Trapped in Queensway Quay Marina, Gibraltar

At the moment we are trapped in Queensway Quay Marina in Gibraltar and not allowed to leave because of an oil spill in the harbour! But more of that later..

It is now 3 weeks since we arrived in Europe from Morocco. We spent 2 weeks anchored in La Linea bay with the Rock as a stunning backdrop. It was lovely to be on anchor again and not paying for a marina berth. The local Club Nautico offered dingy parking facilities, rubbish disposal and water for 5 Euros a day. They were all very friendly and in addition had a great little restaurant which did a great 3 course 'menu del dia' for only 7 Euros including a drink. The food was always good and plentiful and featured lots of freshly caught fish. We ate there several times and as lunch was served until 4 pm we didn't need an evening meal. Spain is on GMT + 2 hours so it is light until about 10 pm which makes for very late sundowners and dinner as we usually don't realise how late it is!

Downtown Gibraltar

We walked to Gibraltar a few times and got to know the local bus system quite well. We also had a good look around La Linea which doesn’t have much going for it really. The old part of town is very small and has undergone major renovations. High rise developments of both hotel and apartment blocks also sprawl out for miles around. Because accommodation is so scarce and expensive on Gib many workers opt to live in La Linea and walk into work on the Rock. Likewise hotel accommodation is very limited on Gib so La Linea encourages tourists to stay on the Spanish side. It is quite usual to see plane loads of tourists wheeling their luggage across the border and into the more modern and reasonably priced hotels. I found this personally quite disappointing as my Dad was born in La Linea, although he grew up in Seville. I had hoped to feel some sort of kinship with the town, but too much time had passed and it was not to be.

The airstrip in Gib is right on the border and crosses the main road into town and is built out over the water, so when a plane lands or takes off the road is closed to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Boat traffic into the nearby marina also has to halt so no masts are clipped by low flying aircraft. All in all it seems a bit of a strange arrangement.

Walking and driving across the airport runway.

We had been dithering about where to have our new cooker delivered as there had been various logistical problems in having it delivered to Morocco. We were concerned we would be hit with 20% VAT if it were shipped into Spain, and that was an additional cost we were not prepared to pay. When we discovered that for some reason Gib is VAT free it made sense to have it sent there, and an added bonus is that they speak English!:)

We were preparing Sunflower to go into one of the marinas in Gib when a Guarda Civil boat came around the anchorage and told all the boats there to move on and no anchoring was allowed. We were a bit non nonplussed as we had been there for 2 weeks already and had seen the Guarda Civil everyday when they drove in for the regular survey. The first time we saw them we were a bit nervous as we were not checked in to the country but they ignored us so we didn't worry. We're still not sure what prompted them to move everyone on on this day, we were just glad we had already arranged a marina to go to as there are no other anchoring alternatives nearby.

Sunflower at Queensway Quay  Marina

We were a bit nervous about coming into the marina as all the berths are Med moors. This means you either have to drive in forwards or astern and get off the boat from either the back or the front. You are tight up against your neighbouring boats with only a fender between you. This obviously saves marina space over having a pontoon down the side of the boat which you can step off the side on to. Luckily there was no wind as we reversed Sunflower in between 2 rather expensive yachts and the Captain got us in first time. We had to go in astern so we could use our wooden swim platform to get off the back of the boat. Lots of boats who live in Mediterranean marinas have a passerelle, which can be anything from a fancy gangway on wheels to a plank of wood! Luckily we needed neither and were able to leap from the swim platform on to the dock.

We arrived on 30^th May which was our wedding anniversary and the first time on 6 years where we could go ashore and have a meal out. The last time had been in Guadalupe in 2005. Since then we have been either under way or in a remote place with no restaurants. It was fun to get dressed up, 'leap' ashore and chose from one of the upmarket waterfront restaurants around the marina. We are in the more sedate of the 2 marinas. The other one (near the airport) is surrounded by bars, discos and casinos, and is also more expensive.

Our cooker arrived the next day so we had to take passports and boat papers to the airport, after the formalities were sorted out, it was delivered to the boat that afternoon. It was in a box weighing 38 kilos so we tied a rope around it and I used the electric winch to get it on board. The new cooker is bigger than the old one, it has 3 burners instead of 2, and is higher and deeper than the old one, but just fits into the old space although it juts out a bit more. However despite being bigger externally the oven size is smaller?! Anyway it is now fitted and I am getting used to it. I must admit it is nice not having rust dropping everywhere! But it looks like it's on steroids compared to my old one. Still we christened the oven with a roast pork dinner last night and it all worked very well.

As soon as we got into the marina we discovered our water maker had a faulty gauge so we ordered a new one from Trinidad under warranty and had to wait for that to arrive. Meanwhile we enjoyed the Rock and patronised the chandleries for lots of boaty bits. I also enjoyed being able to buy English goodies from Morrisons the one and only supermarket on the Rock. The water maker gauge arrived this morning so we had planned to leave today to head east to the Balearic islands about 400 miles away. We had a perfect weather window which would have seen us sail most of the way. However when we called the marina to tell them we were leaving they told us we couldn't because the harbour was closed due to an oil spill! They had a floating boom across the marina entrance to stop- oil from getting in and us from getting out! At the time of writing this they were unable to give us any idea of when we might be able to leave. The captain is spitting chips, as wind to go east is quite rare and we can't afford to motor all the way. If we can't leave by tomorrow we will have lost the wind and may have to wait weeks for another chance!

This isn't the first time there have been fuel spillage problems while we've been here. The day after we arrived a fuel tank caught ablaze on the sea wall and burned for about 12 hours. It blew the lid off the tank (we're talking huge tanks) and the tank next to it also caught fire. There was a big cruise ship tied to the other side of the wall and it had to make an emergency departure. The cell phone network went down because of all the calls! It was quite exciting! However as we had motored right past the tank just the day before we were glad it wasn't any more exciting than watching from a safe distance!

So now we wait until we can escape......