DON'T PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET

Happy Easter to everyone.     

Three days turned into three weeks and we were all very glad to see the back of that "Rock".  This cloud has been hanging over our marina for at least a week.  Hoping to escape it's intense ability to dampen our spirits, we set our sails and are now actually cruising in the "Med" along the Costa del Sol.  But wait what's all that grey stuff hanging over us; those can't be clouds, not along the sunshine coast.  Yes folks, the Gibraltar cloud has followed us; three days here in Marbella and the sky has been filled with black thunder clouds since our arrival and minutes after arriving back on board this afternoon the sky opened and we had a great downpour.
Marbella is one of many Spanish tourist towns along the Costa del Sol, especially popular with pensioners from the UK and Germany.  It is also very popular destination for luxury cruise ships and mega yachts from Saudi Arabia & USA.
Marbella is also known for its vast archaeological excavations in the La Concha mountains.

 We have learned to take it one day at a time here.  Now the weather looks promising for tomorrow, so it's anchors away further up the coast.  Benalmedena is our next port for those who are following our route.


 On those nasty wet days when we don't feel like venturing out we always find little jobs to keep us amused.  For instance, while I'm writing this blog Wolfgang is installing a new sensor gauge for the waste water tank.  Not as simple as it sounds because everything is hidden behind other things and very hard to reach.


Since Gibraltar is a duty free zone, alcohol and cigarets are relatively inexpensive.  We placed an order with a specialty shop who delivered the goods to our boat the very next day.  By law these items must remain sealed until 3 miles outside of Gibraltar jurisdiction. By now everything is safely stowed away under floorboards and behind seat cushions.


 We did a little restocking of pantry items today in Marbella after spending several pleasant, enjoyable hours meandering thru the streets of the old town with many unique shops offering their expensive wares.  The streets have a holiday atmosphere with many Spaniards dressed in their finest enjoying a meal at one of the many outdoor restaurants.

MONKEY BUSINESS

It's been almost two weeks since arriving on Gibraltar.  The original plan only called for a a few days here, but we looked into having a solar panel carrier  mounted to the rear of the boat; the price was right so the installation will be completed by the 15th and then it's on to the Costa del Sol and Ibiza.

Playing tourist, last week we hopped on the regular town bus and ventured to the other side of the island where the development is scarce and restricted to a few small holiday  townhouse units at the bottom of the impressive high cliffs.

Our next stop was “Europa Point” the most southerly point of the “Rock” with its famous Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim mosque reported to have been built at a cost of 5 million pounds is not only a place of worship, but also contains a school, library and lecture hall.

Looking south from the Trinity lighthouse across the strait we see Africa, the Rif Mountains of Morocco.   The weather was sunny, however a very blustery wind sweeps across this point most of the time, so lingering would have felt uncomfortable and the bus would have left without us.

This past Saturday we set out again; boarded the cable-car and headed up, up, up.  It’s a six minute ride to the top where the vistas are grand in all directions.  Looking east, the Mediterranean beckons with its tantalizing climate and cosy anchorages.  Across the Bay of Gibraltar we see the many tankers coming and going along side several warships carrying helicopters.  

Of course not to be forgotten the apes.  Gibraltar is home to the only wild monkeys in Europe.  The Barbary Apes are  a species of tailless monkeys that live in groups of families.  Walking freely among 
them is both awesome and surreal.  Although it's strictly forbidden to feed them even the smallest treat, tour guides seem to be exempt.  They feed them nuts so their paying customers can get the photo opportunity of a lifetime, an ape on their head or shoulder.  I saw a lot of scared faces.  Watching them was exciting, but if there's one thing I don't need, it's a monkey on my head.












After so much excitement it was time for some rest and relaxation.  We voted for going back to the marina for a little food and drink.  It seems a substantial  order of British fish and chips with mashed peas was the way to go.

