We are tied up to the dock in Gibraltar after an easy passage from Barbate with a light west wind (<20 knots) and pleasant weather. Thankfully, it must have been one of the 65 days a year here that the wind is not blowing in excess of 30 knots in the Strait of Gibraltar. We had clear visibility with beautiful views of the striking Moroccan coast to the south as we sailed along the Spanish side. From our slip (bow-to Med mooring), we can see the Rock from the bow -- not too bad! Some friends from Lagos (Stephen & Anne on s/v Wandering Dragon) are just down the quay and greeted us upon arrival. It's Monday, and we'll be here until at least Friday since it will be blowing strong from the east for the next three or four days.  We've ordered up our mail which should arrive by then.

Mon, 04/07/08--We're still here in Gibraltar -- the mail finally arrived today.  Now we'll have to wait several more days for another weather window to make our next move.  Looks like we will go east along the Spanish coast since we have run out of time and weather to sail across the Strait to the Moroccan side to check on Ceuta and Smir.

So far this season, we have made eight coastal hops, sailing over 200 miles since leaving Lagos, Portugal on March 9th.  We have enjoyed ourselves along the way, especially arriving in Gibraltar.  David commented, "The most amazing sight for me has been the tiny Egyptian charms that were left as offerings in a cave on the sheer north face of Gibraltar by Phoenician sailors between the 8th and 3rd Century BC.  The whole collection at the museum would fit in your pocket or on a necklace, which is probably how they traveled the entire length of the Mediterranean."  Lisa was also captivated by the collection because she carries good luck charms with her, but nothing quite so precious as the items in the museum's collection.

From the museum displays, we learned that important symbolic meaning of the Rock to humans goes back at least 20,000 years, the date when people painted animals and symbols on the cave walls.  The Phoenicians attached great mythical and spiritual significance to the Rock and never built a settlement here, instead choosing the other side of Gibraltar Bay.  The collection of objects we admired were part of their offering ceremonies made in Gorham's Cave on the east side of the Rock.

The Phoenicians also had great interest in perpetuating the myth that the Rock represented the northern Pillar of Hercules and the end of the known world.  This is what they told the Greeks anyways, even though there is evidence that they went well beyond this point north to Cornwall in the UK and south down the West African coast.  Some believe that they circumnavigated Africa well before much more famous voyages of this sort.  After the Roman invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in the 3rd Century BC, the Romans continued to perpetuate the myth of the Rock.

On an earlier visit to Gibraltar, we did the "official tour of the rock" via mini-bus taxi.  In addition to seeing the Barbary Apes, we were fascinated during that visit to learn about the Neanderthal skull found in St. Michael's cave.  A woman's skull was found in the mid 1800's but no one knew what it was.  Several years later, a similar skull was found in Germany and was recognized as being a human ancestor, about 50,000 years old.  The latter became famous as Neanderthal Man, but if more was known at the time, these ancient human ancestors could have been made famous by Gibraltar Woman instead. We learned from the Deputy Director of the Gibraltar Museum, who kindly spent a few minutes to talk with us about their collections, that the remains from Gibraltar are those of the last known living Neanderthals.  It is an impressive history of the humans that made use of Gibraltar's caves for tens of thousands of years.

We took the tram ride to the Top of the Rock yesterday, and for both of us, it required facing all of our fears about heights.  The vantage point and views from the top were worth it.  It was a sunny day with a slight haze, but Morocco was visible in the distance across the Straits.  Gibraltar is where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea and where less than 10 miles of water lies between the African and European continents.  It's no wonder that this place was discovered by early humans, and like the area we visited near Sagres in Portugal, it was also an area settled during Neolithic times, about 10,000 - 20,000 years ago.

From the vantage point at the top of the Rock, we could see how the interesting geologic history has unfolded here.  The long and the short of it is that the Rock itself is about 200 million years old, putting it in the age-range of the dinosaurs.  From a geology manuscript we obtained at the Gibraltar Heritage Society, this hunk of limestone seems to be an over-turned thrust fault, hence the references to an upside-down geological stratigraphy.  More recently, sea levels have risen and fallen, leaving behind ancient beach deposits which make-up some of the terraces at the base of the sheer cliffs.  Much information has been gained from the "sappers" who dug the tunnels into the Rock, especially those during the first and second World Wars.  They have discovered 146 caves, with several recent finds underwater.  Combined with its well-known strategic importance in ancient and modern human history, Gibraltar makes for a very interesting stop-over, especially for geology and history buffs like us!