SY Balvenie was in Gib from 18 Jun to 02 Aug 2011.

Ocean Village and Marina Bay Marinas – Gibraltar: 36 08.99N 05 21.95W

Entrance to the marina is the south side of the airport runway. Follow the runway along, the office is straight ahead – white two-story building. Entrance into Marina Bay is on the left (keep the following runway), Ocean Village berths are either straight ahead or slightly to the right. The fuel docks are on the right wall. There is ample room in here for dropping sails in sheltered waters (for a few yachts).

VHF 71, phone 00350 20073300, email: pieroffice@marinabay.gi

Contact marina when coming down the runway and they will allocate a berth and assist with tie up. The marina also handles customs/immigration. Gibraltar has its own flag and they prefer you to fly it and not the British flag.

Summer rates are £22.50 a day 12-15m. Power is 15p KWH and water 1p per liter. Others on our dock have been charged excessively for what they should have been for water. The water meters are not on the dock so you can’t check on arrival, but it may be an idea to ask the office to have them both recorded.

Ocean Village is floating docks with one finger, (but with med moor bow/stern lines) the fingers are very flimsy and do not have cleats on them. Difficult to keep the boat close for boarding, and very low for getting off at the bow!

Marina Bay (slightly cheaper about a pound a day), it is all med mooring with very high concrete piers.

Free wifi but basically it hardly ever works, they were upgrading the entire time we were there, but it never improved. There are several bars/cafes along the marina front with free wifi. “Charlies” and “The Ship” have unlocked signals, they seem to be where the yachties hang out and have non stop sport/news with English commentary on.

Repairs and Maintenance

Sheppard and Marine Maintenance are the two chandlers and are just in behind the row of cafes. Both also perform most boat jobs. The chandleries are disappointing considering the amount of through traffic there is. We have several friends trying to have packages sent in and this seems time-consuming, possibly because Gibraltar is non-EU. As it is non-EU is qualified for taking the boat out of the EU for those non-EU boats that need to get out every 18 months.
(IMPORTANT NOTE: This is not correct. Even though Gibraltar is not a normal member of the EU, time spent here is included in the 18-month rule. Ed.)

Phones

In the marina, you pick up a Spanish signal but if you take the phone onto Main street or to Morrisons it goes onto Gibraltar signal, which is non-EU. So on Vodafone Spain, it changes to Gibtel and onto roaming for making calls and is also charged for incoming calls at over €1.50 a minute. Then to top up you need to walk to La Linea Vodafone shop. On Gymsim Worldwide mobile (www.gymsim.com) Gibraltar is on a higher rate than the rest of Europe and you are charged for incoming, best make sure you are on a Spanish signal!

Fuel

There is a very long fuel dock on the right as you come down the “runway” to the marina. It has lots of very clean white fenders. Plenty of turning room, even room to drop sails. Diesel was 97p, Petrol £1.07.

Shopping

Main Street is full of Duty-Free Alcohol stores.

Electronics (computers with English keyboards at good prices), souvenir stores and most UK High Street Fashion retailers.

Food Shopping – Marks and Spencers (on Main Street right along the other end) has a small food outlet, I spotted Canadian Maple Syrup. And then there is Morrisons Supermarket – come out of the southern end of Marina to the road, turn right cross at 2nd pedestrian lights then take first on the left past church and school. Keep walking, its a one-way residential street through low rise blocks and looks like a dead end, but carry on and you will eventually see McDonalds and Morrisons. Less than 10 minutes.

Laundry

On the lane behind all the cafes, self-service is £5 a load, also do service washes.

Money

Prices here are in Gibraltar Pounds, with no VAT. Note that if you have a UK Bank Account and take money from an ATM machine it is not charged £ for £, it was processed at around 96.5p. The NatWest ATM gives out Gib Pounds but the Barclays gives British Pounds (but still charges a lower rate). You can not get out Euros. Gib Pounds are not valid anywhere outside Gib we are told!

Sightseeing

Local Buses (except No 5 to the airport which is easy to walk) are free and leave from just across from the Marina. Bus to Europa Point worth the trip for a look but not much there, they go every 15 minutes, think it was No 2.

www.yachtbalvenie.blogspot.com

Received From: N BARTON
Date: 4 October 2011

Message:

Gibraltar is part of the EU. However, it is outside both the customs union and VAT system. The authors of the above article apparently didn’t walk down Main Street. Which clearly states the projects funded by the EU. By virtue of being a British crown colony, we were included in the EU when Britain joined.