OH MY ACHING BACK

I miss my car!!!!!!  Wolfgang and I went grocery shopping today at the only large store in town, Morrisons.  Just a brief 2km jog along the busiest, most narrow street with construction chaos on one side and motorcycles and trucks whizzing by on the other.  With construction dust challenging our nostrils and a faint smell of sewage in the air we made our way thru the car park and plunged into the Saturday morning turmoil.

The store itself is large, just like any other grocery chain, with fresh cut flowers at the entrance.  Everything and everyone is British.  Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing, it's just the steep prices were shocking.  One dozen eggs £ 2.50  and oh we won't even talk about the beer prices.

Managing to fill our cart with the essentials, we checked out at a meagre £65 and headed for the nearest coffee shop to fortify our bodies.  Wolfgang ordered a FULL English breakfast consisting of 2 fried eggs, 2 sausages, 2 large pieces of bacon, backed beans, french fries and a piece of toast.  So, for under £10 we both had a good brunch.

With our granny cart filled to the brim and the backpack fully loaded we set off for the jaunt back to the marina.  I miss my car!!!!!!

 

GIBRALTER APRIL 1, 2011

We have finally arrived on the "Rock", Gibralter after a spectacular sail from Barbarte, the gathering place for all who are headed into the Med. via the Strait of Gibraltar.   After much planning, the determined time of departure was 8:30 am.  The only problem was that nobody had anticipated the fog which kept us from heading out until 10 am.  When we finally pulled out, we used our radar avoiding possible fishing boats out for their daily catch.

The Strait is an important shipping route from the Med to the Atlantic and separates Europe and Africa by about 15 km at the narrowest point.  Ferries cross between the two continents every day in as little as 35 minutes.   This direct link creates certain unique flow and wave patterns.  Thru the strait, water generally flows more or less continually both east and west.  In order to pass thru the strait at optimal time, it is important to calculate wind direction and water direction.  Our calculation was fairly accurate and our journey turned out to be one of the most memorable so far.


 The Rock of Gibraltar is a 1400 ft high giant slab of jagged Jurassic limestone formed around 200 million years ago, and dominates a unique geographical position connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Gibraltar itself is a land mass of some three miles in length, and one mile wide, overlooking the twenty-mile stretch of water known as the Straits which divides the two continents of Europe and Africa. The separating line between Gibraltar and Spain is a half-mile wide isthmus, which doubles as an international airport runway, along with the local traffic and pedestrians. It must be one of the few places, if not the only place, in the world where you get off the plane and walk across the runway you have just landed on to get to your destination.
The above description is courtesy noonsite.com

The last hour was spent navigating our way into the heavily congested commercial harbour where ferries, tankers, cruise ships, rescue vessels, tugs & pilot boat plus pleasure yachts of all sizes must yield to another in order to arrive at a their destination safely; ours was the Queensway Quay Marina, the entrance, a hole in the wall, sheltered by a mole and a housing complex that hid any sign of the marina.  This pic, courtesy of Gaby Neubauer shows all vessel traffic in our immediate vicinity.
Once in the safety of the marina we noticed there were no finger docks and this was going to be our first experience with Med-docking; backing in and hooking up to a mooring line.
Wolfgang's navigational abilities shone brightly as he backed in without a problem.  Another proud moment which was celebrated an hour later with a bottle of Jumbo's finest.

 Main Street: Tourist Town! Whao, everything on "sale" and duty free. Well, the only deals one could get are on alcohol and cigarettes. Both items we don't consume "too" much.

The chandlery that was praised highly; "Sheppard's"; was disappointing.  Maybe one can get everything there, but for people that are used to see everything on display it was a let-down. The charts were at least the same price as in England. The government chart outlet wanted 30£ per chart, no matter what size, at least the Imray charts at Sheppard's were 16£ for the same chart and on waxed paper! So we will order any additional charts directly from England if needed.











It is warm, at least during the day!!!!
Marvellous!

