Night Life in Rota, Spain

O'Grady's

The past couple of evenings I have gone out in Rota. I found an Irish pub (I am still playing with the idea that I should be in Ireland) called O'Grady's (of course.) It is a short distance from the marina and also the library where I use the Internet for free. I should have caught on when I discovered that they don't open until 7PM.  In Rota (like Cadiz) nothing happens before midnight. The clubs close at sunrise. It is quite a shift of experience.

As I have previously mentioned there is a large Navy presence here and O'Grady's has a large military presence. Patrick, the bartender is Irish but married to a Spanish lady. It is fun to watch the Spanish speakers come in and order in Spanglish only to discover he is fluent in Spanish.

There are a group of contractors from Phoenix International. The company specializes in deep sea recovery. They are here in Rota to use their ROV's (remotely piloted vehicles) to recover something (unspecified at least to me) for the Navy. They have traveled all over the world picking up stuff from the sea bottom (down to 20,000 feet. They have some great stories.

On Saturday night I noticed groups of people in their 20's all carrying plastic bags. When I finally left O'Grady's and walked back to the boat I discovered why. The entire marina eating complex (not to be confused with the dock area) was packed with people. You can guess what was in the plastic bags. Now, as Patrick was so unkind to remind me last night it was O'Dawn Thirty in the morning. The line to get into the discotheque was at least 200 people. I guess people must sleep first in the afternoon, then during what we will call the dinner hour and evening, and then go out from midnight to dawn. Must be tough getting up for work.

Patrick in his Hurling Shirt

Sunday I went over to O'Grady's to watch Irish Hurling. No, this is not people in the street in front of the bar. It is an apparently uniquely Irish amateur sport. It has elements of football (you can score by putting the ball over the goal posts); soccer (you can get three points for putting the ball past the goal tender into the net); lacrosse (you throw and carry the ball with a stick similar to a lacrosse stick but it has a solid end rather than a net and, you get to beat the opponents with your sticks!) You can click here for more information. Since my two favorite US sports are lacrosse and hockey it was a lot of fun to watch.

Fair winds and following seas.