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Thursday 12th April 2012
Weather: Overcast with sunny intervals … odd spot of rain!
We awoke just before dawn but could see the lights from the coast of Spain and hopefully Gibraltar. Sun rose just as we were coming into view of the rock and we could see that Ventura was already in port. She had changed her itinerary (days for arriving in Cadiz and Gibraltar were swapped over) so the two sister ships were in port at the same time.
We were booked on the Fortress Gibraltar tour and needed to be dockside by 9.05am. We’d ordered Coffee and Hot Chocolate for 7-7.30am … and it turned up just before 7am. We watched our approach into Gibraltar until 8am-ish when we dived upstairs to the buffet for a quick breakfast.
Afterwards, we grabbed our stuff from the cabin and went ashore. We were assigned the “Green 8” minibus and our driver was a former military man from Scotland (can’t remember his name!). We first went out to Europa Point – the most southerly location of a Trinity Lighthouse, the made our way to the tunnels via the apes. The apes were really quiet – we only saw three – probably a mother and two young apes.
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We arrived at the Great War Tunnels and donned hard hats and were introduced to our guide, Smudge, another former army man. He was a Smith but all Smiths in the army are known as Smudge so the name stuck.
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We were taken deeper into the rock and shown where the army etc during WW2 lived and worked and you can’t really imagine what life would have been like for the people stationed there. We were shown some Stalegtites that were 70 years old (a mere ½ inch in length) and other formations that were millions of years old. All the tunnels were self supporting (no collapses so far!) as it was limestone rock.
The best bit of the tour was going out onto Jocks Balcony which overlooked the cemetery and the airport. An EasyJet flight had just landed.
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After the tour, we were dropped back in the centre of Gibraltar and wandered up Main Street until the Governors Residence and came back down the Casement Square. It was fairly slow going as there were so many people in town. 6,000 passengers and crew ashore meant Main Street was heaving.
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We wandered back to the port. The port building was full of crew meeting up with friends from the two ships making the most of being in port together and meeting up. We managed to get back onboard with 2 minutes to spare to make lunch in the main dining room! Jon and Callum had the Maryland Chicken Sandwich whilst I opt for the Thai Crab Cake and a Side Salad.
No sooner than we finished lunch we headed to the Aqua Pool for the Great British Sailaway. Ventura was in port all day, so Neil Oliver (Cruise Director) was determined to put on a good show for them as well as us. The sun was shining and it was a great turnout. All the flags had been distributed but a couple gave Callum a set of theirs. The decks onboard Ventura overlooking our Pool area started to fill up. I think we got the better deal – sailing away whilst Ventura was in port. The Captain came on the tannoy and announced that we would encounter strong winds and a strong swell as soon as we pushed back.
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After dropping Callum back in Kids Club, we headed up to the Planet Bar and struggled to find seats! People had started to take refuge inside as the wind was really picking up.
About five minutes after leaving Gibraltar, Jon spotted something in the sea. First assumption was dolphins but on closer examination with the binoculars, it was actually a small pod of Killer Whales. Jon spotted about 4-5.
We took Callum to Kids Tea and a little later on, up to Kids Club for the evening as Jon and I were heading up to Sindhu to try out the alternate menu. We were served some Chicken Tikka pieces as a pre-starter and we both opted for Scallops for our starter. Jon couldn’t decide on steak or prawns for his main but our waitress steered him towards the Prawns. The description of “Griddled Prawns with Onions and Peppers” did not do the dish justice at all. The prawns were huge and the sauce was extremely yummy. I opted for the Tandoori Monkfish. Our pre-dessert was a Pink Grapefruit sorbet (very refreshing) and for pud, Jon chose the Kulfi (Indian Ice-Cream) and the waitress steered me in the direction of the Pancake Gateau with Cinammon Ice-Cream. It was really light and very delicious.
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We got back to the cabin and tonight Joftan had made a swan out of a towel. Chocolates were stored away in the drawer and we settled down for the evening.
