At the Gateway to the Med

We are now in La Linea, Spain, just a couple of hundred yards across the border from Gibraltar.

We returned to Ione in Ayamonte on Monday 12 September after 3 weeks back at home. After an easy flight to Faro we were met by our faithful taxi driver, Antonio, to take us to the boat. Wonderful to be back and have a meal of tapas in the warm.

Tuesday’s GRIB files showed solid easterlies for the next few days, so we headed up the Guardiana river back to Alcoutim to spend a couple of nights enjoying the scenery and swimming from the river beach.

On Thursday morning we motored down river, enjoying the wonderful reflections in the calm waters. We anchored above the bridge for 3 hours to await sufficient rise of tide to cross the bar outside and sail round to the marina in Isla Canela. The entrance there is deeper than at Ayamonte, so easier to leave earlier on the tide the next morning, also we were able to refuel.

We left Isla Canela at first light to make the 70 mile passage to Rota. The wind started NE and slowly veered W, light for much of the time, so it was a mix of motoring and sailing in the sunshine. Having visited Rota in August, we didn’t go ashore but had a sociable time having drinks with an American couple.

Friday’s GRIBs were showing westerlies through the weekend but followed by a stiff easterly levanter through the Straits on Monday, so we did not delay in the Bay of Cadiz but on Saturday headed straight for Barbate. Cape Trafalgar was rounded at 1600. As the picture shows the lighthouse stands out well, but the cape itself is only some 20m above sea level.

Barbate is a major tuna fishing port, but the marina is quite some way from the town and uninspiring. However our evening was enlivened by drinks with our neighbours!

From Barbate to Gibraltar is some 40 miles, so needing to take the tides into account, it was a lunchtime departure. The westerly wind, initially force 3, picked up progressively to reach force 6/7 as we passed Tarifa. Supposedly the wind here is above 30 knots for 300 days of the year and Tarifa is famed worldwide as a windsurfing centre. The 17 miles from Tarifa to Gibraltar took only a couple of hours.

We had intended to stop at either Queensway Bay or Marina Quay in Gibraltar, but both were full, so we went on just past the airport runway and the border to the new marina at La Linea. The marina only opened a year or so ago and is massive, but only a quarter full. In many ways the facilities are better suited to mega yachts rather than cruisers. The arrival pontoon is a high concrete quay with huge bollards separated by 20 metres. With 25 knots of wind blowing us off, it took two marineros hauling on our lines to get close enough to pass papers ashore!

On Monday, just as forecast, the Levanter set in, bringing a grey cloud which hung over the rock whilst La Linea remained in sunshine.

On Tuesday we took the bus to Algeciras. Tony’s grandfather had lived there from about 1914 to 1935 and his father was brought up there. The last time we visited, 20 years ago, we found the ruins of the Villa Rosario, the family house, with the gates barred and roses growing everywhere but only 18” of rubble where the foundations had been. This visit we found no sign of the house and garden, but only a rust coloured block of flats which had been built 15 years ago. So much for family history!

Today – 22 September – the levanter has blown out and the sun is shining on the Rock, making a visit worthwhile. From the marina it is a 10 minute walk to the frontier and an easy stroll through – cars were queuing for an hour! Being lazy we took the cable car to the top.

Unfortunately the weather was just too hazy to see more than a faint outline of the hills of Africa, but even so the view was superb. Here the marina at La Linea can be seen in the background.

No visit to the Rock would be complete without photos of the Barbary apes!

Our plan now is to leave tomorrow – Friday – and head east into the Mediterranean in the general direction of Cartagena.

Sarah & Tony

Ione – 22 September 2011