We had a chance to check out Gibraltar before we left port. When walking from the Spanish side to the British side we had to cross a working airfield. Luckily the time we decided to walk about was right time for a take off. We were stopped behind the line and had a chance to hear and see the happenings of the takeoff.
After the gates were opened we took a walk up the hill to visit the Gibraltar monkeys. The monkeys are called Barbary Apes, but everyone seems to just call them the monkeys. There is a urban legend that Prime Minister Churchill said that the day there are no monkeys in Gibraltar is the day when Spain will regain control of the land.
Lunch Time!
While up the hill we took these shots of the port.
We departed on Tuesday, December 6 from the port enroute to the Canary Islands . Gibraltar port has a reputation for being one of the busiest ports in the world. We had at least 5 larger than life tankers both moving in or out of port and had to dodge the hydrofoil commuter ferries that cruise at least 15 – 20 knots from Africa to Spain
Thankfully we had nice winds and the current was not its usually ripping. We were able to put up the sails and work our way through the Straits. Once through the Straits we had to cross from north to south across the Traffic Separation Scheme. Traffic Separation Schemes are similar to highways in the middle of channels or along the coasts. The Traffic Separation Schemes are used by large vessels to navigate the safest route from one destination to another. Our vessel, the sailboat, does not have any right of way in these Schemes. We avoided getting in the way of any of vessels by crossing the flow of traffic at a right angle.
