It’s a zoo around here!

As we sit at the dock in Gibraltar, with a spectacular view of the rock from our back porch, I can’t help but think about all the wildlife that surrounds us. Tomorrow when the weather clears we hope to take the tram up to the top and see the wild monkeys, but in the meantime,here is the list of what we’ve seen within the last week.

One somewhat tame monkey who loves Bad Dog, our pirate one eyed mascot,

a mouse (El Raton the dinghy), a whale,

a pelican,

a leg of a pig,

a bird of Paradise,

and of course a large cat named El Gato.

Off the boat we’ve seen dolphins, pilot whales,

Dorado,

tuna, and sea birds.

We loved being home in the states for a couple weeks, but so nice to come back to our new home on EL Gato! Hearing foreign languages, seeing new sites, tasting new foods, and exploring is definitely the new norm.

Cartagena was such a treat!

Upon arrival we had our new back up spinnaker delivered by the local sailmaker called Elite. Good thing since the North spin was lost by UPS! Our spin that came with El Gato was red white and blue and although we fly our American flag, the colors do not gel mix well with the warmth of gold and terra cotta. Anyway, we got good use of the old kite all summer and after 2 blow outs in average conditions we knew we needed to upgrade.

Lost in translation, we asked for a white three pointed star in the middle and it came with a small white star. So we named it “Stella!”. All our sails except the main have names. El Gordo is the big reacher/genoa, El Flacko is the small Solent, the new North Spin we’ve named Tigger. Soon the photos will show why.

Having Betsy Crowfoot onboard has lifted my load and now I can concentrate on Predict Wind, Navionics, as she has taken over the galley for me. YEAH!

Now that we are in La Linea, Spain, about 1/2mile from the border of Gibraltar, we wait for the low to pass and the rain to stop and will sail south on our to date longest jaunt, about 700 miles to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. There we will meet up with 74 other yachts partaking in the ARC+.

Not a race, but a rally, we will be absorbed in the energy that comes with a regatta. Everyone with the same goal, reaching a shared destination, safely, happily, with life time memories being created on the way. We could not be more thrilled. These two racers turned cruisers are seeing the similarities and differences daily.