Month: September 2023

One last post on Morocco before we move on from this fascinating country. Although Agadir is a modern city, it provided a good vantage point from which to explore other parts of southern Morocco. We ventured to the edge of the Sahara desert, where the girls played in the sand dunes and experienced a camel ride. We saw argon trees which grow only in southern Morocco and from which argon oil is obtained. Goats climb the trees to help with harvesting the berries, but collecting the kernels afterwards is not a pleasant task!

We visited a fisherman’s village along the coast from Agadir to see how they live in cottages in the cliffs, and went to the town of Tiznit where we tried some delicious freshly baked flatbread, from the communal oven where the whole community can bring their bread to be baked.

Our guide on our desert trip told us that Marrakesh was mostly untouched by the recent earthquake and the souk was back to trading as usual. Having cancelled our original plans to spend a few days in Marrakesh, we were able to make a day trip and see the great square and the souk. In the maze of ancient streets are many doors with two door-knockers: we learned that the outer one was for men, and the inner one for women and children; they make a different sound and women would only answer the one used by other women and children.

We had really enjoyed our time in Morocco, and found everyone to be very friendly and helpful, however it was time to continue our journey to the Canary Islands. We set sail from Agadir to Lanzarote, a journey of 230 miles or around 36 hours. At the start there were calm seas and grey skies and it was hard to see the difference between sea and sky at the horizon. As we left Morocco behind the skies cleared and the wind strengthened, and we were able to sail at around 6 knots using our mainsail and genoa.

We were visited by several pods of dolphins during the trip, and we sailed past a large number of small crabs swimming fast a long way from shore in water nearly 2,000 metres deep. A flying fish landed on our deck, trying to escape from the tuna, a sure sign of being in the warmer waters of the Atlantic ocean. On the second day at sea we saw a pilot whale, a huge grey shape moving slowly at the surface of the water – then a flick of his tail and he was gone back into the depths.

After departing Agadir later than planned in the morning following the usual clearing out bureaucracy, with a trip length of roughly a day and a half, we envisaged arriving at Lanzarote in the dark, or spending a second night at sea. In order to avoid this we tried to keep our speed up, and later on we decided to use our engine as well as our sails. Oh no – the engine started to lose revs again, and cut out entirely several times, a deja vu moment from the previous trip. Will changed the filters and changed to the other fuel tank (we have a small day tank and a separate larger tank) as the problem might be diesel bug in the day tank. This seemed to work and the engine kept going, enabling us to average over 7 knots with wind speeds up to 20 knots. There were some quite large waves which created a corkscrew motion for the boat, but we were making good progress.

On the trip we tested the hydrovane, which steers the boat using the wind – the orcas had bent the hydrovane rudder so this had been replaced in Gibraltar. By mid-afternoon of the second day at sea we started to see the volcanic coastline of Lanzarote.

We sailed down the coast of Lanzarote and reached the marina at Puerto Calero before sunset on Wednesday. We are now in the marina for the next couple of days, with a plan to then head further south to another marina or an anchorage.

We left Tangier on 11th September, heading south for the capital Rabat, a journey of 150 miles or approximately 24 hours. After Lisbon this would be the second capital city we had sailed into. With very light winds we used our engine and reached our destination during the morning of 12th September.

At Rabat the Bouregreg river divides the city of Rabat on one side from the city of Sale on the other. To reach the marina you have to sail (or motor) down the river for about a mile, a picturesque journey going past the old medina of Rabat, with fishing boats on both sides of the river, rowing boats (boat taxi) crossing slowly in front of you, swimmers jumping in, jet-skis whizzing about, while all the time you are trying to make sure you stay in the middle so the water is deep enough. A backdrop to this is the nearly 1,000 year old Hassan Tower, a 44 metre structure built as part of plans for the largest mosque in the world. Construction was abandoned in 1199, and despite earthquakes the structure is still very visible.

Once safely in the marina we had the usual clearing in procedure which involved a lot of paperwork, a boat inspection from the police and the customs officials, and this time even a sniffer dog. The steps down into the boat were deemed too steep for the dog to go inside so it stayed on the deck. (The steps weren’t a problem for Granny and Grandpa’s dog, Billy, when he came to visit us in Portsmouth in May!)

The marina is on the Sale side of the river, which is quieter than Rabat but has its own interesting history. With its strong French influence, as we have found elsewhere in Morocco, it also has many excellent patisseries. We got to know a French family on the boat next to us in the marina, who are home schooling their children aged 12 and 13 and making their way to the Canaries, hoping to cross the Atlantic later this year.

To reach Rabat from Sale you can take a tram, but we preferred the more scenic option of being rowed across the river on one of the local boats.

In Rabat we visited the mausoleum of Mohammed V with its many guards, and stocked up in the souk with its hundreds of different shops selling spices, fabrics, leather and jewellery.

We also had time to explore the medina on the Sale side of the river, all enclosed within the old city walls, which are lit up spectacularly at night (photobombed by Lucy).

After a few days it was time to continue our journey further south to Agadir, a trip of 300 miles or approximately 48 hours at sea. Leaving Rabat proved an interesting start to the journey, as there was an ocean swell of around 2 metres, and where the river meets the ocean it produced a surge of up to 4 metres over the sandbanks. (Much above this and they close the entrance and won’t let boats through). We were allowed out of the marina at high tide to ensure the maximum possible depth of water, and navigated our way back down the river past the fishing boats, swimmers, a dinghy sailing school and jet-skis keeping us company. The height of the waves as the river joins the ocean made for a bumpy start, nice for the surfers lined up along the beach but not so much fun on a yacht.

