Casablanca

Hi from Clare,                                  Friday 30^th August

HOLDING PATTERN



Dock party underway



It is now Friday and we are still in the marina at Rabat waiting for the right weather opportunity to sail 450 miles to the Canaries.  We are in the company of three Australian, three New Zealand, two American and one English yacht.  It has become quite a little community, pooling our resources and knowledge to help each other with weather information, maintenance concerns, computer problems, shopping tips, easy recipes, reading material and Gas decanting.  Most nights we get together for drinks. Sometimes it is all together as a dock party and other nights it will be a smaller group on one of the boats. 

YOU WIN SOME

The guys have just about worn a track from the marina to the local gas supply depot. We can't believe how cheap the gas is in Morocco. Gas decanting is a bit like a barbeque, all the men stand around prodding and poking the gas tanks like bits of meat on the plate – good thing nobody smokes.  The most expensive gas we have seen is 26 Euros in France. But to exchange our 2.9 kg camping gas bottle here, it costs 1 Euro. The only problem is that the local bottles are so old and knocked about, we doubt whether the next country will accept them as an exchange. So Andrew bought all the necessary bits to decant the gas into our good bottles.  He has also been busy preparing the boat for the more rolling sea of the Atlantic; more screws in the floorboards, chocks to hold the bilge covers in place, and string nets inside the cupboards so if the doors fly open we won't end up with the contents on the floor.  The first trip we did back in 2005 a dozen eggs flew out of the cupboard and tried to make an omelet under the table.  Of course I am hoping that all this preparation is unnecessary but I guess I'm about to find out.

HAIL MARY

We went on the train to Casablanca. I was very pleased that the trip only took one hour. The train seemed to be traveling very fast on tracks that weren't entirely smooth. The carriages rocked and wobbled and trains coming from the opposite direction flashed past the window a few feet away rocking and wobbling as well. I thought of derailment reports in remote countries and had to concentrate on calming myself with a silent prayer for survival.

 

                                                     Streets and slums of Casablanca

HOW ROMANTIC!

Casablanca was a bit of a shock. It' has around 1 million people and a third of the population live in the slums. Many of the streets are broken, smelly and littered with rubbish. We got off the train with a Canadian couple. The woman looked startled and said to me "I always imagined Casablanca would be a romantic place".  Her husband (who obviously didn't share her vision) said that the mosque was the only thing worth seeing and don't waste our time going to Rick's Café (the legend of the Casablanca movie with Humphrey Bogart) as it was a rip off.  So after parting ways Andrew and I went to the both the mosque and Rick's Café.

BIG MONEY

The mosque is the third biggest mosque in the world and it cost half a billion dollars to build. A lot of the money was raised by public donation. It houses 25,000 inside and 80,000 in the grounds. It is very beautiful outside with endless tiles, marble courtyards and shaded gardens overlooking the Atlantic.

Although it allows women inside we decided not to go on the one hour guided tour.

 

                                                       The Mosque at Casablanca

A VERY PLEASANT STOP

So we went down to Rick's Café; an establishment that has been in business for only seven years.   It doesn't have anything to do with the movie but advertises as Casablanca – The Legend Continues …

Inside Rick's Cafe

It was the most impressive (if not a little intimidating) establishment in an otherwise broken street. However the concierge is happy to open the door for tourists. Once inside it is very posh with intimate bars, private dining rooms, a grand piano in the atrium, the main dining area on several floors overlooking the atrium. We arrived mid morning for coffee and were very cordially invited to a small lounge where the video Casablanca runs on a flat screen continuously. The staff is very professional and didn't mind me taking photos. I'm glad we went there; it is a lovely oasis of refinement.

Andrew and Lauren

SO WHAT'S NEXT

Tomorrow I will be cooking for the trip to the Canaries. I always feel better with a few meals up my sleeve. This way, if conditions get a bit rough we won't starve.

At this stage we are planning to leave here on Sunday and we should arrive in the Canaries on Thursday.

Love Candy xx

Rabat & Fes, Morocco

Hi from Clare,                           Sunday 25^th September 2011



MOROCCO, A LAND OF CONTRAST

We have now been in Morocco for a week.  We are staying in Bouregreg Marina in the capital city of Rabat.  Along side are two other Aussie yachts, two New Zealand yachts and one American yacht plus a few other nationalities.  So we have plenty of company and some traveling buddies as we explore the area. The marina is fairly new and visiting yachts are very welcome. The security is excellent with many guards on duty 24 hours a day. The visitors are allowed to go anywhere within the marina but the local folk are not permitted to walk along the finger piers amongst the visiting yachts.

