Having set off from Faro the previous evening we arrived off Rota at sunrise on the 30th and ran straight into a bank of fog requiring me to slow right down and creep towards the port cautiously.   The radar would have been useful but there is no substitute for a safe speed and a good lookout.   Having just dissed the technology the fact we have a GPS chart plotter made the navigation simple.   We got into Rota at about 9 am just as the sun was burning the fog away and went to the arrivals pontoon to book in and pay for our stay, a huge 24 Euros, before moving off to a berth for the night.

Once settled I started making phone calls to BandG, the radar manufacturers.   They have a European phone system which meant that although I was calling a UK number from southern Spain I was answered by a guy in Norway who passed me to a technician in Sweden …. who wasn’t at his desk.  Long story short, lots of phone calls and messages left and finally was promised I would be contacted by the guy in Spain who markets BandG equipment who would arrange local support. …… On a Friday afternoon …… in Spain ……… really?

And for the technically minded, yes I did turn it off and on again.

The afternoon we spent wandering around Rota.   It is a picturesque old town and appeared to be closed.   There was the old bar or restaurant open but the streets were virtually deserted. 

We had a couple of beers and some tapas and then returned to the boat and gave the decks a clean.  Mauro is convinced that elephants can fly after the size of some of the ‘deposits’ we washed off the coach roof.   I finished off the day with some laundry and topping up the water tank.

I rang a marina in Gibraltar and booked us a berth for the weekend, then we had dinner, some wine and watched some TV before turning in with a 5 am start to look forward to the following morning for our trip to Gib.