17th September. Its been an exciting couple of days. We lest Smir on the
15th. Customs clearance was straightforward and we made a very professional
job of leaving the berth, retrieving our anchor and then re berthing on the
customs dock. We were cleared and on our way by 1000 with a nice blue sky
and light winds for the passage to Gibraltar. We were completely lazy and
motored for the four hour passage across the Straits. We went in close to
Ceuta to have a look at the huge fort on the headland and to get a feel for
what the harbour was like. Ceuta is to Morocco what Gibraltar is to Spain
except that the Spanish claim Ceuta in the same way that the British claim
Gibraltar. Its a well developed blip on the coast of Morocco with many high
rises along the beach. It is a busy small port with a constant stream of
ferries from Europe as well as cargo ships.
Traffic was light in the Straits and we only had one close encounter with a
cargo ship, the seas were calm until we were in sight of The Rock when the
wind against tide produced a healthy chop. By 1400 we were running up the
side of Gibraltar airport runway and into Marina Bay Marina with a 20 knot
following wind. This wind proved a real obstacle as we were trying to berth
and initially the Marina had allocated us a berth that was just too small
for Osprey. Whilst trying to line up on that berth Anita got her hand
trapped between Osprey's shrouds and the adjacent boat and ripped a large
flap of skin from the side and palm of her right hand. We were quickly into
another larger berth and by the time we had tied up the ambulance was parked
on the quay waiting for us. A quick pressure bandage from the paramedic and
we were off to the Gibraltar hospital where we spent the next three hours
for running repairs. The flap on the palm of the hand was stitched back on
and that on the side of the hand glued in place. A fairly major exercise as
it was tricky for Anita to keep her hand flat whilst the skin was re
positioned. We stopped counting after twelve stitches! The hospital staff
were great and the place itself is modern and very smart. The hand was
bandaged up and we were told to put it in a sling once we got back to the
boat. We then headed across to the pharmacy to collect some antibiotics the
back to the boat for the sling which we made up from a triangular bandage,
then it was ashore for a quiet meal and an early night which turned out to
be not so early as we were not clear of the boat until after 2000. The wound
has not caused any great pain and we have dispensed with the sling.
Yesterday we had a quiet day just looking around locally to the marina and
dining in the large selection of small restaurants in the area. Today we
have an appointment at the hospital at 1100 for a check up and we will see
where we go from there. It is likely we will have to stay here for the next
week or so until healing is well under way. In many respects this is good as
there is a lot we would like to see here and we can also stock up the boat
of the essentials for the winter lay up in Smir.There are funny aspects to
this as for example when Anita has a shower and we wrap up the bandaged hand
in a Ziploc bag and seal it with gaffer tape. Otherwise Anita is in fine
form and learning quickly how to left handed.
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