  

                  Bouregreg Marina                                                   Kasbar (fort) at Rabat

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Once leaving the marina however the many contrasts in standards is very apparent. On one hand there are excellent quality trams, trains, cars and freeways.  The hotel and private homes we have been to are spotlessly clean, beautifully decorated and have leafy green interior courtyards. The more prosperous people are well educated, well dressed and well mannered. We have had teenage boys give us their seat on the tram.

Rabat Railway Station

Then we venture up to the local market place.  I think the people must be very hardy but for me who is soft in comparison, the smell of the fish market, blocked drains and rotting vegetable matter is enough to almost knock me out. It breaks my heart to see beggars on the street, stray cats and kittens only a few days old, dying of starvation. It is uplifting to see on many occasions a local person giving money or food to a beggar. So it all seems to work but it is very different to our way of life.

Hotel in Fes

We went (with Mark and Amanda from ‘Balvenie’ and Arnie and Jo from ‘Just Jane’) on a two day excursion to Fes. This was a 3 hour train trip inland. We traveled first class and enjoyed air conditioning and light refreshments. There was only one first class carriage on the train.  Second class looked less comfortable and very crowded.

Blue Gate - Fes Medina

The attraction at Fes is the Madina which dates back to 808AD. It has 9600 winding streets and is one of the oldest souks in the world.  On day one, we split up and just wandered around town. We managed to explore quite a bit of the Madina and eventually found our way back to the hotel. That evening we all went out to a traditional Moroccan house for a dinner. The house was seven hundred years old and three stories with a garden courtyard on the roof. The family had owned the house for one hundred years. It had beautifully tiled floors and walls and ornately carved wooden ceilings. The lady of the house spoke fluent English and although she had three boys (including twins) under the age of four, she provided a most comprehensive and delicious Moroccan meal. The family had converted their back yard into a tented restaurant and as it was highly recommended by the hotel it was making quite a good living; very enterprising of them and good luck to them.

 

Mark, Jo, Arnie, Amanda and us at dinner

 

Fes market and the satelight dishes

The following day we had a guided tour through the souk. We visited the Mosque, The oldest university in Morocco, a pre school centre, the community bakery (where families bring their bread and pastry products to be cooked in a community wood fired oven) an ancient water clock and a carpet weaving cooperative with show room of course. However the highlight of the trip was a visit to the tannery.

 

Fes University and the carpet cooperative

 

 

The Tannery

Upon our arrival at the Tannery we were given a small bunch of fresh mint. This was to put under our nose to combat the smell. Without it I am sure I would have been ill. In fact without the mint, I would not have been able to see the tannery. The photos tell it all, stinking, back braking work. It is piece work and a beginner earns (in Australian money) $20 a day, once proficient he can earn as much as $40 a day. There was a young boy working there, our guide said he was just helping his father as it was Friday afternoon and Friday is a half day at school. He also said that if the man’s son does well at school then he is free to go ahead, but if he does not do well at school, then he will work at the tannery; what a dismal prospect.  

SO WHAT’S NEXT?

Tomorrow we will visit Casablanca. If the weather is right we will leave for the Canaries on Tuesday. This is a 450 mile leg and we want good weather.  There are two particularly nasty named storms in the mid Atlantic that we are watching carefully. 

You may notice we now have a Google map showing the area we are in. If you want to see exactly where the boat is, you can click on “Where are we now?” under Links below the map.   Andrew updates this regularly while we are moving about.

Love Candy xx

Gibraltar to Portugal

Hi from Clare                                                                                                     15^th September 2011

WE HAVE OFFICIALLY LEFT THE MED

We left Gibraltar 1 hour after high water so we could take advantage of slack water in the strait. The 30 mile stretch is tricky to navigate as the water at the western end (Atlantic Ocean) is some 2-3m higher than at the eastern or Mediterranean end.  The strait is subject to currents traveling in both directions. The town of Tarifa on the northern side of the strait registers over 30 knots three hundred days of the year.  The strait is only eight miles wide at its narrowest point and as you can imagine there are many cargo ships entering and exiting the Med.  When we intended to leave there was strong wind forecast for the next few days at Tarifa.  We decided around midnight that instead of going to bed we would seize the chance of leaving before the wind increased. The current was against us at the start, but with at the finish. We had a great sail and the strongest wind we recorded was 20 knots at Tarifa. So we said goodbye to the Med and headed for Cadiz which is 75 miles from Gibraltar on the south coast of Spain.

