|
|
|
HomePeter's LogsPhotographsThe BoatThe Crew |
|
LOG ENTRY DATE: October 9, 2003 We dropped Seb off at the bus station on Thursday, October 9, but not before we managed to scare up some fun in Rota and environs. Several of our days were spent simply hanging out on the boat, reading and doing boat chores, and then cooking up some great dinners (with us taking unabashed advantage of Seb's expertise as a cook) with Max, Lynnie, and other nearby boat friends. One night was reserved for watching the fourth game of the Oakland-Boston game, which started at 2200 local time, and included far too much beer and brandy. Fortunately it was a win, which apparently was enough to propel Tom and Max back to the same bar the next night to watch the final game—but this time it started at 0200! They were not impressive sights when they dragged themselves back to their respective boats and beds at six in the morning. On Tuesday, October 6, the three of us decide that we should do more than hang around the marina, so we hopped on a bus to visit the city of Cadiz. We didn't give it the time it deserved, but got enough exposure to the old part of the city to appreciate it's fine architecture. We also learned to appreciate the fine art of bus travel, given that the 30 mile trip in took over two hours, stopped at a local college to pick up (at least) 1,000 teenagers, and then dropped us off in the rain a mile from the boat. Needless to say, I whined about it for rest of the night. In keeping with our desire not to get too caught up in the sedentary cruising mode, we rented a car the following day and traveled the three hours to Gibraltar to see The Rock. The trip took us back through Cadiz and past the huge port of Algeciras, where we caught our first glimpse of The Rock from about a mile away. Although we'd all seen pictures of it, it's was obvious that they never really did it justice: it's an enormous edifice that simply seems to rise out of the ocean as if it was purposely built for watching over the 12 miles of water that make up the Straits of Gibraltar. And the Straits themselves are impressive. . . from top of the Rock we could look down to what is probably the most famous (and most strategically important) body of water and see the dozens of ships moving east and west laden with bulk products, containers, and petroleum. We could also look south to Morocco and—for the first time for Tom and me—catch a glimpse of the "dark continent" of Africa. No wonder our Navtex keeps publishing warning bulletins about US Naval exercises taking place in the Straits—it's an amazing choke point for shipping and commerce. We did the standard tourist thing of ascending to the top of The Rock via cable car, where we met its permanent denizens, the Barbary apes. They essentially rule the area, and have little fear of people. In fact, their tameness—coupled with the natural human desire to interact with them—is a problem for them. . . there are oft-repeated warnings regarding the danger of feeding them (it makes them lazy and obese—tell me about it!) and unintentionally mixing with them in their daily life (it disturbs their delicate social and family structures). We did our best to comply, though they make it difficult by jumping to and from the platforms we were on, and by their antics. . . however, a couple glimpses of their long, sharp teeth are all we needed to resist patting them. The town of Gibraltar itself is also interesting. It's an English enclave that has periodic bouts of wanting to become a permanent part of Spain. It's population is a wonderful mix of Anglos, western Europeans, African Muslims, and Jews. Although Spain would dearly love to take back what they consider to be rightfully theirs, it is really a tiny cultural oasis that seems to thrive while being totally surrounded by another country. Wednesday found us heading up to Jerez, which is the capital of sherry making. Fortunately, we had Seb who, along with his other culinary skills, was able to educate us a little (by example, fortunately) on the basics of sherry before we went up there. We visited the Domecq winery, and took a tour of the facilities where both sherry and brandy is produced. We learned how sherry is made, i.e. in oak casks and being fortified with brandy and sugar, and how the different years' products are blended over time—making it far different from normal wines. We were allowed to further our education by tasting as much of Domencq's sherries and brandies as we needed to become knowledgeable about them—with Seb taking a leadership role in this process! We spent Seb's last night on board with the usual feast. As with having any good friend aboard, it was difficult to watch him go the next morning. Moreover, I was disappointed that we were not able to sail more with him, but the sad truth is that the day of his arrival coincided with the first rain we had experienced on the boat in over 4 months! And, unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate much until the last days of his visit. . . so, we owe him a rain check on the sailing. We said goodbye to Seb, and then went separate ways: Seb to Madrid for the day (prior to flying home the next day), and Tom, Max and myself to Algeciras to catch the ferry to Morocco! |
|
|
home | complete logbook | boat | crew | cruisemaine.com |
|
|
|
