Morocco

Wow, did we ever fall in love with Morocco!  After a good night’s rest on arrival to Tangier, we made our way out of the marina to explore the city, Old Town, the waterfront walkway and the beach.  James was on cloud nine.  His entire objective for this trip was to go to Africa.  Mind you, he really, really wants to go to Kenya, which is why he has recently taken up learning Swahili.  Morocco and the African continent were a good intermediary objective for now.

We met a large group of sailors that were all in Tangier waiting for the next weather window to head to the Canaries.  We had dinner with quite a few of them.  It was good practice for both the boys and I to work on our conversational French as we were the only English speakers in the group.

As a giant storm system was about to hit the Atlantic coast of Portugal, we took the opportunity to leave the boat safely tied up in the marina and go explore further inland.  We booked train tickets to Casablanca and Fes and embarked on a new travel expedition. 

The train carriages are reminiscent of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts express complete with separate carriages for 6 people and a snack cart.  They also have a new high-speed train so it only took 3 hrs to get to Casablanca.  Once there we set off on foot to visit the old medina, the infamous mosque and have a simply amazing lunch.  I love North African cuisine with its incredibly flavourful tagines and couscous.  All four of us also love the typical Moroccan mint tea.  After a long day of walking with >30 000 steps, we retired to our hotel room and tucked in for a great night’s sleep.

The next morning, after a brief run through the park, we made our way back to the train station to head East for Fes.  This was a longer train ride and 3.5 hrs so we all relaxed and read some books.  In Fes, I had booked a surprise accommodation.  Normally when we travel, we stay in hostels or very budget accommodations.  I struggle to justify spending an obscene amount of money for a place to rest my head.  In Fes though, I found a traditional Riad (Guesthouse with a central courtyard) that was right in the middle of the busy Fes medina.  This place was an oasis!  The central courtyard was stunning, quiet, filled with plants and fountains that dates back greater than 700 years.  I had booked the Royal suite which had a separate bedroom area for the boys, a sitting area, a large bed for the adults and a traditional Moroccan bathroom.  We absolutely loved it!  All this and an included morning breakfast all for the price of 70 euro!

In Fes as well, we treated ourselves to the amazing street food.  It was so flavourful and you simply cannot beat 4 large traditional wraps of spiced chicken and 4 fresh lemon juice for 3 euro!  One also cannot describe Morocco without describing the people.  There is no question that a 6’3” man, 2 blonde children and a blonde female stand out like a sore thumb in this environment.  However, everyone was so welcoming and pleasant.  We never felt harassed or unsafe.  The handful of peddlers we did come across were very polite and respectful of a simple, “Non, merci”.

Alas, we returned to the boat Sunday evening and spent Monday getting everything in order for the 600 nautical mile crossing to the Canaries.  There appeared to be a great weather window to depart late Tuesday morning.  It would seem that at least half the boats in the marina were doing the exact same thing.

As we were walking past the customs clearance dock, we spotted another Canadian boat moored there.  The boats name is Hana Lua and it turns out we have mutual friends back in Canada.  As we didn’t see anyone on board, we decided we would go and chat with them once they had finished clearing in.  We were quite surprised to see that a few hours later it left the marina heading East back to Gibraltar.  A few hours later, we would find out why…  Orcas.

As you read in my last blog, Oct 31^st was a pretty awful day for sailboats in the Gibraltar strait with at least 3 publicised attacks and one sinking.  Tangier is at the far end of the Gibraltar strait but not quite out of the strait.  You still need to travel about 8 nm further West and clear the point to officially be out of the strait.  Since Halloween there has not been a single reported sighting or encounter in the strait.  That is until Nov 6^th (the day before we leave).  On this day, 3 boats suffered encounters.  Two of them were so badly damaged that they were unable to continue and two of these attacks occurred just West of Tangier and slightly further North than the 20 m line.  Hana Lua was unfortunately one of these boats.  As per their reports, they were struck very quickly and very violently.  They lost one of their rudders completely and ¾ of their second rudder remained.  Typically, these orca attacks seem to take time.  Anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour where they seem to just play with the boat.  Hana Lua didn’t even get a chance to grab their banger pole or their firecrackers before the orcas had disappeared again but, the damage was already done.

Needless to say, as we checked out the following morning with a practical flotilla of 7 other boats, we all had these attacks on our mind.  We were the first to be cleared by customs despite being the second last at the dock.  Thus, we were the trailblazer of the group, not exactly the position we wanted to be in.  Again, we stuck to the 20 m depth contour line which brings us terrifyingly close to a lee shore.  We had to divert into deep water once to avoid a large fishing net.  Again, we were on high alert and I could swear I may have given myself a gastric ulcer for the first time in my life.

Fortunately, we all safely made it around the point.  It turns out there was an encounter further East of us near Gibraltar so it would seem the elusive pod had bigger fish to fry elsewhere.

Now we embark on our first multiday offshore ocean passage. So far, we have excellent conditions with 15-20 knots of wind coming from behind.  There are 2-3 m waves but they are mostly following and much more spaced than in the Mediterranean so we have not had to use any buckets.  The boys have fallen into listening to a new series on Audiobooks and so admittedly, I have only seen them twice today.  Once for dinner and once for a game of Cards Against Humanity.  I think they are doing well as I sure hear a lot of giggling coming from James’ bedroom with the book playing in the background.

We have 320 nautical miles to go and are hoping to land at an anchorage in Graciosa on Friday.  Rumor has it the anchorage is full of kid boats presently so the boys will be thrilled.

No pictures today as we are paying for expensive offshore internet at the moment.  I will load some once we get closer to shore.