 

Cadiz foreshore

 

A Cadiz monument and Cathedral

NOW FOR THE ATLANTIC OCEAN        

Cadiz is a busy port with little opportunity to anchor nearby.  We anchored behind the breakwater at Porto Sherry a few miles away on the other side of the bay.  The water temperature was now 24 degrees and Atlantic green.  Not as inviting as the sparkling blue 28 degree Med water but it didn't stop us from having a dip.  The following morning we caught the ferry into town.  Cadiz is very compact with narrow streets making it difficult to photograph some of the beautiful buildings.  We explored Cadiz by way of self guiding walking tours showing different aspects of Cadiz's history.

  

Peaceful anchorage at Culatra Lagoon

PORTUGAL IS CALLING

By now we were in radio contact with 'Balvenie' who had been anchored in Culatra Lagoon in Portugal for about a week. Amanda described it as a dream anchorage, flat calm day and night.  We arrived at Culatra Lagoon Friday 9^th September at 7.30pm. Amanda had a delicious dinner ready for us; a real treat after sailing since 3am that morning.  We had a most enjoyable night catching up on all the news since we last met in July 2010.  

 

Happy hour at the local in Culatra town with Mark and Amanda

Culatra Lagoon is huge. There are only 60 boats at anchor here although there is room for a thousand more. There is a small town which has been established on a sand spit.  The whole area is just sand with concrete paths leading to shops, houses and the ferry wharf.  The houses are flat roofed white washed concrete structures. Some of the houses have attempted a garden with pots plants and a few hardy shrubs.  It is hot and dry and I feel like we are in outback Mexico.  The people are very lay back and gather in the local café for drinks every afternoon. We have embraced this tradition as the drinks are cold and very reasonably priced.  Andrew and I have been to the beach in the afternoons. There is a substantial elevated wooden walkway to the beach to protect the sand dune vegetation. The beach reminds us of Australia with long stretches of sand, breaking waves and big blue skies.

  

Faro Cathedral & views from its tower

The four of us caught the ferry across to the township of Faro. We visited the walled town which dates back to the 1200s. We had lunch there in a Portuguese Café/restaurant and had (believe it or not) a very nice 'hamburger'- how local can we get?



Clare and Andrew overlooking Faro



Another day we caught the ferry to the busy town of IIhoe to do some supermarket shopping and get access to Wifi.  I forgot to take my camera and so I don't have any photos. However it is an attractive town with good facilities, parks and gardens and is geared to the tourist trade with lots of eateries and markets along the waterfront.  

LEARNING HOW IT'S DONE

There is a very good ferry service several times a day which runs between the towns. The only trick is to know when the Ferry is arriving. NB this is not necessarily when the timetable says it is arriving. However the locals seem to know, so if we are the only ones standing there, good chance we have it wrong. Oh well the coffee shop is not far away and the coffee is good.

Tonight we are going into Culatra to have dinner. No doubt Amanda and I will plunder the little supermarket again as prices are so cheap. I'm sure the owner of the supermarket is having a bumper week.

SO WHAT'S NEXT?

Tomorrow we are heading off for Rabat in Morocco.  We will leave in the afternoon to arrive Sunday. It is a river entrance and so we need to arrive there in time for the flooding tide to carry us over the bar.  Now that we are in the Atlantic it is a whole new learning curve taking into consideration tides, currents and rolling swell.  We intend staying at the marina in Rabat for a week. We are hoping to do some land travel to inland Fes and Casablanca further down the coast.

Love Candy xx

PS                    Monday 19^th September 2010

We arrived into Rabat yesterday at 6am. We had a good sail and only motored for 10 hours of the 40 hour trip.  Within the last fifteen miles there were many fishing nets to negotiate.  We managed not to get caught up in one but we came awfully close on two occasions. We could hear the floats attached to the nets brushing against our hull.  The marina pilot boat came out to guide us over the sand bar.  The swell was only about 1m so we were fine.



Fresh chickens?



Late yesterday, after a sleep we went for a walk to the Medina. We were shoulder to shoulder with the locals being carried through narrow streets of endless shops.  We could purchase everything from beautiful gold jewelry and electronics down to chickens, dead or alive, your choice.  Wherever there was space, there was a stall; sometimes it was just a rug on the ground. The wailing from the local mosque and the aroma of spices, food stalls, fish markets and over-loaded drains all adds to the atmosphere.  

Welcome to Morocco!