February 2004.
PADDLING IN TROUBLED WATERS.
Over the years I have crossed the Straits of Gibraltar eight times and only got into various degrees of trouble three times. Once due to weather and tide which resulted in a nine and a half hour slog to include a four and a half hour tow. The other two times I would put down to politics and the risk of paddling in a third world area which happens to be the gateway to Europe for smuggling drugs and refugees.
I first crossed in about 1985 when we were arrested and locked up in a Tangiers jail, charged with attempting to smuggle drugs etc. Now some nineteen years later I feel that I can give some advice on the crossing knowing that others stand a chance of crossing hassle free. Even now the crossing still comes with a significant risk of being arrested and don’t think you will be able to plan every detail because you wont. Earlier this year a military helicopter trying to stop a high speed rib was successfully shot down with Para flares just off the Spanish coast.
All crossings to date have left from the Spanish and Gibraltar coast crossing to Africa. Although next year for the first time we will probably cross and paddle back. I have always worked on the assumption that no one will be suspected of smuggling drugs etc into Morocco so minimising the risk of being picked up by the authorities. Fortunately they are now a little more familiar with sea kayaks.
GIBRALTAR
Local residents are called Gibraltarians and Gibraltar has been a bone of contention between Britain and Spain for three hundred years. The Mountain of Tarik is like a beacon spreading its rays over the sea, and rising far above the neighboring mountains. One might fancy that its face almost reaches the sky and that its eyes are watching the stars in the celestial track. (Eighth-century Moorish poet)
Gibraltar was ruled by the Spanish for less than 250 years and in 2004 celebrates 300 years of British sovereignty. The area has some 1204 years of recorded history. Some even say that Nelson’s body was carried ashore where he was ironically pickled in French brandy before being taken back to Britain.
Although Gibraltar is a fascinating place most kayakers will have seen all they need to after a two day stay. A visit into the tunnel defence system is a must.
KAYAKING
The crossing itself is only about 12 nautical miles at its narrowest point. This being from Europa Point (which is the most southerly tip of Gibraltar)to Cueta, a peninsula on the African coast. If the wind is from the East cross from Gibraltar. In a Westerly you may be better crossing from a sandy beach to the East of Algeciras. The main concerns are, shipping running into and out of the Mediterranean, being suspected or running into drug smugglers, kayaking in an area where few appreciate what a sea kayak is capable of and crossing a very windy stretch of water. The two land masses either side of the straits create windy conditions as the day heats up. In the winter the weather can also be unstable and in the summer heavy sea breezes blow. You need to be prepared to move quickly and this usually means starting the crossing before dawn. The tidal information is not that accurate so seat of the pants navigation is necessary. The tide can run up to 4.7 knots at springs. I would advise doing the trip on neaps if possible.
The coastguard on Gibraltar are very helpful but in my experience try to dissuade you from the crossing. On one occasion they actually refused to help once they realised what we intended to do. It is for this reason that I have always informed the coastguard in the UK of our intentions and trip plans. Gibraltar is actually controlled by Falmouth coastguard.
Don’t go to Gibraltar expecting to camp as there are no facilities. It is possible to bivi but only if your prepared to risk an encounter with either the military or civil police. A hostel is available at a cost of £15 / head per night.
The main harbour is quite busy and you will find it hard to find landing places. If you are entering Gibraltar by sea then you need to make your way to customs. They can be found near the entrance to the marina (by the runway) on the Western side of Gib.
In recent years we have managed to camp / bivy on a small beach just south of the runway. This is actually not permitted as it’s a sort of buffer zone before the Spanish border. In previous years we have been warned of smugglers who run three and four times across this beach smuggling cigarettes and sugar across the border. It wont take long before you see the odd smuggler dressed in blake run across the beach throwing his contraband stashed in a bag over the fence. He then follows desperately trying to scramble up and over the eight foot fence as fast as possible. The bag is then stashed under a bush. Five minutes later a motorbike appears, the bag is snatched and the bike makes off at great speed.
A hike up to the top of Gibraltar gives you spectacular views. We were fortunate to encounter the apes on the way down. We were walking back down when a screech was suddenly let out by Gemma. Yes an ape had taken a fancy to her orange juice. It had jumped onto her shoulder and helped himself. Apes roam free through the upper areas of the rock. Instead of paying a £7 per head entry fee into the National Park, ask the locals for the direction to the public foot paths. Although not advertised you will find footpaths that are free to locals.
All money, passports, driving licences etc need to be kept on you, do not leave baggage unattended.
