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Gibraltar (week one)
We arrived in Gibraltar on Tuesday (16th) a day late due to strong easterly winds in the straights of Gibraltar and rough seas. We didn't fancy motoring all the way with the wind right on the nose. We were in time to meet up with the rest of the Blue Water Rally for the party in the evening at the royal Gibraltar yacht club, (most of the boats are doing a circumnavigation together but we are only staying with them until Antigua).There was another meeting in the local bar the next night with a buffet supplied. I think they are going to party all round the world.
Marina Bay marina is very busy with stern to or bow to mooring, which means getting on or off the boat over the bow for us using the paserelle (a fancy gang plank). The marina is overshadowed by the rock, a great slab of Jurassic limestone (for the geologists amongst us). It is covered in cloud in the morning and at night, caused by the laventa (east wind), the moist air rises when it hits the rock, condenses at the top forming a cloud and dumps its water on Gibraltar. There is an orange light on the top, so it looks like 'there be draggons' at night or a fire on top. The airport runway is right next to the marina, so we see planes taking off and landing, the last one is about 9.30pm. The main road out of Gibraltar crosses the runway and traffic or pedestrians have to wait if a plane is due. A notice advises you to cross quickly.
Most of this week has been about safety and communications with talks in the morning. Each boat has had a safety check done by one of the rally organisers, Checking equipment eg. lifejackets, life-raft, epirb, fire extinguishers etc. and going through the boats emergency procedures. Ours was yesterday morning and there were no problems. Gibraltar is expensive for shopping, UK prices with no special offers, so we have been crossing the boarder into Spain and visiting the big supermarket in La Linea a few miles down the road. John kindly took us in his car. Crossing the boarder involves waving your passport at the police several times and going through customs, we haven't been stopped yet but John tells us it happens quite often especially when coming back in. Alex has been to the top of the rock already, he walked up and down the other side, I am going in the cable car next week. Alex has taken lots of pictures of the Barbery Apes which he says are not worried by people and generally mind their own business but if they think you have food they approach. There are lots of attractions at the top of the rock including St Michael's caves and second world war tunnels. The men went on the lower St Michaels cave tour. It is more difficult and involves a lot of climbing with ropes as the caves are in their natural state. It was not available to most tourists, apparently they thought yaughstmen were tough enough to be up for it. A lot of people still struggled with it, but it was great fun if you could manage to climb and not slip. Helen unfortunately couldn't go because of her sprained wrist.
On Saturday morning we all sailed to Smir in Morocco. On the way we practiced the rally radio checks to make sure all the boats HF, SSB radios were working. We went on a guided tour of Tetouan old city and souk. The city was very interesting with very narrow streets and overhanging buildings so that the whole place was shaded, apparently it stays cool in summer and warm in winter. The souk was very crowded with street traders everywhere. We had a police escort as well as our guides, which was a bit worrying but was to stop us being mobbed by traders and targeted by pick pockets. We went to the tannery which is in the middle of the city, it is where sheep skins are tanned to make leather. It was in my opinion disgusting, the smell of rotting sheep was awful. It consisted of a number of stone troughs in the ground in which sheep carcasses were rotting or the skins soaking. The people who worked there were in the troughs with the mess. There was something grey and nasty on the ground, so we had to watch our step, especially as some of us were wearing sandals! We visited a carpet shop. The carpets were hand made in the Atlas mountains, taking up to 2 years to make and were very expensive, we didn't dare ask how much. The second part of our Moroccan aromatic experience was far more pleasant, being a visit to a natural herb and spice pharmacy, which sold herbal remedies and spices. Saffron was cheap, 5 euros for 3g, with a buy 2 get one free offer. Alex bought a traditional Arabic robe, after much haggling. Finally we had a traditional Moroccan meal with entertainment! (ie. couscous and a belly dancer).
Gibraltar (week 2)
This week has continued along the aromatic line with Alex and Paul unblocking the sink in the heads and William replacing the galley sink pump. William went up the mast to replace the tricolour bulb with Alex on the winch. We did yet more shopping ready for the trip to Lanzarote and there was a briefing about the trip and the activities in Lanzerote, plus the rally's plans to Panama (useful for us since we are doing the same trip independently but over a longer timescale, as we want to spend more time in the Carribbean).
On Tuesday evening we all went to a reception held by the Governor of Gibralta at his posh residence and on Thursday we went to another reception held by the minister of tourism. Free booze and canopes.
Thursday was a lovely clear day so we (William, Paul and Helen) went up the rock in the cable car. There is a great view from the cable car and from the top you can see across to Morocco or into the Mediterranean. The apes were all over the place up to there usual tricks of stealing peoples lunches. There is a heavy fine for feeding them and warning signs not to touch them as they bite. Apparently they come down into town occasionally, a lady I was talking to found an ape in her kitchen eating her potatoes. We went down St. Michaels upper cave, an easy stroll along a concrete path leading to a large chamber used for concerts. We visited the siege tunnels, excavated in the Rock in the 18th century and extended in the 2nd world war and the medieval Moorish castle. There is a farewell gathering tonight, then tomorrow morning, Sunday 28th, we leave for Lanzarote. The Rally will assemble at Europa point and cross the start line together when the military fire a gun, however its not a race.
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