June 2, 2008
David left for Barcelona today, and we headed out towards Gibraltar to get some cheap fuel and start our way up to the Algarve coast of Portugal. Gibraltar is truly awesome. Not only is it physically striking, but you can’t help but appreciate the history it has seen as you approach. Africa seems a stone’s throw away, and in reality, it is but a mere 5 miles. We have been warned of the potential seas, but today is not one of those days…thankfully!
The Rock itself is controlled by Great Britain, which the Spanish apparently hate! The fuel did turn out to be cheap. The price of .86 Euro per liter is by far the cheapest fuel we have seen. There is no tax, hence the cheap rate. I tried to fill up everything in sight!! The harbor is a huge port for oil tankers. This part of Spain is all refineries and literally 50 tankers were unloading or waiting to unload. Quite a sight. We left about 1:00 PM and started our way down the Spanish coast, not quite knowing our destination.
Along the way, we were very excited to see 3 huge tuna nets that were getting ready for the Matanza!! We have read and heard enough about these huge tuna traps, and it was very cool to see them in person. Also, on the way down the coast, we must have seen 1000 wind mills….huge wind farms like none we have ever seen. Very impressive.
We were going to try for Vilamaura, Portugal, which would be our stepping off point for Madeira. But, as a good head wind picked up, we decided to put in to Cadiz, which also happened to be the same marina that the boat Brian will Captain starting June 15 is moored. He is thrilled, as he has only seen pictures, and he had a chance to see what he was getting into. We are not in a great hurry, as the weather does not look good for a crossing for awhile.
David left for Barcelona today, and we headed out towards Gibraltar to get some cheap fuel and start our way up to the Algarve coast of Portugal. Gibraltar is truly awesome. Not only is it physically striking, but you can’t help but appreciate the history it has seen as you approach. Africa seems a stone’s throw away, and in reality, it is but a mere 5 miles. We have been warned of the potential seas, but today is not one of those days…thankfully!
The Rock itself is controlled by Great Britain, which the Spanish apparently hate! The fuel did turn out to be cheap. The price of .86 Euro per liter is by far the cheapest fuel we have seen. There is no tax, hence the cheap rate. I tried to fill up everything in sight!! The harbor is a huge port for oil tankers. This part of Spain is all refineries and literally 50 tankers were unloading or waiting to unload. Quite a sight. We left about 1:00 PM and started our way down the Spanish coast, not quite knowing our destination.
Along the way, we were very excited to see 3 huge tuna nets that were getting ready for the Matanza!! We have read and heard enough about these huge tuna traps, and it was very cool to see them in person. Also, on the way down the coast, we must have seen 1000 wind mills….huge wind farms like none we have ever seen. Very impressive.
We were going to try for Vilamaura, Portugal, which would be our stepping off point for Madeira. But, as a good head wind picked up, we decided to put in to Cadiz, which also happened to be the same marina that the boat Brian will Captain starting June 15 is moored. He is thrilled, as he has only seen pictures, and he had a chance to see what he was getting into. We are not in a great hurry, as the weather does not look good for a crossing for awhile.
No comments:
Post a Comment