After a few blissful days in Palma de Mallorca, we continued our journey south to Gibraltar. Specifically, we headed to La Línea de la Concepción, a Spanish town neighboring Gibraltar. After sailing for three and a half days and covering approximately 500 nautical miles, we pulled into a slip at Alcaidesa Marina. Unlike the previous passage, this time we had a nice sail with favorable winds and manageable seas.
La Linea is a rather unremarkable and tired-looking border town with not much to do or see. The local economy is closely linked to Gibraltar, as many residents commute there for work each day. However, for us, La Linea served as a convenient staging location while we awaited the next favorable weather window. The town offers daily conveniences, including excellent and budget-friendly supermarkets, Amazon package services, and surprisingly good Chinese restaurants! Additionally, we can walk across the border to Gibraltar in just 20 minutes from the marina.
Have you ever crossed a border that also serves as an active airport runway? That’s precisely how one crosses the border from Spain to the UK here, by walking across the runway at Gibraltar Airport. There are customs and immigration offices at both ends of the runway. Once you complete the border process, you walk across the runway itself. If an airplane is taking off or landing, security guards close the gates, and everyone must wait until it is safe to cross. Pretty wild!
As soon as we passed through the immigration checkpoint, we found ourselves in British territory. Everything here is distinctly British—the currency, the accents, and even the restaurants, mostly Indian cuisine or British pubs. Gibraltar is small, covering only 2.6 square miles, which is about one-ninth the size of Manhattan, New York. It has a population of approximately 40,000 residents. The famous Rock of Gibraltar occupies a significant portion of the landmass. Consequently, the city is dense with modern high-rises on the hillside. The waterfront is lined with upscale marinas, contemporary condominiums, hotels, and dining establishments.
Of course, we must visit the famous Rock of Gibraltar and meet the Barbary macaques. Instead of taking the easy way up by cable car, we opted to hike up the rock, gaining over 1200 feet of elevation. After countless steps and an ice cream refueling break, we reached the summit! The view was well worth all the huffing and puffing!
Windsor Suspension Bridge was one of my favorite sites on the Rock. It spans 70 metres over a deep ravine and offers a great view of the town below.
We also visited the famous St. Michael’s Cave, a prominent natural limestone cave system and a popular tourist attraction located within the Upper Rock Nature Reserve in Gibraltar. We didn’t have many expectations, but we were pleasantly surprised by the experience.
We were so excited when we finally spotted a favorable weather window to sail south to Gran Canaria, and we set off for the first leg of our Atlantic crossing. After weeks of anticipation, we were looking forward to refueling in Gibraltar, which is famous for having the cheapest diesel fuel in the western Mediterranean. But, of course, luck had a different plan! To our surprise and annoyance, all three fueling stations were closed for maintenance that day. What a bummer!
Since we didn’t want to miss our narrow weather window, we had to head back to the Alcaidesa Marina fuel dock to fill up. The price there was quite a shock at 1.97 euros per liter, especially when we had hoped to pay only 1.10 euros in Gibraltar. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches, right? Ouch!
Chinese culture holds a comforting belief: “破财消灾,” which means that unexpected financial setbacks are tokens to the universe to ward off bigger troubles down the road. As we waved goodbye to the Mediterranean Sea, braving into the Orca territory 1, and looking forward to the thousands of nautical miles ahead, I hoped that the extra 600 euros we spent at the fuel pump would buy us some excellent luck!