Gibraltar
The next day, Saturday 3rd July, we woke up late and we could see at least half the rock, although the top half was submerged in cloud, which we could see was forming on the other side of the rock and being blown over it. We were not sure what to wear because the air seemed cooler and damper than we had been used to for the last few weeks. When we finally got the jobs on the boat finished and got organised to explore a bit it was 3 o’clock, we took the dinghy to the port authority office to register with them, which took a little time, the customs man was called down to speak to us as well, basically all he wanted to know was how many bottles of wine we had on board and whether we had any firearms!
The other port authority man was very friendly and we chatted with him for a while. He told us that most people in Gibraltar speak both English and Spanish, sometimes mixing words between the two languages. Apparently several thousand Spanish come in daily to work in the more menial jobs, as they speak no English they cannot do office work. However they are apparently all paid at least the minimum wage as in England. He directed us to Safeway’s which has a launderette /dry cleaners, as I had finally decided I deserved a rest from the washing! In any case we had a sleeping bag to wash which I couldn’t do by hand. Daniel had his bicycle and we proceeded through the coach park to the road where we eventually found Safeway’s. Dan is getting even more confident on his bike, we are teaching him to look left and right before all junctions, and his control of the brake is now very good and almost without a second thought. That morning when we were in the boat Dan had found my old purse, and when I said he couldn’t open it, he asked if he could have his own purse. I actually had a spare purse and decided to consider pocket money, so we agreed that he could have a purse and get 1 Euro per day to spend as he chose. We thought it was probably too early but worth a shot! I started him off with a two Euro coin, and he proudly kept it in the purse which I looked after on our way to Safeways. When we got there, in the front entrance there were two rides, he wanted a go on one and we said no please wait until we had sorted the laundry out. But Nigel wanted to use the phone and we got some English change to use it, at that point Daniel came up with the bright idea of using his own money for a ride, which I thought was a great idea. The only problem was that he had a 2 Euro coin and the cost of the ride was 50 (English) p! Anyway I gave him 50p and said I would take it out of his two Euros later. That was fine and he had the ride.
We got to the laundry and as the lady was counting out the clothes Nigel noticed the bill on the till which was already £25 and not finished yet! I called a halt which the lady was not pleased about, she said if I wanted to know the cost I should have asked her for a quote, as it was she had programmed everything in. Anyway I said I had never used a launderette before and was not aware that the cost would be so high. So she wiped the slate and we started again with a few large items only, for which the cost was still £15, or 23 Euros, and we could collect the items the next day. We then ate our very late lunch/tea at Safeways, pepper steak and chips, and Dan had chicken and chips. He wanted to spend his money on crisps afterwards, but then decided he didn’t want them enough and decided to save his money for something else. A star for Daniel! One more ride from his money, then we were all finished at Safeways and we went back to the dinghy, and explored the nearby marinas and shopping areas from there. Nearly all the shops were closed as in Gibraltar everything shuts on a Saturday at 1p.m. We found another laundry but it was closed and no tariffs were showing.
Then we explored the area north of the runway in the dinghy, and had a nose at the dinghy sailing club and nearby beach, and then the beach to the left of that, which was actually at La Linea in Spain, and separated from the dinghy club and the whole of Gibraltar by a double fence which led several metres out into the sea with some nasty looking spikes and barbed wire. However there was nothing to stop a person swimming out beyond it to go from one beach to the other, or like us to hop around the corner in a dinghy.
We went back to the boat but although it was 7:30 ships clock time, actually 8:30 Gibraltar time, I still hadn’t had enough exploring and we decided to take the dinghy with some more petrol to explore the town centre which was accessible from somewhere near the Queens Quay marina in the centre of the main harbour. We stopped there at some steps and chatted to a local who was fishing from the pier to get some information on what we could catch and how. The most interesting tip was for bream, he recommended cheese on a hook and not to pull the hook in until the fish was already caught, as it would leave if there was movement from the prey.
We had a good wander down part of Main Street which looked extremely enticing, it was full of familiar-looking shops and pubs, with tiny side streets which called for a lot more exploring. There was a travel shop advertising a water park in nearby Algeciras, and also trips to Morocco, from a day trip to Ceuta or Tangiers to 5/6 day holidays with stops at several cities. We decided we would probably just do a day trip to Tangiers as the cost is a lot less impact on our monthly budget than the other options, at just £90 for a ferry, tour, lunch and shopping for all of us. Daniel spent the last of his money on a packet of Quavers. Then after a little more wandering we went back to the dinghy and proceeded back to Spinalonga in the dusk with a torch.