Five huge bangs, repeated, RN probably?

If it wasn't actually the ship passing the breakwater (as suggested by the OP) but that was just coincidence then just down the coast at Dodman Point there is a range for Naval Gunfire Support. This is where ships fire onto a sea range to simulate firing onto shore in support of troops. Could well be three bursts of 5 and is pretty loud. There are also numerous other range areas for sea firing around Plymouth.
 
I see that CSG 21 has arrived in Singapore.

Wonder how covid will affect the shoreside attractions of the Tiger Balm Gardens, Raffles, Tiger Beer and.......Kaitais. ?
 
We were attacked somehow past Cadiz. Plumes of water after bangs but no prior warning. Crew did a piece for YM but it's still not appeared. No idea what it was - I didn't believe her at first but certainly did after I saw the last one.
 
Four floors of ….
I’ve got a few stories about that place.


I know two Ozzie girls who worked there, one who is a friend to this day.

Turnover is rapid, the girls get paid lousily, and they are treated badly.

Kind of an icon, but really not nice.

I’m strongly guessing you agree.
 
We were attacked somehow past Cadiz. Plumes of water after bangs but no prior warning. Crew did a piece for YM but it's still not appeared. No idea what it was - I didn't believe her at first but certainly did after I saw the last one.
Well there is a frequently used gunnery range south of Cadiz marked on the charts and patrolled by range vessels. They will shoot over your boat. Often, the shell produces a smoke flare at the end of its flight.
Local marina offices can advise.
 
I know two Ozzie girls who worked there, one who is a friend to this day.

Turnover is rapid, the girls get paid lousily, and they are treated badly.

Kind of an icon, but really not nice.

I’m strongly guessing you agree.
Lots of stories. I’ll give you the beginnings of one. I was with a couple of young pilots from one of the squadrons embarked on HMS OCEAN. We ended up at four floors and decided that the cheapest beer was probably on the top floor for some reason. We arrived at a fairly quiet bar and a couple of girls hit on us as potential punters. Their opening gambit was to offer to play pool against us and if we lost we had to buy them a drink. (Almost certainly it would have been a very expensive ‘cocktail’ while they actually got a cheap fruit juice mix or nothing at all.) We politely declined and said that we weren’t interested thank you. They persisted and eventually suggested we play for their knickers/underwear which we found mildly amusing. (Apparently they wanted to claim ours if we lost.). Cutting lots of the story out, we persisted in declining and they gave up on us as possibly gay but stayed and just chatted for a while until the owner of the bar told them to get on with their work. You’re right that they don’t get paid well and they don’t get treated well either.
If we ever meet up I’ll tell you some more stories over a beer.
 
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Well there is a frequently used gunnery range south of Cadiz marked on the charts and patrolled by range vessels. They will shoot over your boat. Often, the shell produces a smoke flare at the end of its flight.
Local marina offices can advise.

Yes to range but no smoke flare. Last shot was 200m behind us. Maybe Spanish navy not very accuate.
 
Yes to range but no smoke flare. Last shot was 200m behind us. Maybe Spanish navy not very accuate.
The range is army firing their artillery out to sea. If you take an inshore track inside the sand shoals, you can see how big the place is. The Spanish Navy operate further out to sea from their base at Rota and any firing excercises are frequently promulgated on VHF radio.
Should you pass that way again, I can thoroughly recommend entering the river at Sancti Petri. The whole area was taken over in the Franco era as a military trying area but is coming back to life with its fab beaches, laid back attitude and a smattering of scruffy bars amongst the crumbling buildings. The yacht club is super.
 
Lots of stories. I’ll give you the beginnings of one. I was with a couple of young pilots from one of the squadrons embarked on HMS OCEAN. We ended up at four floors and decided that the cheapest beer was probably on the top floor for some reason. We arrived at a fairly quiet bar and a couple of girls hit on us as potential punters. Their opening gambit was to offer to play pool against us and if we lost we had to buy them a drink. (Almost certainly it would have been a very expensive ‘cocktail’ while they actually got a cheap fruit juice mix or nothing at all.) We politely declined and said that we weren’t interested thank you. They persisted and eventually suggested we play for their knickers/underwear which we found mildly amusing. (Apparently they wanted to claim ours if we lost.). Cutting lots of the story out, we persisted in declining and they gave up on us as possibly gay but stayed and just chatted for a while until the owner of the bar told them to get on with their work. You’re right that they don’t get paid well and they don’t get treated well either.
If we ever meet up I’ll tell you some more stories over a beer.
Sticky greens. ?
 
Lots of stories. I’ll give you the beginnings of one. I was with a couple of young pilots from one of the squadrons embarked on HMS OCEAN. We ended up at four floors and decided that the cheapest beer was probably on the top floor for some reason. We arrived at a fairly quiet bar and a couple of girls hit on us as potential punters. Their opening gambit was to offer to play pool against us and if we lost we had to buy them a drink. (Almost certainly it would have been a very expensive ‘cocktail’ while they actually got a cheap fruit juice mix or nothing at all.) We politely declined and said that we weren’t interested thank you. They persisted and eventually suggested we play for their knickers/underwear which we found mildly amusing. (Apparently they wanted to claim ours if we lost.). Cutting lots of the story out, we persisted in declining and they gave up on us as possibly gay but stayed and just chatted for a while until the owner of the bar told them to get on with their work. You’re right that they don’t get paid well and they don’t get treated well either.
If we ever meet up I’ll tell you some more stories over a beer.
Similar thing happened to us, we were working in Northern Cyprus back in the early 90s, Turkish soldiers everywhere. 3 of us went for a drink after work, no bars as such just houses with a table outside and a picture of Elvis in the window. We went inside, very dark, at the bar we ordered 3 beers, a blonde woman sidled up and started to talking to us, she stank of BO, anyway she badgered us for a beer, ours cost 30c, the Scottish lad with us bought her a bottle, it cost 5 dollers, 'hang on hang on' I'll give her mine and buy another one for me at 30c. The barman was having none of this, the Scottish lad kicked off and two gorillas appeared and took money of us before we could leave.
We were in a brothel, it seemed every bar was a brothel.
 
Similar thing happened to us, we were working in Northern Cyprus back in the early 90s, Turkish soldiers everywhere. 3 of us went for a drink after work, no bars as such just houses with a table outside and a picture of Elvis in the window. We went inside, very dark, at the bar we ordered 3 beers, a blonde woman sidled up and started to talking to us, she stank of BO, anyway she badgered us for a beer, ours cost 30c, the Scottish lad with us bought her a bottle, it cost 5 dollers, 'hang on hang on' I'll give her mine and buy another one for me at 30c. The barman was having none of this, the Scottish lad kicked off and two gorillas appeared and took money of us before we could leave.
We were in a brothel, it seemed every bar was a brothel.

Oh, dear. Didn't you go to the briefings, then?

:oops:
 
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