THE CROSSING
This year I arrived and queued to cross the border as usual this may take half an hour or two and a half hours depending on current relationship between Spain and Britain. It was blowing a force six to seven. The rest of the expedition members had paddled around Gibraltar that day. Although conditions had been fairly rough all had managed without incident. They had put in on East Beach paddling around in a clockwise direction. The wind was blowing from the East. When the wind blows from this direction heavy clapotis is found running all the way from East beach to Europa Point. The wind tends to wrap around Gibraltar due to the height and shape. Its one of those places were you always seem to be paddling into wind. There is a large sewage pipe that discharges all sewage into the sea running out from Europa point usually forcing you to keep your mouth shut when making your way around the end. We were now weather bound for two day’s experiencing force eight nine winds.
Back from a night in the Tunnel (a local bar) and to bed ready for a possible early rise. Whilst cooking dinner that evening we had observed the wind dropping and it was obvious from the barometer and cloud formation that a weather front was passing. Although we had three different forecasts we thought we might have a chance to cross in the morning. If not then for the first time we will have failed to cross due to bad weather.
I set my alarm for 0500hrs. Forcing myself out of my sleeping bag I was surprised to see Axel up and he had even had breakfast. George was also up and about. I walked out and onto the runway to get a better idea of the wind strength and direction. I also wondered about the sea state as we had had strong Easterly winds for the last week. The wind had dropped to nothing. The forecast that we wanted to believe said it would blow a force two from the West. The forecast for the following day was back to force 6 winds from the East. I consulted my barometer again, we had four in the group and all were recording rising air pressure. Decision time! Should we go or not? What would happen if the weather closed in? If the weather came in early from the East then at least it was in the right direction. It would take us back into the straights enabling us to run for Tarifa some miles away. Tarifa would be the first point of shelter as the coast from Algeciras to Tarifa comprises of low lying rock. The land is covered with very thick thorny bushes making it impossible to reach any road even if we did manage to land through the surf. The road does run parallel to the coast at this point but high on the hillside approx two miles inland. Although it is possible to wild camp we would have to either make Tarifa or Algeciras. Being blown into Morocco is not an option, if you land on the Moroccan coast without a passport stamp you will inevitably get locked up. A passport stamp would have to be obtained from the marina in the main Tangiers port.
Lets give it a go the decision had been made. A quick shout around all the tents to make sure people were up, and then a race to break camp getting packed as quickly as possible. To my surprise we were on the water for 0545hrs. As we paddled away from the beach people were still muttering about waking up at such a ridiculous time but it wasn’t long before all agreed that it was a fantastic morning. Before leaving I had phoned the harbour authority and Holyhead Coastguard informing them of our intentions. Holyhead wished us well but the harbour authority questioned us of our intentions. “We know what we are doing?! We will paddle to Europa Point make a decision on the sea state and either cross to Ceuta or run before the sea to Tarifa”
We were aiming for Ceuta harbour. The harbour is on a small peninsula on the African coast which is of Spanish sovereignty. Ironically Spain has always protested against Britain claiming sovereignty over Gibraltar when they claim a similar peninsular that you would expect to be part of Morocco.
As we paddled out of the harbour fish lay on the surface diving suddenly as we paddled towards them. With the large sewage outfall this must make good feeding grounds. We paddled together keeping close to the harbour wall in an effort to keep away from traffic. Soon an inflatable manned by two Royal Marines started to follow us. We passed the entrance to the harbour and paddled on. Finally the marines edged near to enquire into weather we had lights or not and what was our destination. I turned my head light on and said we were headed for Ceuta. I am not sure what he thought as the answer was oh! It was only after we had cleared the ships moored in the area did the rib disappear. They may have been making sure that we were not heading out to a ship. It must be all too easy for packages to be thrown overboard only to be picked up by small craft and taken ashore.
Crossing the harbour entrance reminded me of the time we kayaked into the harbour two years ago in a force six plus after crossing the bay from Algeciras. Security had taken the guard boats off the entrance and we paddled straight into a restricted area that surrounded a British submarine. The sub had docked due to a radiation leak. This proved to be fairly touchy with the authorities. Officials were flying here there and everywhere on their high speed mopeds trying to work out our intended landing spot.
As we paddled you could already see the lights on the African coast. It looked surprisingly close, but even if things went well we would not reach Africa for at least another four hours. We passed Europa Point at 0705hrs and paddled out into the darkness. We talked briefly about the shipping and started to look out for the fast ferries travelling at approx 28 knots running from Algeciras to Ceuta.
If the tidal information was correct we would have a Westerly flow for the first three hours followed by an Easterly flow for the last hour. You need to plot a course if possible that keeps you east of the ferry run to Ceuta but not too far East as we must hit the Spanish peninsular on the other side. We headed out on a bearing of approx 195deg. The light house of Ceuta could be seen flashing Fl(2) every 10sec. A ferry was spotted heading out towards us. We slowed and regrouped as we tried to judge which direction it was heading. Head lights on and white flares at the ready. Fortunately as the ferry approached it became obvious that it would pass to starboard of us. The swells were now building from the East and every now and again expedition members would disappear out of sight only to reappear above you.
