New beginnings

With every ending, there is a new beginning. We have left the safety of Lagos Marina and must venture out towards Gibraltar, keeping very close watch for the Orcas and staying close to shore. It will take us two day sails to get to Rota Spain. There is a Naval Base there so will go and check out the commissary and NEX and stock up on western food and beverages.

June 29, 2024

Rota, Spain is a quaint little community with so much to offer. We stayed in a nice little marina, Puerto de Rota Marina, for almost a week. We were surprised at how affordable priced it was, especially with its easy access to beaches, shopping, restaurants and the ferry to Cadiz. We went out on our bikes nearly everyday to explore. The Naval base was quite disappointing. Due to an agreement between the US and Spain, retirees are not allowed to shop in the NEX or commissary, only the Mini Mart. This is some bullshit!

Fortunately we were still able to find some things we could stock up on, but I was super pissed that Mike wasn’t allowed to utilize the privileges he earned serving for 25 years. I could go on and on, but I won’t. I’ll step down off of my soapbox and take a deep breath.

The town was beautiful with its white buildings, long sandy beaches and cobblestone roads. Coming here was a bit of a culture shock. Things happen so very differently in Europe than they do in the states. Apparently EVERYONE gets summer vacation. Also, most businesses close for lunch/siesta from 2:00 to about 5 or 6 pm. The town then comes alive in the evenings as shops and restaurants open up, setting up on the sidewalks or in the street. People generally don’t eat dinner until after 7 pm. But then again, the sun doesn’t set until 9:30 or so. It has become very hard to get to bed before midnight. We found a couple restaurants off the beaten path that had amazing food. It is quite inexpensive to have a nice meal out.

It was very easy for us to get around, as they have the best bike lanes I have ever seen. We took the ferry across the bay to Cadiz, which is a bigger city, and we took our bikes with us. I was amazed that you could get anywhere on a special bike lane that was either on the wide sidewalk or along side the roadway,usually separated by concrete. We even discovered that these bike lanes go all over Europe and there is a path that goes from Cadiz all the way to Athens Greece along the coastline. What an amazing trip that would be!

We have certainly enjoyed the short time we have spent here in Rota/Cadiz, but as all things must come to an end, we need to move on, and it looks like we finally have a good weather window to head to Gibraltar. So tomorrow we will set out.

July 6, 2024

We finally had westerly winds so made our way to Gibraltar. It was a very nice sail all the way down, on a beam reach with the current with us. Our average speed was 7 knots and we travelled around 75nm. We were able to get to our anchorage around sunset. Fortunately we didn’t have any sightings or interactions with the Orcas on our way down. We didn’t get into the city this time, but we will come back to Spain on our way out of the Med. The Strait of Gibraltar was very different than what I imagines it would be like. In my mind it was a very wide and busy strait, spanning at least 20nm and looking like a game of frogged as small sail boats weave their way through a maze of fast moving cargo ships nd tankers who won’t hesitate to run you over. But it was nothing like that. It spanned 8-10nm and we saw only a handful of tankers and cargo ships, most of which were either anchored waiting to go to port, or moving at only a few knots. I don’t recall seeing more than a couple other sailboats on the way to Gibraltar.

After a couple overnights anchored we got to Cartagena. The landscape along the way has been stunning, like something out of a movie. The rock formations are beautiful and the the ancient ruins are magnificent. We only spent one night in Cartagena and there is so much here we want to see, so we definitely come back.

Our next big stop in a couple day will be Ibiza!