PORTS IN PORTUGAL March 17..........2011

It was quite a nice sail from Vilamoura to Canal De Olhao. After only a short stretch of motoring, we had enough wind, to unfurl the big genoa and haul up the mail sailing "gemütlich" to the river's entrance looking for a suitable anchorage that's sheltered from the ocean. 

 Strikingly, the landscape here is very different; the cliffs of the Algarve have disappeared and have been replaced by a  flat countryside; the hinterland shows green forested hills. We anchored easily beside "Vivamare".   In the distance two catamarans were also anchored– but too close to the shore??!! After several hours the situation became clear, the cats were laying dry, nestling between sand dunes.  It's called ebb tide.   Not to worry we have a lifting or swing keel which means we can lift up our keel hydraulicly if the water gets too shallow.

After the monster tourist developments in Vilamoura, the quiet river atmosphere was a welcome sight, comtemplative and calm. At low tide some people were searching for mussels on the sandbank. Unfortunately we stayed here only one night, heading out with the flood the next morning back into the Atlantic ocean.

That morning the wind was not in our favour , so sailing was out of the question.   By mid day we had changed into T-shirts enjoying the warmth of the sun.  The lack of wind created a mirror-like water surface making it easy to spot dolphins in the distance.

  We reached the marina of Vila Real de Santo Antonio in the River Guadiana, the borderline between Portugal and Spain just  before low tide but with a very strong current.  Arriving in a new harbour is always stressful for many reasons.  Here we were greeted not only by the welcoming committee of seagulls and comorans lining the dock, but also two chaps ready to take our lines. Of course this makes docking considerably easier me; I don't like jumping off a moving vessel.

Vila Real de Santo Antonio is a pretty little town that had been totally destroyed by a Tsunami wave during the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.  The new town has been built little a chess board, i.e., all  streets run either north-south or east-west.  The marketplace is completely surrounded by heavily scented orange trees and the Saturday morning market offers a variety of local Spanish and Portuguese food  specialities as well as and handicrafts.

The town of Ayamonte, Spain lies directly across the Rio Guadiana opposite Santo Antonio.   Without a doubt we would love to sail a little further up river, however, a rather large suspension bridge that connects Portugal and Spain, measures only 18m. in height. Our mast including antenna is 20m, therefore the up river outing is out of the question.   

Arriving on a Friday afternoon meant we had to wait until Monday morning to find the official authorized office that could stamp our passports with an exit stamp.  It turns out that a non-Eu person is only allowed to be in the EU for up to 90 days without a visa.  Oops missed that deadline.  All our running around from one police agency to another turned out to be unproductive.  We'll wait to see what customs & immigration say at the airport.

Since arriving in VRdeSA we've had nothing but glorious weather, not a cloud to be seen in the deep blue sky.  Yesterday, the menfolk went on a little shopping tour.  Browsing the many shops, they discovered a fishing/boating supply store as well as a hardware store, so further investigation was required;  BLOKE HEAVEN.  Meanwhile, Gaby and I granted ourselves a little "siesta" with a relaxing glass of wine.

Having agreed on a 6:30 early morning start, it meant getting up at 5am, but the ebb tide was against us moving at a pace of 4-5 knts.  This means we are must not only wait for high tide but also for slack water, (water flow changing direction).  This is about a 20 min. window 4 times in a 24 hr period; however, that 20 min.  window shifts daily by 45 min.  (I give up, I think we're stranded here).  Our other handicap while leaving here is not only the parallel running current but also the narrow opening to the river which takes us out to the Atlantic. "HELP"

Since the mouth of the river at ebb tide is only 1,0-1,8 m deep we moved our departure time to early afternoon (approx. 3 hrs. before high tide).

Our next port of call is Mazagon, Spain, but the wind is still blowing from the east, (direction we are heading), so we must once again buckle down and be a against the wind.  Consequently, we have booked and paid for an additional 2 days dockage because wandering the streets of Gibraltar isn't in the cards this week, so it doesn't much matter where we wait.