Javascript staat uit. Voor een optimale werking moet Javascript worden ingeschakeld.

SailingPegasus.nl - Zeilen met de Pegasus - Blogdetails
Datum: 20-11-2016    Faro - Ilha de Culatra - Rabat/Sale, Marocco
 Wednesday 16-11 to Friday 18-11-2016
Today we leave for a country on another continent, Morocco!

We decide to leave at 15:00 in the afternoon and to sail on for two days. The best time to arrive in Rabat is after 11:00 on Friday 18th November, when the tide is up and coming. Assuming that the average speed will be 5 knots, we will arrive much too early, but the expectation is that the wind will change radically in the last night and the morning of our arrival.
Raising the anchor goes very well, there is just a lot of mud hanging on to it and it has twisted, so it takes Fred longer to get things done. 
We wave at Karin and Jeroen on the “White Pearl” (they leave for the Mediterranean), and we sail towards the tidal outlet (see video).
We have a pretty nice wind during departure and so can enjoy a nice little sailing. I am bothered by a little bit of sea sickness because of the wave movement, so I can’t stay indoors too long. Because of the increasing wind, with peaks of 28 in the 1st night and the fact that we didn’t reduce sail during the night, the autopilot had to work harder and one part has shaken loose. Due to this we again have to take the wheel in hand! Which of course is a pity and moreover much more tiring. (see vid). Thursday morning we suddenly hear a loud blast and at first it seems as if the boom is released from the mast. But closer inspection tells us that the other block of the vang has come off. With some difficulty we lower sail and sail on only the Genua. On the second day Fred repairs the shaken part of the autopilot and we can use it once more.

The nights are really beautiful here, the sundown with its red glow, after that the clear sky with thousands of twinkling stars. You are not able to see a sky like that anymore in the Netherlands, because of the light-pollution. It takes a while, but then we see the supermoon rise again. It is waning, therefore looks a bit deformed. We can’t take a picture, alas, because of the bobbing of the boat. I see a couple of falling stars during my watch and can make a few wishes. On our way we only see a few large ships sailing in the direction of Tangiers and the Mediterranean. But on the whole, we are the only boat on this spacious ocean. On Friday morning we see some dolphins swimming around the boat; that has been a while ago.
On the blogs of other sailors, we read the most horrible stories about the tuna-fishing nets that lie in front of the Moroccan coast. The fear of every sailor is to sail right through these, particularly at night and then getting a line or the nets in to your boat screw. But we haven’t seen a single net, so when you are following our track, in other words from Ilha de Culatra to Rabat in Morocco, just follow course 165 and you won’t have any trouble at all. By now the sun shines and the wind has receded drastically. We near Morocco: Land aho! A new continent, a new culture and new people.
 
Around 11:30 we call the Marina Bouregreg in Salé on the VHF Radio and ask if we could get some assistance of a pilot at sailing onto the river. But nobody answers, though we repeat it a few times. Since we also have the cell phone number, we then decide to make a phone call. At last we make contact and in my best French I ask for assistance from the Marina. We have to wait..
Then, after about half an hour a very small boat comes to us (I always call these boats Popeye-boats), might this be the pilot? We have no idea, because at first it stays at an appropriate distance. Then they come closer and shout in French that we have to have a little more patience, because another sailboat is coming in. This boat is surely 4 miles away from us, so we really have to be patient. We sail around and around in front of the coast. It turns out to be a Canadian boat and then we sail behind the pilot boat on to the river of Rabat. It is very impressive, you really can say that. The beautiful Casbah of Rabat at your right and on the left side the sandy beaches of Salé. People are standing on the quay and the beach waving at us and taking pictures, it is as special for them as it is for us. Some fishing boats sail along with us on the river and yell something at us in French. I am behind the wheel and don’t give it too much attention, I just wave back friendly. Fred understands they are calling for whisky and that they want to trade it for fish. He dives for a bottle and, stupid boy, hands it over before getting the fish. Because….. He isn’t getting any fish! Swindlers, muslims don’t drink alcohol! Not what you call a best first impression of Morocco, but also a little naïve of Fred. Must be because he is a bit tired, he wasn’t alert enough, normally he wouldn’t have done it like this. But on the whole, we feel welcome, when you see all those people waving.
 
Before we are allowed into the Marina, we have to berth at a pontoon of the police and the customs. We are so used to everybody speaking and understanding English, like in Portugal, but that is quite a disappointment when you arrive here. The main languages are Arabic and French. Fred doesn’t speak French at all and I do my utmost with miscellaneous words to make myself clear. First the police comes aboard and then the customs, a lot of paperwork. We tell the customs-man we also have a cat on board. He seems rather scared of our sweet Kit, so we put him (the cat) on a leash for security. The customs takes our papers and passports to check them and tells us that he will we back on board with a dog, for a check-up. With some trouble we get Kit into his travelling basket; it has been a while for him and he goes completely berserk. We wait for a customs man and his dog, who, subsequently arrives, goes to the other boat and noses around there. We are waiting in attendance with Kit in his basket and then… the customs man walks past us, with his dog, without a word, back to his car. Leaving us in surprise. I was completely set to and looking forward to a thorough search of the boat with that dog and then it fell through!  And all this because of Kit? We have no idea. But it’s a lucky strike. Sometime later we get our papers back and we sail behind the pilot in the direction of the Marina. As soon as we lie in the Marina, still more applications have to be filled in, this time of the Marina itself. After everything is dealt with, we go find the harbour office and tell them we are planning to stay at least a month, maybe longer. We ask for the wificode and first take a nice long shower. The facilities are rather good, only the water is not that warm.
 
Because Morocco is an islamic country, the rules and customs are quite different from Europe. We read up on it in advance and have no problem adjusting ourselves a little, while we are here, of course within reason. For example, it is not customary to wear shorts, certainly not for women. Men wear pants below the knee or long trousers and women wear long trousers and cover their arms. I don’t have to wear a scarf, only when we are religious buildings, then it is compulsory. It takes some settling down, because the temperature is still quite warm, but we do our best.

It is really a whole different world, which takes some accustoming to it. The language, the people, the dressing-code and the buildings. A culture shock. To get a first impression, we stroll around the neighbourhood and in the end find ourselves in the Medina of Salé. Here are numerous little shops with candy, bread and lots and lots more sweets. Mini-companies where they fix up mopeds, make wooden furniture with beautiful lay-ins, or cushions and lots and lots of small eateries and coffeehouses. We search for a cash dispenser, which, according to the harbour master is only in Rabat and not here in Salé. We find no less than 5 dispensers, however, it doesn’t work at all at the first 4 and at the 5th we then use our credit card.  In retrospect it turns out that we forgot to change the area of our cash cards from Europe to World coverage. We are not in Europe, anymore, dopes that we are! At last we now have some dirhams to pay with. We buy some buns for the next morning and walk back to Marina where we eat at one of the restaurants there. Tired, but contented we go back to the boat and not much later drape ourselves over the saloon couch and watch a flick.
----------
 
 
11-12-2016, reactie van Freek
Leuk met die filmpjes! Lekker zeetje ook ;)
 
11-12-2016, reactie van Carel
Zeg, Fred, die whisky? Dat was toch geen Glenfiddich???
 
11-12-2016, reactie van Fred
Nee, gelukkig niet. Die hebben we nog steeds aan boord.
Het was een goedkope whisky gekocht in Portugal.
 
11-12-2016, reactie van E. Rodriguez

Hallo Fred en Carolin pretig kerst daagen en een gelukig niuwe jaar

Groetjes Enrique en Carla
 ----------
     << Terug >>