Storm in the Atlantic

[Ex-Airbalancer]

We’re on the Connie TA , just left Cartagena and the Captain comes on the PA to announce that on November 11 we are stopping in Gibraltar and our stop in Azores on November 13 is canceled because of adverse bad weather along the path 

I guess we will heading farther south to miss it , which is ok 

[mauimary]

We missed this stop on our Transatlantic on the Beyond last April heading east. The wind was too high for us to safely come into Port.  So it was another couple of sea days until we would experience land. 

[the penguins]

5 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We’re on the Connie TA , just left Cartagena and the Captain comes on the PA to announce that on November 11 we are stopping in Gibraltar and our stop in Azores on November 13 is canceled because of adverse bad weather along the path 

I guess we will heading farther south to miss it , which is ok 

The Azores gets cancelled so often I wonder why its included in the first place.

[DUTRAVEL]

Apex is docking in the Azores today (although an hour late). 

[Jim_Iain]

13 hours ago, the penguins said:

The Azores gets cancelled so often I wonder why its included in the first place.

 

I think the reason is that when they are able to dock that the Azores is a Gem to visit.    We have made it more times than not but last year we had a Medical Evacuation and had to divert towards Madeira putting us in 3 hours late.   Good thing was they pushed back all tours and extended our departure by 3 hours.   

 

[Lastdance]

18 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We’re on the Connie TA , just left Cartagena and the Captain comes on the PA to announce that on November 11 we are stopping in Gibraltar and our stop in Azores on November 13 is canceled because of adverse bad weather along the path 

I guess we will heading farther south to miss it , which is ok 

The Azore’s stop is always a hit or miss, but I did make it 2 out of four times, so 50%.

[the penguins]

1 minute ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I think the reason is that when they are able to dock that the Azores is a Gem to visit.    We have made it more times than not but last year we had a Medical Evacuation and had to divert towards Madeira putting us in 3 hours late.   Good thing was they pushed back all tours and extended our departure by 3 hours.   

 

Agreed it’s a great stop.

We have made it once in 5 attempts 

It also features on round trip cruises from the U.K. which, because of the distance, inevitably means that any delays elsewhere result in the Azores being dropped.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 minute ago, Lastdance said:

The Azore’s stop is always a hit or miss, but I did make it 2 out of four times, so 50%.

We made it in April 2022 , so we are also 50% 😁

[Jim_Iain]

3 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Agreed it’s a great stop.

We have made it once in 5 attempts 

It also features on round trip cruises from the U.K. which, because of the distance, inevitably means that any delays elsewhere result in the Azores being dropped.

 

You have not had very good luck.    Out of 6 cruises we hit it every time except once and they diverted to Madeira instead which we really enjoyed. 

 

On one trip we missed another port due to a labor action and they gave us Gibraltar instead.    I loved it as I had never been before.   

[Jim_Iain]

6 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We made it in April 2022 , so we are also 50% 😁

Hope you enjoy Gibraltar.    It is a nice port and lots to do.   Just beware of those darn monkeys. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

We probably follow the Ascent  route south 

 

upload speed is 0 mbps , download is 5.9 Mbps can not up load pictures 

[hcat]

5 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Hope you enjoy Gibraltar.    It is a nice port and lots to do.   Just beware of those darn monkeys. 

We have a different set of memories.

 

Entry to the port area was impeded by a  sunken ship that  no one was rushing to remove!

 

In addition  to the monkeys    beware of  the rude aggressive cab drivers !

 

Watch your wallets!

 

 The natural features are stunning.. lots of opps for  hiking, rock climbing, caves.  Also  used to have glass blowing  and  there's a pos affect on VAT tax     Other than that, we  could easily never go back.

 

 Even if its been cleaned up, it is what it is....

 

 

[the penguins]

1 minute ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

You have not had very good luck.    Out of 6 cruises we hit it every time except once and they diverted to Madeira instead which we really enjoyed. 

 

On one trip we missed another port due to a labor action and they gave us Gibraltar instead.    I loved it as I had never been before.   

Win some, lose some.

As a Brit with an interest in history the “Rock”,as it’s affectionally known, is always a fascinating place to visit.

Of course we/it has the occasional disagreement with Spain over the ownership. Glad to say the U.K. has a very straightforward approach - if/when the residents vote to leave the U.K. and join Spain they can. Last referendum on the issue was around 98% in favour of remaining British.

[hcat]

11 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Win some, lose some.

As a Brit with an interest in history the “Rock”,as it’s affectionally known, is always a fascinating place to visit.

Of course we/it has the occasional disagreement with Spain over the ownership. Glad to say the U.K. has a very straightforward approach - if/when the residents vote to leave the U.K. and join Spain they can. Last referendum on the issue was around 98% in favour of remaining British.

I respect it is British but most folks we  ran into seemed neither British or Spanish...more Arabic/ French speaking ..like in Marseille.

 

  It is breathtaking as one passes the " rock".  A def one time MUST!