Dawn was beginning to break and out of the deep inky blue water rose a perfect orange ball. It always amazes me how quickly the sun rises. We were now two hours out and approaching the shipping lanes. On our port side a huge container ship came up over the horizon. These ships are surprisingly fast and a watchful eye needs to kept on them. Within fifteen to twenty minutes the ship had passed in front of us. This confirmed that we must be in the southern half of the shipping channel.
The problem with sea crossings can be the frustration at not appearing to make progress. It was obvious from our transit sittings on Gibraltar, that we were now being pushed further East. Our heading was amended and a keen eye kept on Gib in order to ensure we weren’t being pushed too far off course.
Axel was obviously getting bored. He had his hood up and just as he wallowed over to practice his sculling a cry of sharks went up. Axel stopped sculling pretty quickly but the sighting turned out to be two Pilot Wales. A school of porpoise was also sighted during the crossing, coming within 20 metres of use diving and hitting the water with their tail fins.
Another ship to starboard of us! Our angle to the ship did not appear to change. Although I had not checked this with my compass the ship had stayed over my left shoulder as we paddled. Keeping the same bearing to the ship only meant one thing. If not actually on a collision course it would pass very close if we kept our present course and speed. As the ship approached one of the girls mentioned that she needed a wee. Ok lets wait for the ship to pass and at the same time she can have her wee.
The two girls rafted up, the party trick consists of weeing at sea by standing with one foot in the cockpit of one kayak, her other foot on the back deck of the other rafted kayak, with her trousers round her knees. She held onto her chosen assistants head and squatted between the kayaks. Quite a feat really, and one she maintains can be completed even in a force five. (Obviously a Coach 5 technique.)
The ship passed within 150 metres of us.
The tide was no longer setting us East so we dropped back onto a Southerly heading making for the harbour entrance. As we came within two to three kilometres of the harbour entrance the tide began to pick up and the last hour was spent surfing down the waves. You will always find tidal waters off Ceuta and races can normally be found.
The expedition landed in Ceuta harbour at approx 1100hrs. Its funny but I always feel a good sense of achievement after completing this crossing.
We boarded the ferry and by the time we left the harbour it was blowing a force 5 to 6. Any crossings should ideally leave Gibraltar or Spain between 0530hrs and 0600hrs. At this time of the day the local sea breezes will not usually affect the crossing. Local winds can pick up from about 1100hrs and start to drop at 1600hrs these in the winter reach force 5 to 6 and in the summer can touch force 7.
As you enter the harbour at Ceuta head for the marina. Take a kayak trolley as its about a mile portage to the ferry. You will not be charged for your kayak but you will have to board as per a vehicle. The cost of the trip back will be approx 21Euro.
EXPEDITION MEMBERS:
Neil Hardiman
George
Harry
Gemma
Fiona Whitehead
Nigel Denis
Axel
TIDAL FLOWS
Although you will find charts and some tidal information it will not always be accurate. The main tidal flow runs into the Mediterranean. In my opinion the flow is very much affected by barometric air pressures both in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic side. Winds pick up as the day heats up these can blow from the East or the West.
ULM The outdoor team.
Towards the end of our trip I was sat having a cafe con leche looking out over the harbour, and was surprised to see two heavily laden clepper kayaks slowly making their way across the harbour. I decided to investigate. A short walk put me in Tarifa harbour where I met Rainer and Franziska Ulm. They were being interviewed by Tarifa TV, at the same time as trying to bargain with the port authority over a 4 euro fee being charged to them at a daily rate.
I listened with interest. The interview was taking place in broken English as Rainer and Franziska were German and the TV crew Spanish. It turned out that the two kayakers had set out three and a half years ago to be the first to kayak and sail around Europe, hoping to get in the Guinness book of records. They left Germany making their way down canals and rivers to the Eastern end of the Mediteranian. They had now worked themselves along the full length of the Mediteranian to Tarifa. They only had one and a half years of kayaking left, they plan to paddle up the bay of Biscay and on back home to Germany. I hadn’t the heart to tell them that the EU had moved on and by the time they get back another ten countries will have joined. They had many stories to tell and the expedition was obviously now a way of life for them.
If anyone out there is interested in helping to sponsor this expedition please contact me as Rainer and Franziska are struggling for cash.
OTHER INFORMATION
Ceuta Harbour tel:(956) 51 37 53
Gibraltar
Position: Lat 36deg 08’ N, Long 05deg 21’ W
Port operations room tel:78134 or 77004.
Immigration office tel:72901
Local weather forecasts tel: 53416
Local contact re kayak equipment Nigel Jeffries Tel +350 59125
Mob +350 57 271 000
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