Today we had a short stop in Gibraltar, short because we had
to be on the ship by 1:30 PM. We
had been here before so we didn’t plan to take a tour. The top of the Rock was shrouded in
clouds which was unfortunate for people who were visiting for the first
time. The view cannot have been
good.
We went into town and walked the main street looking at
Gibraltar’s equivalent of a shopping street on a Caribbean island. There are tons of electronic, jewelry,
perfume, liquor, leather and linen shops. In the main square we stopped in the Gibraltar Glass factory. We've bought some things there in the past and did so again. Fortunately they ship things home. We bought a few things for gifts and then headed back to the ship. We would have liked to have fish and
chips at a place we’ve been before but it was just too early.
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| The name of this store might cause controversy at home. |
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| Some of the streets are very narrow and we ran across this traffic jam. There was lots of horn-blowing, shouting and gesticulating. |
There is a lot of construction going on here. There’s a multi-billion pound project on the east side of the
Rock. Near the port a new power
plant is being built so the place will not be so dependent on the Spanish for
power. I think one of the
principal reasons we stopped here today was to load bunker fuel for the
crossing. Evidently Gibraltar has
the cheapest fuel in the Mediterranean.
Today was one of our friend’s 75th birthday and
in his honor we had a small cocktail party in our cabin. Seabourn organizes things very well;
they sent a bartender and waiter to serve drinks and canapés. The Hotel Manager and Guest Services
Director both came. Afterwards we
went down to the dining room where a special dinner had been arranged. We had a lovely evening with good
company.
Before we left
Gibraltar the captain made an announcement that rough weather was forecast once
we sailed for Madeira. We had
instructions in our cabin on things to do for safety. The rough seas held off until most of us had gone to bed,
but during the night we were doing some pretty good rocking and rolling. When we awoke there was still a lot of
movement but the captain had slowed the ship down to minimize it a little.
During his noon report he told us that the wind had reached 50 knots and the
seas had been up to 5 to 6 meters.
Given that, the ship rides extremely well.
It’s late afternoon and the seas have moderated a
little. Based on our position at
noon and the distance we have to go to Madeira, we’re not too sure we’ll
actually have a port call. We’ll
see.
Katie sent an e-mail and said they had gotten the first of
the postcards we sent. She
attached a couple of pictures of young Alfred reading (or should I say tasting)
his mail.
Oh, we had trivia at noon and our team is not actually last,
just close to it. We did score a
few more points today than the first day, so maybe we’re on a roll (or not).
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