Harmonica
01 Sept 2001
N 36 08 W 005 21

Harmonica now has a crew of 3, but it will shortly drop back to David & Brian when Janet flies to England to visit her Mum.

We are with the Barbary Apes at the Rock of Gibraltar, technically inside the Mediterranean Sea. We planned this stop for maintenance, because our autopilot is still not working, and our insurance company is encouraging us to replace our 17 year-old standing rigging. It has turned into the common story: Not all the pieces are in stock for either job, and the yard's staff are busy for the next several weeks. We are relying on Brian's mechanical skills more than we should to put an autopilot together; the result looked as if it would be wonderful, but again the parts were not available!

Gibraltar has been a place in which everything we see is pleasing, intriguing, or just plain fun. It feels like a young town (with 30,000 people it is hard to call it a country). We walked round it yesterday from the Spanish border, round the Rock, watched a cricket match on the southern tip beside the new mosque donated by King Fahad of Saudi Arabia, and then back to the Harbour. Our Morrocan supper was tagine, Coucous, and brochettes in a restaurant in a tiny alley wide enough for our table and the bicycle which a young lad was riding up & down to the vexation of our chef. Meanwhile England beat Germany 5-1 at soccer so the pubs lower down the hill did a roaring trade. On the way, illustrating the varied culture of the place, we past at least one synagogue, one mosque, one freedom hall, a few churches, and a Marks & Spencers.

Living may not get as cheap as Central America, but Gibraltar is considerably cheaper than the south coast of Portugal, and UK sailors here think that prices are wonderful. In the Portuguese Algarve we met Jan's sister & brother-in-law. Our son Mark, and Brian were also on board so we had a full and merry ship for the first reunion east of the Atlantic. Lovely sandy beaches lined with hotels and highrises with masses of scantily clad sun-seekers of all shapes and sizes. A pity as the beaches with backdrops of colourful cliffs and some interesting rock formations and caves are quite spectacular. In Vilamoura particularly we felt that we were moored to provide a backdrop for the hotel & condominium occupants mostly on package holidays from northern Europe. However, one of the joys of cruising is that you get to enjoy many aspects of life with the option to stay in the places which appeal most.

Next week Brian & Dave will start eastward on the 1500 mile trip to Crete, probably 2 weeks of 24 hour sailing. "Otto" the autopilot is working again, but the comutator on his motor is so badly worn down that his improvised brushes could fail again any time.

Best wishes from

Harmonica