September 2007
Day 11 - Saturday, September 29, 2007
We left Valencia at 7:00p yesterday to sail overnight to Gibraltar. Today is the first day we awoke still at sea; we sighted Gibraltar around noon:
In the harbor we noticed a sunken tanker. There'd been a collision some weeks ago and we're told it will take six months to salvage this one:
I took this one from the ship as we approached our dock..
..and this one later from the island.
No leakage (so far) to foul the harbor.
Here's a fairly nice 120-foot sailing yacht tied off at the adjacent pier:
We had signed up for a a taxi tour of "the Rock" so we climbed into our mini-van taxi with four other ship's passengers and took off to tour the Rock of Gibraltar.
This next photo may not be unique in all the world, but it's unique in our experience. The road from the pier into the city crosses over the airport's active runway. Not over on a bridge, but right across the runway itself:
They have signals just like a railway crossing; traffic stops during take-offs and landings (a good thing)!
It's a tortuous climb up to the top of the rock with switchbacks galore. Our driver kept up a steady commentary and we were filled with the history of this British possession tacked onto the south of Spain.
This is a preserved Spanish palace near the base of The Rock:
If you go back to our first sighting of The Rock above, you'll see a lighthouse. Here's what it looks like from the tip of The Rock:
We are only about fifteen miles from Africa at the spot where Gibraltar guards the western entrance to the Mediterranean. This mountain is in Morrocco:
A nice Spanish lady took this picture for the Grandboys. I hope their Mom and Dad have a map or globe where they've been seeing where we are each day:
We were anxious to see the Barbary Apes, the only wild monkeys living in Europe and we weren't disappointed as we continued to climb to the top of The Rock:
   
We're told that these guys and gals are professional thieves -- and they bite!
The tour fee included admission to St. Michael's Cave. Gibraltar is riddled with caves, both man-made and natural. This is a big natural cavern in which they often give concerts and dinner parties; no kidding:
   
Those cave photographers among you know that the strobe kills the lighting in the cave, but it takes a 1sec exposure to get that. Here's my best such shot,  
We returned to the ship at about 4:30p and set sail at 7:00p as planned. We had a police escort (for some reason)..
  
Tonight's dinner was great as always; here are our table companions with the Grandboys' "At Sea" sign:
Left to right: Pat, Christy, Don, Mick, Chaz, Gael, Norma and Tony
After dinner we went to the last show in the Showroom, Miss Helen Jayne; she was great, too!
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