Gibraltar

View of Gibraltar and our anchorage off La Linea   

Packing charts to go home   

We had a mooring booked in Gibraltar but not for a day and so we took the opportunity during our time at La Linea to do some chores and to go ashore. On board the main task was to pack for our imminent brief trip home. We gathered together the charts, pilot books and other Mediterranean related documents we had on board and weighed them all with a view to getting them posted home. However, a search for the prices of postage or shipping them from Gibraltar, or indeed from La Linea, highlighted that this was not a great plan. In the end, we booked 3 bags onto our EasyJet flight as that was by far the most economical way of getting everything back. So, because Nicky had managed to time our flights home perfectly so that we would fly from Gibraltar and then on from Gatwick all on the same day, our packed bags were a bit unusual with no clothes or overnight bits and pieces in them, just books and charts.

Chores done, our thoughts then turned to what we’d need to do in the way of provisioning when we got back. With that in mind we took the dinghy ashore to look at the big Carrefour supermarket in La Linea. You can still get ashore and leave your dinghy at the local Club Nautica in the marina but the fee for doing so has gone up somewhat [Ed: well, now they’re charging VAT]. In 2014 the fee was €5 for leaving the dinghy for a day. This time we had to pay €6.05 and we were asked for our passports and also to fill out a form with BV’s details; effectively the same paperwork we would have done if we had moored in the marina. We didn’t have our passports with us so that necessitated an extra run later to keep us straight with the admin office.

BV in the anchorage at La Linea    

A walk to the huge supermarket in La Linea gave us the opportunity to get fresh bread and some dry goods and to see what goodies we’d likely get when we returned. On the way, we also got a good view of BV at anchor and Gibraltar behind.

Cruise ship Britannia     

The following morning, we woke up to a rather grey day. Gibraltar was capped in cloud and it seemed rather cold and dark; not the best weather for good views of ‘The Rock’ during our move around to the marina in Gib.

We fired the engine up at 0820 and called up on the radio for permission to pass through the runway’s extended centreline. With permission granted we made our way into Marina Bay, passing under the bow of the cruise ship Britannia as we did so. Despite the name, Marina Bay was not our stopping point but where we needed to go to refuel. The early start meant that we managed to beat the rush and were able to go straight onto the refuelling quay. By the time our tanks were full there were 3 yachts circling, waiting their turn so we cleaned up quickly and moved off the quay,

A cloud-covered Gibraltar   

Another radio call cleared us back out of Marina Bay to motor down the western side of Gibraltar and into the main harbour, dodging a couple of manoeuvring ships on the way. Once clear of them, it was then back on the radio again to see if Queensway Quay Marina was still expecting us. All was well with our reservation, which we had made a couple of months ago, and so we were cleared into the marina and directed to our mooring. Initially we secured the pick-up lies tightly and then remembered that we’d need to start thinking about tides again. It was low water and the sea level would rise about a metre so we slackened off the lines a bit.  It was the first time in 3 years that we’d really had to think about tides.

BV tucked away in her new mooring   

Once we were moored up and the arrivals paperwork completed, our next priority was to arrange for our new liferaft to be delivered to us. A couple of months ago we had tried to make arrangements for our existing liferaft to be booked in for a service whilst we were staying in Gibraltar. However, when Steve at Marine Safety (Gibraltar) checked his records he discovered that our CO₂ canister needed a pressure test and that the liferaft was now so old that henceforth it would need a check every year rather than every 3 years. A new liferaft was definitely the better way forward. Steve was super-efficient and within an hour of our telephone call saying we had arrived in the marina, the new liferaft was being secured in the cradle on BV’s deck.

With that delivery completed and the sun now shining, we were free to go exploring. Since we were last in Gibraltar in 2014 it was really noticeable that there has been even more construction work. Tower blocks are springing up on every available piece of land. It’s actually a bit of a shame because the historical bits such as the old defensive sea walls and batteries now seem hidden away and overshadowed by so many new high rises.

Gibraltar high street   

However, the pedestrianised high street was as we remembered it, very vibrant and, on this occasion, decked out with flags celebrating 50 years since the historic referendum; the Gibraltarians are still very proud to be British. It was good to see that there were a lot of tourists to help keep the economy going and we enjoyed wandering up and down. Nicky hunted down some replacement bikinis whilst I made sure that we took advantage of our duty-free allowance.

Looking up at the peak from our mooring; much better weather!   

That was our last full day in Gibratar and so back on board BV we started to make our final preparations to leave her. We did the laundry, emptied the fridge, disconnected the gas, closed the stopcocks and did a full clean down inside and out. Everything was then ready for our early start first thing on Thursday 24 August. A short taxi ride got us to the airport ready for Nicky’s masterplan of flights to get us home by the evening. It seemed strange leaving BV after having lived on board her for the last 4 ½ months, however, it won’t be long before we are back and making preparations for heading to the Canaries.

Gibraltar