
I felt as if we had accomplished another milestone on Moonstruck as we entered the Straits of Gibraltar, only 12 miles wide at it's narrowest point. On our starboard side we could clearly see Africa! and on the port side the Rock! Enormous and imposing, it was as I imagined with it's sheer, nearly-vertical cliff face. As we approached it I couldn't help but think about the countless mariners who had passed this way before us.We were welcomed at the dock in the marina by our friends Tni and David of ROSARIO, who had arrived 3 days before us. Gibraltar is a tiny British country/city surrounded on three sides by Spain. Gibraltar received only one out of five stars according to "Joan's Favorite Places to Visit" It was dirty, dusty, crowded and crammed with unattractive condos and run-down 60's era apartments. The old section of the city, which could have been charming, was loaded with tacky souvenir shops, full of "cute" monkey toys and monkey t-shirts. I'll get to the monkeys later. The best part was free wifi on the boat, excellent English beer in the pubs and an Indian restaurant in the marina where we had two memorable meals and the best Indian food I have ever had! It also had fabulous views at the (almost) top of the Rock. There is a trail that leads up to the very top, but I chickened out! There is a large colony of Macaque Monkeys or Barberry Apes, which are a major tourist attraction, up on the Rock too. I have no idea how they got there, but I do know they are the only wild ape colony in Europe. They were initially interesting, especially because they would allow you to get really close, and kind of cute. Cute, until a few got the urge to purge, AND merge! All within a few feet from us! We quickly lost interest after that.
The motor-sail from Cadiz to Gibraltar was uneventful. We made good speed as the current is always favorable heading east towards the mediterranean. So much water evaporates from the hot mediterranean basin that it is constantly being replenished from the Atlantic.
It was distressing to see the amount of trash in the water which increased the closer we got to Gibraltar. We saw about 80 plastic grocery bags, most looked new with the store names clearly visible; wooden fruit crates; plastic bottles of all descriptions and a few pieces of polystyrene. The plastics will be around for a long time and of course we have all heard that turtles eat plastic bags, thinking that they are jellyfish and choke on them. As if to belabor the point we saw a nice large turtle basking in the sun about 10 miles west of Gibraltar. We need to do something about this. While we are thinking about how to best help with this problem we have resolved to buy a net and keep a garbage bag on deck as we work our way around the coast to Barcelona so that at least we can pick up and properly dispose of the trash that comes within reach of us.
Gibraltar is a major port with very little dockage for the large ships, so they are all anchored out in the bay. On the way into the marina we passed quite close to this anchored Russian Oil Tanker. This view gives a perspective on what these behemoths look like from the deck of our little yacht - quite terrifying even standing still and if it got this close while traveling at its cruising speed of over 20knots we would be toast.
On the voyage from Cadiz we passed Cape Trafalgar, site of a famous sea battle between Britain and the combined fleets of Spain and France in 1805. Britain won the battle, which cost the British Admiral Nelson his life and established Britain as the world's foremost sea power. The battle gave it's name to Trafalgar Square in London and it is models of Nelson's ships that you see atop the lamp posts as you walk up the Mall from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace.
There's nothing much to see at the cape however, just a lighthouse and the product of our imagination. In Gibraltar there is a small cemetery dedicated to the sailors who survived that battle but later died of their wounds. The sailors that died during the battle were all buried at sea except for Nelson whose body was returned to England preserved in a barrel of rum.
We are in Queensway Marina in the veddy British town/state of Gibraltar. It is hot (90F 32C), dry and dirty from the dust blowing in from Africa. The cars and boats are all covered in the brown dust and the whole town is a construction site. It is hard to see the attraction, but it seems that there must be a huge pent-up demand for apartments here. Every street is under repair and full of construction crews/debris. What a mess! We waited till Sunday when all the shops closed and the crowds died down to take these pix.
We stopped in Gibraltar to take care of some boat maintenance items and to try and fix our persistently malfunctioning bow thruster. It has proven unreliable since we first started cruising and I have resolved to have an expert diagnose and fix the problem rather than continue to poke around with it myself.
Gibraltar is an island fortress surrounded with battlements. The new construction is on reclaimed land, outside the fortress and it is somewhat incongrous to see huge antique canons poking out from the fortress walls and directly aimed at the modern condo developments along the reclaimed shoreline. We also came across this oddity. A mortar canon hewn out of solid rock, with a single line of fire. Unfortunately, upon commissioning it was discovered that it rained its armament Inside the fortress walls.
It was good to get out of Gibraltar. The Queensway Quay Marina was nice and cheap, the people were friendly and of course there were tons of british products on sale (Marmite, Greene King IPA on tap in the marina, Branston Chutney and other necessities of life) plus excellent Indian restaurants! BUT, it was dirty, ugly and crowded and for some reason I find Ex-Pat communities a bit depressing. There is a feeling of washed-up souls pining for the lost days of the glorious empire.
Marbella, Costa del Sol, South Spain
Saturday August 18th, 2007
Anyway we put Gib. behind us after taking a circuitous route around the rock to avoid a Cargo ship that collided with a tanker and sank there last week. We motor-sailed in company with David & Tni of Rosario who took a short video clip of the rock and Moonstruck sailing alongside (see videos at left). We sailed in company with Rosario to Marbella where we are led to understand we will find wonderful restaurants where all you need is lots of money. But it is Saturday night so we can splurge.En route as we entered the Mediterranean for the first time, I saw three sunfish. I had hoped to see them crossing the Atlantic but the closest I came before today was a huge specimen in the aquarium in Lisbon. Today made up for it. The ones I saw were on the small side ranging from 18" to 3'. They are the strangest of fish. Shaped like a dinner plate they have an ecto-skeleton (bones on the outside like an ant) and they swim on the surface on one side with one fin sticking up in the air. I wish I had pictures but I lent my camera to ROSARIO to take video of our boat. Hopefully we will see them again. In the meantime here is a picture of one taken at the aquarium in Lisbon.
