Gibraltar (continued)
Monday 5th July
Today a Nimrod type plane took off, what a noise! It is many times more noisy than a passenger jet, and very scary for Dan, he has learnt to cover his ears up to deaden the noise! Later it arrived back again, similar noise levels!
We ate a late lunch at an Indian place near to a cybercafe, it was great value, and then went on the net to check our bank accounts and send some email. Later we went to the supermarket next to the marina, to stock up on a lot of items. We collected our laundry from Safeways.
Tues 6th July
Four Harriers arrived this morning, the last one did a vertical hold in front of the Rock before landing! Very exciting but pretty noisy! And as usual we had the daily arrival and departure of British Airways and Monarch flights.
I went to the launderette next to the marina to get four loads done, total cost £16. I had to find space on the boat to air it all in one go! Then Nigel dropped me off in town and I spent a few hours exploring on my own and buying a few bits and pieces to make more mosquito nets and things for Dan’s birthday which is on the 14th.
By early evening the wind had changed back to westerly, and the sea was getting quite rough in the anchorage. The boat was pitching a lot (made a change from the rolling of the night before) and getting into the yacht was a little tricky. In the evening we were visited by a Frenchman rowing a dinghy half full of water, we invited him in for some food and spent a couple of hours chatting, his English was quite good but his enthusiasm was better, he was sailing alone and he had a small yacht with a lot less equipment than us, he said it was very difficult to get as far as Gibraltar, as for the last stretch on his own he was on constant alert, he had fog and the area was full of tankers. Although he has radar installed, he has not completely finished the installation and he does not know how to use the radar properly yet, it also not such a good radar, so his results are not reliable.
The planes are taking off and landing the other way, so we see less of them.
Wed 7th July
The wind is a F6-7 and the anchorage is uncomfortable, the boat is pulling hard on the anchor chain with every wave.
I went with Daniel and his bike to Safeways to try to get Ribena and a few other items we had not been able to get so far. The journey back to the boat started with Dan carrying two bags on his handlebars successfully, but ended up with Dan walking and the tiny bicycle loaded up with all the shopping bags! It was very unstable and when it had managed to fall over three times it needed re-arranging as three of the bags had big holes in them! Nevertheless we got back to the dinghy successfully although in all the waves it was a game trying to get everything back onto the boat afterwards.