Gibraltar - again!

Here we are back in Gibraltar – five years to the day we bought Bandit here in 2006!  We only meant to be here for a few days but, as usual, thanks to delays in spare parts arriving and the weather (six metre swells in the Atlantic yesterday)….we are still here.  A few Kiwi boats left yesterday – Haereroa from Fiordland and Loose Cannon from Nelson – but we opted to wait until the swells in the Atlantic dropped to a more reasonable level. 

Sam, Brenda and David by the 56m motoryacht Sam is chef on

Another incentive is that son Sam is here – he is chef on a 56m motoryacht that left Livorno on Wednesday but struck bad weather and were forced to shelter in Alicante (good timing for the start of the Volvo race Sam!).  Their hard luck story was the baby grand piano…bolted to the floor broke loose and caused a bit of damage.  Oh well….if you have these toys on board I guess you have to live with the consequences.

We’re not fans of Gibraltar.  Having spent a winter here in 2006/2007 we swore we would never return.  But the lure was the fantastic English supermarket with its ready meals (for those rough nights), Christmas treats including Christmas cake, pudding and mince pies and of course the duty free booze!

Bandit back in Gibraltar

Hope to leave as soon as the swell dies and head for Rabat in Morocco and then to the Canary Islands to catch up with the rest of the Kiwi boats crossing the Atlantic this year.