Finally, on Saturday the 4th of May, after the perfect alignment of the stars — low wind and currents compatible with human life — I was finally able to cross the Strait of Gibraltar.
I must admit, I didn’t swim. I went on a cool-looking rigid fishing boat to film Aleksandrina Til (@tilalex), who, despite having only recently started open-water swimming, has already crossed both the Strait of Bonifacio and the Strait of Gibraltar.
But at the end of the day — I have crossed the strait. At last!
Let me, children, tell you how I met your… Sorry, sorry… Let me rephrase: I must do a small (tiny, I would say) flashback, but it all started around 2012, when I started working with Neda el Món, cool people have to say, who have done countless (well, they are countable, but, a lot) of open water crossings in Catalonia, and some a little further away (Bonifacio, Gibraltar, Rodas, among others).
Somehow, I’ve strayed from the subject here.
The thing is that shortly after I started taking photos and recording cool videos, I found out that they organize Gibraltar Strait crossings, and that they have an agreement with ACNEG, the people who are in charge of logistics and the shit-ton of mandatory permits in Tarifa itself. Long story short: year after year, i’ve been making pictures many crossings, but missing Gibraltar.
Once, I was about to go to Tarifa to record a documentary (self-produced) about a swimmer attempting the crossing. But fate and my highly precarious economy allied themselves to prevent it.
Now, jump forward ten years to last year, while I was working for Neda el Món in Bonifacio Strait, Aleksandrina asked if someone could record some videos of her crossing, to document her challenge on crossing both straits. And since I rarely say no to interesting projects, I definitely wasn’t going to say no to this one.
She successfully crossed Bonifacio… and this year, she’s taking on Gibraltar! Apparently, she likes how I work — and my charming personality — so she wants to collaborate again!
During the filming, Drón Ramón faced several attacks from furious seagulls who clearly didn’t appreciate his presence in their airspace. Between the drone battles, shorter than i like nights, spontaneous hotel changes, and consuming more cazón tapas than medically advisable, we managed to capture some amazing footage — and even better memories.
And that, children, is the true story of how I met your mother.
…I mean, how I crossed the Strait. My bad.