Naval Base Rota

I walked over to the US/Spanish Naval Base at Rota yesterday. Apparently the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the US and Spanish prevent US military retirees from using either the exchange or the commissary on the base. One can use the mini-mart which is like a small "C" store in the US. So the major reason I came to Rota was a failure. Nice.

I decided to actually go out late in the evening last night since nothing much happens until sundown. Sundown is around 10 pm. I wandered over by the tourist office to find an outdoor concert setting up. Then I wandered down a side street and found an Irish pub. Since I was supposed to go to Ireland I decided to stop in.

While having a burger and a beer I met three Navy nurses from Rota and they adopted me for the evening. They were celebrating the end of tour for one of their number, she was headed to Charleston. The other two have about two months to go.  Navy nurses are RN's which means that they are all officers. They explained that just about all of the men in Rota are enlisted or MD's, and the MD's are all married. So their social life was kind of a bust for their two year tour. We had a lot of fun just chatting, and then at about 2 AM we walked over to a discotheque by the marina. Rota is a small town and everything is small.including the clubs. We stopped in three places and by the third I recognized almost everyone - about 90% US Navy.

I bid the gals good night (the clubs are opposite the marina entrance and headed for bed.

Fair winds and following seas.