We also saw a good sized pod of dolphin chasing fish and jumping (see video link at left), a single solitary flying fish and not as much garbage as on the last voyage. We have been reading that the Mediterranean is a maritime desert with very little aquatic life and that is the reason for the clear water. Well we haven't seen much clear water yet, but we are encouraged by the sea-life that we have seen.
We washed off the grime of Gibraltar and set off to explore Marbella.
Marbella was a pleasant surprise. Yes it is dominated by high rise condos and aparthotels, but the old part of town is delightful. We spent a few days exploring the town and sorting out converting our boat to European propane for cooking.
As soon as we left "Gib" as it's affectionately called, we were officially in the Mediteranean!!! Another major milestone for us and we are approaching the 10,000 mile mark on our log too! We were passing by the Costa del Sol, miles and miles of beach front in southern Spain, which is a very, very, popular summer holiday destination for much of Europe. Being the middle of August we were seeing it at its busiest! We passed mile after mile of huge resorts and high rise condos fronting the beach, which we could see through the binoculars were jam-packed with people and beach umbrellas. We had read in one of our guide books that Marbella was the best of these coastal towns, so we decided to to stop in for a few days. We ended up in the only marina that had space for us on the outskirts of the city, but it wasn't too far to walk and there was a great board-walk that led all the way into the center of Marbella. There were hordes of people, all in a happy, relaxed spirit, which made for great "people watching" too! The best part was the charming old walled, original town, hidden behind the high rises. It had the tiny, pedestrian only, streets we love, lots of high quality shops and fun little restaurants tucked in the alleys. Lime and pomegranate trees loaded with fruit lined the streets and there were masses of flowers EVERYWHERE! Spilling from window boxes and containers, vibrant bouganvillia climbing the walls and the heavenly scent of jasmine filled the air.
After we left Marbella we continued eastward. Along the way we were treated to the best, ever dolphin visit! We were up on the bow talking to them, and I swear they were talking back! I could actually hear their high-pitched, squeeky calls, they were that close to us! (See the video link at left for a video of this visit).
We were eager to do some anchoring out, something we hadn't done much of since we left the Caribbean. Along this stretch of coastline anchorages are far and few between. We had read in our crusing guide that Nerja was a great protected anchorage in a quaint fishing village, how chould we resist? We arrived around 6:00 PM and anchored in about 25 feet of water, about 1/2 mile off the beach. It was clear enough to see the bottom and we promptly jumped in for a swim. It WAS like being in the Caribbean again! and we could clearly see Moonstruck's bottom which, amazingly, is still relatively clean! We celebrated with Dark and Stormies, using the last of our Jamaican ginger beer. However, the good times were short-lived as a very large swell started rolling in just as Alan started to cook dinner, and continued all night! It felt as though we were back in the middle of the ocean... in a storm! Just as we were leaving the following morning the wind came up, strong from the east. Not good! We bashed into large waves breaking over the bow. ROSARIO, who was with us by now, wisely turned around and retreated to their marina in Caleta de Velez. We continued on for a while, only doing 3 kts, and having no fun while getting hammered by waves, we decided to do the same and followed them in with Moonstruck's tail tucked between her legs!
Caleta de Velez
Groundhog Day
Sunday August 26th, 2007
Here we are, still holed up in Caleta de Velez waiting on the weather to improve for our crossing of the Western Mediterranean en route to the Balearic Islands. Every morning we check the weather forecast, and every morning it forecasts winds of 15-25knots "on the nose" from the east. So we stay in port another day, pay the marina for another night's stay and wait around while the forecast weather fails to materialize. By mid-afternoon each day we begin to realize that we could have made the next port along the coast. But by now its too late to leave and the forecast remains the same for the next day. So we wait, we compare weather forecasts with our friends on ROSARIO and take the opportunity to stock up on supplies. We found a nice Cava (Spanish sparkling wine like champagne) for.........wait for it.........€1.50 (Less than US$2.00) and are off this morning to buy a few cases.We rented a car and drove to Ronda, in the middle of the Sierras. It was a beautiful drive through the high plains of the Sierras and the roads were uncrowded and nice and smooth, oh and Ronda was very attractive although too full of tourists to really explore it.
On the bright side the marina was great, the staff were wonderful, very helpful and helped us with our Spanish, which sorely needs the assistance. There was an excellent fish restaurant in the marina, which served our new favorite snack, calamaritos (fried baby squids) salty, tender little gems that remind me of New England fried clams and are perfect with a cold beer! and a great beach grill nearby where you pick out your fish and they grill it on a stake over an open fire. Everyday we would wash the red dust from the Sahara off the boat, and every morning it would be back again!
We are on our way now, after finally getting a blessing from the weather gods, and are headed for the Balearic Islands, Ibiza and Mallorca to meet up with Courtney and Lauren, our two adorable little girls, well, maybe not so little, but definately adorable : ) .
Next......The Balearic Islands.