One of the big attractions to a Brit abroad in Gibraltar is undoubtedly Morrisons supermarket, a real taste of home and not stupidly expensive. It also has a cafe and once Lynnes mouth had healed sufficiently she treated herself to pie chips peas and gravy. Fine dining for a Wigan lass!
Our enforced stay was reinforced by the strong westerlies that had set in, this made any passage to the west problematic if not impossible. There is actually a level difference between the Atlantic and Mediteranean about 2-3 metres difference between the western and eastern ends of the straights. The Med evaporates faster than the Atlantic can fill it up this means there is a fairly constant eastwards flow of current, the tidal movement complicates matters further. The winds however do basically two things. blow west , the Poniente, or east, the Levante. As the westerly winds were in charge for a few days we relaxed and explored La Linea a bit, discovering that the local museum never seemed to be open but did have peacocks in the grounds.
Eventually the easterlies appeared and as this wind direction carries moist air there is a cloud develops over the Rock, At home we would say it, "had its hat on ", if it looks as it does in my photo below I now know that the maximum wind speeds you can expect in the straights will be in the order force 5 or thereabouts. You will get gusts and eddies in the bay of Algeciras, but once the average windspeed exceeds 20 knts or so the higher windspeeds will see the cloud detach from the rock and gale force winds can and will be encountered in the natural wind funnel between Spain and Morocco extending into the bay of Cadiz. We would discover this to our cost in a couple of days.
Meanwhile we made a trip across the border to have a look at the Botanical gardens, a green oasis in the heart of Gibralter. The actual real estate value of these green spaces must be enormous given the paucity of building land on the rock. Largely set out by an Italian they are a joy.
On our visit some areas were not open to visitors.
We also spent some time on the eastern side of La Linea on the beach, which is great for swimming if a little cold!
There are some nice beach bars to get a small beverage, the beach is very popular with local families and around 4-5 oclock you can sometimes feel a bit crowded as locals reclaim "their spot".
This cafe bar is almost exactly on the "Line" The photo below shows the remains of a fort on the eastern side of the narrow isthmus joining Gibraltar to Spain.
The origin of the name "La Linea" comes from when Great Britain acquired Gibraltar after the treaty of Utrecht, the Spanish built a line of forts across the narrow neck of the peninsula, hence "The Line"
After we had thrown the French out of Spain in the Peninsular war we decided to blow them up, so as to keep the French from using them against us in the future, politicians lied through their teeth even then!
Lynne had also acquired some new friends as she had started to feed the local fish. Their was soon a micro feeding frenzy around the boat every morning as they appeared as if from nowhere.
On one of our last nights we saw the "Blood Moon eclipse", it made quite a sight along with a red Mars just below and to the right of the red moon.
Not a very good photo but better than most of my friends in Northern Europe managed as it was a bit cloudy on the night..
Well the big day had arrived and we had paid our bill the night before, said farewell to our new friends Tim and his children who had been busy preparing another small steel yacht for adventures next to us.
We motored out of the Marina and into the bay, the sun was shining and Gibraltar was clear, remember what I said earlier? I myself had obviously forgotten, as after seeing some huge Tuna leaping in the bay and some Dolphins, we had been contacted on VHF by the ferries coming out of the fog, and had to make course changes, busy, busy, totally forgot to read the signs and suddenly we entered the fogbank and visibility was less than 50 metres. I am fairly comfortable in fog but what has come as a new experience for me is fog with WIND...…
As we followed the coast west taking advantage of the small counter current taking us the 15 miles or so to Tarifa the wind was constantly increasing until by the time we were approaching Tarifa it was blowing 30 knots. We struggled to reef the genoa having to resort to a winch eventually to reduce its sail area. we changed course to cross the T.S.S. ( traffic separation scheme )
It is essential that you cross a T.S.S. as nearly as possible at right angles to the traffic flow and as quickly as possible. Remember what I said about the currents and tide? well there we were wind over tide making the seas huge, beam on, so we were getting green water in the cockpit, haring along at between 6-8 knots under a half genoa and no main, trying to listen to the big boats on the VHF calling to each other in less than patient terms, contacting them when necessary because thank God we were the same size on their AIS screens. It was getting a bit serious and Lynne was worried enough to sit in the cockpit well, wedged around the binnacle, wet through of course. Dark Tarn was surfing and slamming into waves and I was having to hand steer as the tiller pilot couldn't cope.
It was without a doubt the most intense and serious passage we had made in four years, the boat coped superbly, the skipper and crew possibly less so but apart from Lynne losing her bob hat overboard we survived unscathed. As we approached the African coast and left the T.S.S. behind the wind abated for 30 minutes or so, just time enough for me to sort out the lee genoa sheets which had become hopelessly entangled in the gale force winds . as we coasted along the North African coast the cold fog again descended and with it came the howling easterly wind. We were approaching Tangier and as we tried to put away the genoa two ferries approached us, one coming from and one going into Tangier. At least it showed us where the harbour was. Unfortunately we had no idea where the Marina was located, it had only opened the previous month and information was sketchy to say the least, however we made a best guess, but luckily the marina staff must have had scouts out or access to AIS because they called us up to inform us we were heading into the fishing dock. We reluctantly went back out into the howling gale and crept along to the new entrance and pulled up at the massive waiting pontoon. There were two fellows there to help with our lines and we were relieved we had made it.
The most challenging and downright scary passage of my time as skipper of Dark tarn.
As we had left the EU we were flying not just a courtesy flag but a yellow Q flag and I duly was asked ashore to clear immigration Customs and the port police. It was all handled very efficiently and after paperwork was done the police and customs officials came to inspect the boat. Luckily Lynne had managed to put some semblance of order back below and we were promptly directed to a berth. We were given one of the few finger berths (most are stern to ) but the wind and the inexperienced marinero line handlers meant we touched our bow briefly on the pontoon and lost a bit of paint but we were soon snugged down, and in glorious splendour, being one of maybe 20 boats in a marina designed for 300+. The marina is superbly constructed and is first class. There are bits that are not quite finished. But we didn't care,we were, to be honest a bit shell shocked.
But we were in Africa, and the exciting city of Tangiers.
To all my sailing friends who are considering fitting AIS, do it now, you wont regret it, it was absolutely essential to the success of this passage. I would also like to thank the watch officers on duty in the straights that day for their skill and professionalism and for referring to Lynne as Madame over the radio, made her day!
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