Arriving Gibraltar

Jeff and I arrived back to Quest about 2030 on Tuesday night. We were pooped from our trip to Granada and ready for a full night of sleep. Luck would have it that the weather window to get to Gibraltar arrived while we were in the mountains. We had 24 – 36 hours to head southwest to the entrance to the Mediterranean. We departed the Almerimar harbor Tuesday evening at 2200. Night departures can be a challenge. We remained between 3-5 miles off the coast and headed west roughly 130 miles. Thankfully we had small seas and there was very little wind so the trip was smooth. Since we were so close to shore shifts were doubled, meaning Jeff and I shared a shift from 0400 to 0800. Thankfully we had an easy first night shift and not many boats were out to play depth perception tricks on our eyes.

Our second night we went back to our regular shifts of three hours on. I had the 1700 to 2000 shift and Jeff followed me from 2000 to 2300. When I went off shift we were roughly 30 miles off the coast of Gibraltar. We knew that in a few hours we would be up again to enter the harbor. It is a good idea, if you are unfamiliar with a harbor, to enter during daylight. Chris’ agenda was different and wanted to get in as soon as possible. He felt confidence in his computer chart program that it was safe to enter such a large port.

We received the wake up call around 0200, we got dressed and headed out to see what type of challenge we had ahead of us. Imagine turning the corner of and seeing what looks like a city of lights from north to south. We had no idea it would be such a well lit port. What we did not realize at the time was the lights were not city lights but they were lights of anchored cruise liners, ships, freighters, and tow barges. As we moved up the channel and our eyes became clearer to see that Gibraltar Harbor is a parking lot for big boats. We had a giant task ahead of us since we needed to get to La Linia, the protected anchorage on the Spanish side of the harbor.

As we approached the floating city of boats, Chris realized the remaining battery power was low on the laptop, Chris asked me to change the battery. This turned out to be a costly error, hence the navigational aid programs were wiped out and they would not reboot. The supplemental chart we had was on a larger scale and not very detailed for Gibraltar Harbor. The only additional navigational aid we had was a small diagram of the harbor in the Coastal Pilot. It was lacking much of the needed details to safely navigate the harbor. We proceeded with great caution, three of us on deck, with Chris ready at the helm. Did we mention it was 40 degrees. We zigged and zagged around all of the parked vessels, and nearly found La Linia by landing on the unlit jetty. We took a hard turn to starboard, a few deep breaths, and we were able to make our way around the jetty wall. We found our anchorage at 0500. We thawed out with a cup of hot cocoa since we had been on deck for the better part of three hours. We sacked out through the morning and in the afternoon the winds that were predicted started to blow. Now we are hanging out and waiting for more weather to pass. This storm is forecasted to last until December 5.

Our friends from Almerimar, also cruising across the Atlantic, Michael, Liz, and Laura, found us in the same anchorage. It was nice to reunite with these longtime cruisers. They provide a wealth of information and comfort.