We arrived in Alcaidesa Marina https://alcaidesamarina.com/en/home/ at La Lineas near Gibraltar from Cartagena at 9 pm. We stopped at the main office for instructions and I mentioned that the berth they had allocated appeared to be too short from the diagrams. The man on duty said the office had allocated it so it should be right. So off we went to park the yacht.

Well, I was right and he was wrong – we only just squeezed in and the floating pontoons only came halfway up the boat.The pontoon was for a 12m boat and we are18 m.

Mark had arrived early and came to assist.

The next day Mark who was staying in the little houseboats for the night shifted in. He had eaten something odd the night before and had been up all night.

The next morning we shifted onto pier 9 which was a wall behind another catamaran. The only problem with pier 9 was Hew had to link 3 electrical cables together to reach the electrical box.

Into Gibraltar

Late morning we wandered into Gibraltar for lunch. We picked a cafe on Queen’s wharf where one of the other yachts “Ari” from the Viking Explorer group was moored. So after lunch, we went down and met Chris and Rose for a cup of tea. They were berthed in a shady and cold corner. We had not been able to get into any of the Gibraltar marinas, but now did not mind because although our berth was windy it was in the sun.

Arrival of Nev and Peter

Neville and Peter arrived late in the afternoon after walking from the airport because they could not find a taxi on the Spanish side of the border. After getting all the gear onboard and partially unpacking we decided to go into La Lineas town for dinner. Mark was still feeling off so stayed on the boat. Pete and Nev came as we searched the back streets for a restaurant recommended by the Marina office “La Charca”. https://m.facebook.com/lachacratapasgrill/

We arrived 10 min before it opened so went off to have a beer. We returned shortly and just got in before it rapidly filled up. Obviously a very local restaurant and superb. It was Pete’s birthday so we celebrated with a couple of bottles of the local red!! You had to like meat as there were very few vegetables to be seen!!

The Rock of Gibraltar

The next day was off to Gibraltar to do the tourist trip and look around the rock, and do a few chores in town. The tour by taxi around the rock was perfect. We had plenty of time for the lookouts, monkeys, tunnels, and caves as seen below.

The Monkeys

The Caves

The Tunnels

The View

We wandered to a cafe for a nice cappuccino and lunch.

Next Mark and Hew had to pose outside the post office in remembrance of times past- 40 years ago.

Provisioning

The next day was provisioning day in La Lineas – which Pete, Mark, Nev, and Barb. We achieved most of the shopping in a supermarket which delivered but needed to get meat from the butchers as Hew was feeling like a lamb roast. There was a 6 person queue outside.

Then Nev went off hunting for more fishing gear.

Final Preparation Day

The next day was all the odd jobs still to be finished! Nev’s toilet had not been working and a few days before Hew discovered it only had a 12 volt supply and not a 24 v supply to the pump!! The fridge compressor he had bought in Gibraltar the day before was the wrong one!! Then they were shut. The rigging needed a final check. All his maintenance gear needed to be stored away for the trip!!

Nearly ready to go!!

Next Blog: Gibraltar to the Canaries https://kiwiflyingfish.com/2021/12/gibraltar-to-canaries/