Halloween/Samhain day time Gibraltar

There are quite a few liveaboard children here.  Today I've been busy making lanterns for our pontoon and buying sweeties!

First British Airways flight of the day - it's quite a spectacle watching these babies head for the Rock...

A little cutie on Main Street...

 

On the trail of Bigfoot...

 

 

I'm not sure if we have these in the UK anymore...

Fags are duty free in Gibraltar!

Onward to Gibraltar

We left Barbate just before sunrise...

Cape Tarifa - reknown for winds in excess of 30 knots most days of the year, also the Windsurfing Capitol of the World. Today a pussycat not a Lion...

So kool to be able to see north Africa and Spain simultaneously. Morocco to Starboard as we entered the Straits...

And the first sighting of the "Rock' in the distance...

 Then a weird cloud - well it is England :O)

Out of the blue ( grey?)  we were hit broadside by a squall, 35knots gusting to 38 - I thought that cloud looked dodgy...headed into it, dropped our sails and bashed across the Bay...

Past several big pieces of steel...

To a blue sky again. One view from our current position...

 And panning to Starboard :O) Now to get out of wet clothes, shower, hot meal and some much needed shut eye!




 

Weather last night

Glad to report no lightening last night just rain and more rain. I thought we had a few hundred Flamenco dancers on the roof! This morning all we can see through the sea mist is that spirit sapping drizzle...hey ho, there is blue sky above it all I know there is.

Holed up in Barbate Marina ( there are worse places to be )

And this folks is the view from one of our windows! Three months of blue skies and now this - at least the decks are getting a good wash and rinse out there. Last night we had a non-stop thunder storm with massive flashes of green lightening : Never knawed a night like it. We lay in our berths consoling ourselves with the thought that our little mast was probably the shortest in the fleet here in Barbate Marina therefore unlikely to take a direct hit. Greg was worried our onboard technology, so carefully installed and nurtured by him these past months, would be 'ZAPPED' with squillions of volts by some stray lightning bolt. The rain has continued all day long, sometimes coming down as it does in the Tropics, and as I type it is making yet another appearance. It's almost midnight so fingers crossed the lightening won't reappear tonight. I love the storms, lying in the boat listening to the mayhem outside is strangely comforting, but I am oh so glad we are not out to sea in it. We hope to have a wind and weather window to head down to Gibraltar sometime this weekend, but if not, there are worse places to be than Barbate :O) Here comes the rain AGAIN...

Almadraba Tuna Fishing Barbate

As the Almadraba fishing fleet diminishes so this anchor grave yard grows near the Marina in Barbate! There are at least two hundred anchors - each about five feet high - each a rusting testament. Greg and I have been frequenting a Tapas bar called El Atun Rojo ( the Red Tuna). A couple of days ago they had quite a rowdy local crowd of OAP's in at lunchtime. After lunch they all trooped into the bar area and plonked themselves down on stools. The bar man then set up a DVD which was a film featuring the Barbate fishermen and the history and fate of the Almadraba fishing - even though it was in Spanish it was not difficult to understand. The old folk around us the witnesses to what has happened in their community over the last thirty years. They were keen for us to watch the film and kept talking to us about their old lives.
It was odd because early that morning we attempted to leave Barbate for Gibraltar, on the way out we saw a few Almadraba boats being towed in ( they don't have engines), then that very afternoon we found ourselves sitting with these old fishermen and their wives watching a fantastic DVD about it all.

http://jennykean.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/the-ancient-art-of-tuna-fishing/
 Have a read of Jenny Kean's blog re this ancient Phoenician fishing method, it is fascinating.
 

Flying our Code Zero

This is us flying the Code Zero on Lerryn Lady recently. Me at the helm. In light winds we can usually pick up an extra knot or two with this sail. Been lousy Internet access lately so busy sorting photographs to get back on track with the blog...bought a Dongle today hoping this will improve comms onboard. Currently in Barbate Marina after two attempts to sail to Gibraltar this week. On both occasions good forecasts! Beaten back both times by nose on 25knot winds, hoping third time lucky this Sunday when light westerlies forecast...fingers crossed everybody.

Here we are in Rota, Bay of Cadiz

We are now in Rota on the north of the Bay of Cadiz. The marina is much nicer than the one in Cadiz which is highly industrialized. There apears to be a problem spotting us on Marine Traffic . This may be in part due to the fact that we are bang next door to the Mediterranean base of the American Naval Fleet - security et al. So don't despair, perhaps once we head off to Barbate ( in a few days) we'll be back on the map! Yesterday was a peaceful sail from Chipiona to Rota. We had fifteen knots of apparent wind right up our chuff - so goosewinged the main and Genoa most of the way which took just three and a bit hours. Rota old town is charming. My camera battery gave up after three shots last night. Photo above is from the square of Castillo de Luna.

Shadows before sunset.

Inside the Castillo de Luna last night.