Anchorage at La Linea
We decided to move the boat to the other side of the breakwater of La Linea which is in fact in Spain, as the breakwater is hooked and afforded a lot of protection from the waves. However we did not check in with anyone as there is no visitors’ marina and we believe no office for the purpose at La Linea. We spent a much more peaceful night there.
The next day 8th July, we spent preparing the boat for our friend Barry who is coming from Guernsey to stay with us for a few days. He is flying a private plane and we decided that day that we would definitely stay at Gibraltar, and he had confirmed with the airport that he could fly there and leave the plane for a few days. As that morning we had run out of water, we later went back to the fuelling pontoon at Marina Bay in Gibraltar for water and a top-up of fuel. We were shouted at by the Port Authority staff for not stopping at their pontoon first, however we explained that we had already checked in with them a few days ago, which was enough to get the man back through his window. I couldn’t see if it was one of the staff we had met before or not.
When we arrived back at our anchorage in La Linea, we were approached by a man in a dinghy selling his services as a computer fixer, amongst other things. He turned out to be French but with several years of Western Mediterranean cruising behind him, and over a cup of coffee we learnt a lot about various places
to go in Spain, and advice about places where we could over-winter, he also recommended Tunisia. He said he would call back the next day and that he had a map of La Linea and could show us all the best places to go, as shopping was much cheaper there. Also he explained that in La Linea they are having a fiesta next week starting on the 15th, maybe we will still be around.
9th July, again preparing for visitors. Nigel went out to get some U-bolts to make a fixing in the dinghy so that we could hoist it up to guardrail height at night, because at La Linea and no doubt many other places, the dinghy is at risk while tied to the boat on a rope. Then in the afternoon Nigel took Dan to the beach.
Sat 10th July, more tidying and cleaning! Seems familiar, at home most of the cleaning took place before we had visitors! Nigel again took Dan to the beach. Barry is delayed and will not arrive until sometime tomorrow morning.
One of the other reasons I am staying on the boat is so that I don’t spend anything! We have overspent most days this month and Gibraltar is not cheap. The spending money we have budgeted for per month is £1000, some of this figure comes from the rental of our house and some of it from our savings. This gives an average of about GBP 32.00 per day, or EUR 50.00. If we do a big supermarket trip or an excursion this goes way beyond our average figure, so we have to pay for it by having a couple of days afterwards where we spend virtually nothing. Nigel caught one mackerel yesterday and five sardines today to
supplement our meals!