Once back out into the Atlantic ocean the swell disappeared and there was not much wind, so we decided to keep our engine on and head along the coast, intending to anchor in a sheltered bay at Essaouira, not far north of Agadir.

Unfortunately after leaving Rabat we became aware that our engine was not well – it kept almost cutting out, labouring and dropping its revs and needing a push on the throttle to keep it running. As there wasn’t enough wind to sail by, we needed the engine to make progress on our journey. Will identified the issue as air getting into the fuel line. He found a crack on the pre-filter and managed to change the base unit. Luckily this kept the engine going throughout the night and part of the next day, until there was enough wind behind us to switch it off and start sailing. We then sailed along happily at around 5-7 knots, slightly faster than we had been going using the engine.

While trying to get the best position for our headsail with the wind almost directly behind us, we had some trouble gybing it (moving it from one side of the boat to the other) and unfortunately got it trapped and subsequently wrapped behind the forestay so it wouldn’t furl away properly. We were unable to correct this until the wind died down so we continued using just our mainsail.

Eventually at the end of the second night at sea, the wind died away again and we needed to restart our engine. Crossing our fingers and holding our breath, we switched the engine back on – luckily it started after a few attempts and some manual bleeding, and kept going, while still keeping us on our toes by threatening to cut out every so often – nerve-racking stuff. Having daylight and calmer winds also gave Will the opportunity to sort out the headsail and furl it away properly.

With the engine issues and stronger winds expected to come in during the next few days, we decided not to anchor at Essaouira but head straight for Agadir marina, where we would be able to find an engineer to fix the engine (and be alongside). The trip had been eventful, but there were also some highlights, including seeing sparkling phosphorescence in the wake of the boat at night, the milky way above us, and dolphins at the end of the night watch.

We are now in the marina at Agadir, a more modern city which was largely rebuilt after a catastrophic earthquake destroyed the old city in 1960. The inscription on the hillside in Arabic reads “God, country, king”. The engineers have been here working on the engine, I am extending my French vocabulary into technical terms for engine parts, and we are hopeful that we will be able to depart for the Canary Islands in a few days’ time – next stop Lanzarote!

Let me start by saying we were very sorry to hear about the devastation caused by the earthquake in southern Morocco. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families affected.

As mentioned in our previous post, we were safely in the north of Morocco, in Tangier, when the earthquake happened, and didn’t feel any tremors. We spent a few days there exploring the old town, with its labyrinth of ancient and narrow streets, and the medina with its many small and enticing shops selling everything including spices, multicoloured fabrics, carpets, leather purses and wooden puzzle boxes.

For the girls in particular on their first trip outside Europe, after very British Gibraltar, this was a culture shock – the exotic scent of the spices, Arabic and French spoken everywhere, the call to prayer five times a day, but they are taking it all in and have enjoyed shopping and bartering for goods in the medina. We have also been enjoying the Moroccan food, including delicious tagines with couscous and preserved lemons, and an interesting chicken dish topped with icing sugar, all followed by sweet mint tea. We had a lovely dinner in a rooftop restaurant with our friends from our neighbouring boat in Gibraltar, Willowtarn, who came across with us on the journey from Gibraltar to Tangier.

The marina in Tangier is clean and modern, although we are getting used to a lot of bureaucracy – it takes hours of detailed form-filling to clear in and the boat has to be inspected by both the police and the customs officials before you are allowed into the marina. Having arrived in Tangier at 5.30 pm on our first day it was dark by the time all this had been completed, so we spent our first night on the arrivals pontoon and were only allowed into the marina the following day. However everyone is very friendly and helpful, and they really want us to enjoy our time in Morocco.

The marina has a display of coloured fountains set to classical music each evening, which Sophie enjoyed dancing in, as shown in the photos below. (If you’re reading this on your phone and can’t see the pictures, click on Valent in the top right hand corner to go to the website and you will be able to see the pictures).

After a few days in Tangier, it was time to start our journey south. Yesterday we moved down to the capital, Rabat, which we’ll write about in a few days once we’ve had a chance to explore it.

Just a quick post to say that we are all well and enjoying Tangier. We are several hundred miles away from Marrakesh and we’re oblivious to the earthquake until this morning. However we had planned to do a short excursion to Marrakesh – that is unlikely to happen. Next stop Rabat in few days.

We’ve been living in Queensway Quay marina for nearly two months now, and have become used to life in Gibraltar. We’ve been up the Rock (twice) and seen the macaques, the Great Siege tunnels and St. Michael’s cave with its incredible light show.

The views from the top of the Rock are amazing – you can see Spain, and across to Morocco at the same time.

We’ve enjoyed having English shops like M&S, and have found the best ice cream shop in Gibraltar where we have been their most regular customers – to the point where we even got a lock in when they had to shut early!

There’s plenty to do here – swimming at Europa pool, bouldering, a cinema and even the Gibraltar fair. Everyone is very friendly and we’ve made friends with lots of people on the other boats on our pontoon. We’re now regulars at the Sunday night quiz in the marina (team name: Orcas’ Revenge), and Will has even joined the Gibraltar Manchester City Supporters Club (members including Will: 10).

We’ve had fun in Gibraltar, but now it’s time to move on. The plan is to head over to Morocco, next stop Tangier, and go slowly along the coast to reach the Canary Islands. The orcas seem to be heading north now, so fingers crossed for no more close encounters!