Mainland Spain

With a disappointing exit from Ibiza Spain on September 27th at 15:00, we embarked on our 3-day passage to mainland Spain rather than the originally intended Gibraltar. Half an hour from Ibiza, spirits picked up when Jordan landed a tuna. Delicious fish again. So there is fish in the Med. It must be the new rod and reel.

This was an uneventful passage with little or no wind so it was motor-sailing. Dolphins were plentiful, especially around Gibraltar.

Nearing Gibraltar, the seas were flecked with so many freighters lying ahull in deep water (too deep to anchor) waiting for port clearance. We wanted to arrive after a rising sun so we had slowed down our speed to time our arrival.

Rock of Gibraltar

We arrived to the Bay of Gibraltar under cloudy skies and anchored behind a breakwater in Spanish waters in front of the town of La Linea de la Concepcion. We went ashore to the Policia, a 20-minute walk away over at the border, and got our passports stamped for exiting Spain.

Gibraltar is a peninsula which is predominantly the 'rock' mountain, the infamous Rock of Gibraltar. It is separated from Spain by a narrow flat portion of land where the Gibraltar airport is. In fact the airport extends to the shore line (and beyond) on both sides and the Spain/Gibraltar border runs along one side of the airport land. To get from mainland Spain to Gibraltar, one has to go through passport control at the border, then traffic and pedestrians cross the runway when the green light is on and there you are, in Gibraltar.

Looking south at the Rock

After being diligent about calculating the days allowed in the Schengen Group of countries, none of the officials anywhere have looked to see or inquired as to how many days we had been in those countries! But you never know when they will...

So after getting our passports stamped showing exit from Spain, we phoned for a marina spot over in Gibraltar and found out we had to wait for a spot for 3 days. Oops.

Normally when you check out of a country, you must leave right away, but in this case no one monitored our physical departure after we walked out of the Policia office. So we were not concerned that we were staying another 3 days before motoring over to Gibraltar.

The next day, we discreetly went ashore to check things out. We found the town to be fairly basic as far as architecture goes...

Basic but colourful architecture seen from Sea Turtle

...but passed by some unusual buildings that we found interesting.

Cool and colourful

We started searching for a lunch spot as we walked the very narrow, one-way streets, past many places selling excellent fresh produce. We then found the large and very clean indoor market full of fresh meats, cheeses, olives, clothing, shoes, and whatever else you could think of.

In the market, we came across Carlos and Eduardos Tapas Bar. With the help of the gregarious gent, we picked out several tapas and some wine. The meal and wine was spectacular, served with bread and the BEST green olives ever. He pointed us to where we could buy the olives in the market to take home with us. Now we just need the recipes for the extraordinaire tapas!

Passage from Ibiza Island to mainland Spain Sep 27 to 30
N36°09.692' W005°21.783' Sep 30 La Linea de la Conception