 

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We probably follow the Ascent  route south 

 

upload speed is 0 mbps , download is 5.9 Mbps can not up load pictures 

 

I found even with Premium we would often loose internet west of the Azores for  half an hour up to a full day.   Must be a dead spot for satellite connection.

[Jim_Iain]

I am thinking back and we really didn't spend any time in the town itself.   We hiked up to the top of the Rock and then back down.  There is so much to explore on the Rock itself.    We never had the "pleasure" of meeting any of the rude taxi drivers and I don't think we even stopped into any shops.   Lots of the regular touristy shops.

 

Really enjoyed  exploring the Tunnels and Upper Nature Reserve.

Edited November 10, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[the penguins]

36 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I am thinking back and we really didn't spend any time in the town itself.   We hiked up to the top of the Rock and then back down.  There is so much to explore on the Rock itself.    We never had the "pleasure" of meeting any of the rude taxi drivers and I don't think we even stopped into any shops.   Lots of the regular touristy shops.

 

Really enjoyed  exploring the Tunnels and Upper Nature Reserve.

Congratulations you found the real Rock and the reason why it has been so important to the British.

When time permits when visiting new places we regularly start by putting “places that tourists don’t visit or unusual places for tourists to visit” into Google. When we have private guides the first thing we remove from the tour is “shopping” unless it’s a short visit to a genuinely local market. The second is “lunch” a couple of coffee and cake breaks in local cafes is all we need.

[hcat]

54 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I am thinking back and we really didn't spend any time in the town itself.   We hiked up to the top of the Rock and then back down.  There is so much to explore on the Rock itself.    We never had the "pleasure" of meeting any of the rude taxi drivers and I don't think we even stopped into any shops.   Lots of the regular touristy shops.

 

Really enjoyed  exploring the Tunnels and Upper Nature Reserve.

we went up ( younger back then) but could not do tunnels.. claustrophobia..

the geology  there is the Prize!

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

I respect it is British but most folks we  ran into seemed neither British or Spanish...more Arabic/ French speaking ..like in Marseille.

 

  It is breathtaking as one passes the " rock".  A def one time MUST!

 

Clearly when you just visit the “tourist/shopping areas you get a distorted view.

Latest resident population: 32,000

Gibraltarian (basically British with Gibraltarian passports):79%
Other British: 13.2%
Spanish: 2.1%
Moroccan: 1.6%
Other EU:2.4% 

Additionally; 20,000 people have permanent employment in Gib but live in Spain and around 45% of these cross the border every day.

[Mike981]

Just an FYI for those who like to follow weather around the world, I like to go to this website and spin the globe around and zoom in at interesting weather patterns. I do not believe it is real time, but still pretty cool.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I found even with Premium we would often loose internet west of the Azores for  half an hour up to a full day.   Must be a dead spot for satellite connection.

We upgrade to premium during one of the sales 

when I tried to post the speed test we were a couple miles from Malaga 😁
 

here the test from the Med on a slow boat to Gibraltar a couple hours later 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Ex-Airbalancer

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, the penguins said:

Congratulations you found the real Rock and the reason why it has been so important to the British.

When time permits when visiting new places we regularly start by putting “places that tourists don’t visit or unusual places for tourists to visit” into Google. When we have private guides the first thing we remove from the tour is “shopping” unless it’s a short visit to a genuinely local market. The second is “lunch” a couple of coffee and cake breaks in local cafes is all we need.

We do much the same -   we often book with tours by locals and tell them we want to see the places that tourists don't go.   I've seen more than my shares of tourist traps, churches, churches and more churches.   We some times add in things we want to see -  e.g. the Guggenheim but the nice things about a private tour is you can say.... OK... had enough of this. 

[Jim_Iain]

51 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We upgrade to premium during one of the sales 

when I tried to post the speed test we were a couple miles from Malaga 😁
 

here the test from the Med on a slow boat to Gibraltar a couple hours later 

 

 

 

That actually doesn't look bad and is consistent with what i've seen with premium.   The upload looks a little slow.

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Mike981 said:

Just an FYI for those who like to follow weather around the world, I like to go to this website and spin the globe around and zoom in at interesting weather patterns. I do not believe it is real time, but still pretty cool.

 

Nice site.   One that I like - 

http://www.stormsurfing.com/cgi/display.cgi?a=natla_height

 

It shows the Wave Model in the North Atlantic -   this is showing the storm near Azores for 7 days from today.   I can understand why the Captain may choose to stay clear of it - the center is 25-35 Foot waves.

 

[the penguins]

13 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

We do much the same -   we often book with tours by locals and tell them we want to see the places that tourists don't go.   I've seen more than my shares of tourist traps, churches, churches and more churches.   We some times add in things we want to see -  e.g. the Guggenheim but the nice things about a private tour is you can say.... OK... had enough of this. 

TBL is also our “first choice” ideally with a guide who has a vehicle that holds 6 to 8 and we share with one other couple (we like the space).