One highlight of being here is that Eva of Eva7Seas is here so we have had a nice catch up session with her.
This photo shows her here.
We are likely to be here for a few days as it makes a good base for further exploration of the island.
Saturday, 31 August 2013
Moved to Machico
Five days in Quinta do Lorde allowed us to catch up on showers and laundry but we were feeling a bit ghettoized in a yottie way so have moved a couple of miles up the coast to the town of Machico. We are tied up to the concrete pier which is not something we are very experienced with but so far it has been fine.
One highlight of being here is that Eva of Eva7Seas is here so we have had a nice catch up session with her.
This photo shows her here.
We are likely to be here for a few days as it makes a good base for further exploration of the island.
One highlight of being here is that Eva of Eva7Seas is here so we have had a nice catch up session with her.
This photo shows her here.
We are likely to be here for a few days as it makes a good base for further exploration of the island.
Friday, 30 August 2013
Periodic Upload of Photos
We periodically get around to pushing a few photos onto a publicly available Google album. As ever, the url is:
here
We are also starting to take an interest in Tropical Revolving Storms aka hurricanes so are looking at the National Hurricane Center
here
We are also starting to take an interest in Tropical Revolving Storms aka hurricanes so are looking at the National Hurricane Center
Touristy Stuff
We have spent the last two days doing touristy stuff. Yesterday we took the bus to Funchal and today we investigated Machico and did a bit of walking. Here are some indifferent photos of it. The weather is looking to become much brighter and we are resolved to spend longer here now. We will however be moving to Machico as it is a more "real" place than Quinto do Lorde is.
Of course, we are constitutionally incapable of not looking at the harbour facilities in a place we visit. So, not withstanding the fact that we spend nearly all our time on the water at the moment, our first thing in a new place is to rush down to the waterfront and look at the boats there and whether we could get in. Sadly, Funchal is not looking promising. There used to be an anchorage to the east of the very busy marina but that has been entirely filled in. Pictures on the fences show a marina with cruise ship dock outside of it. Goodness knows when it is likely to be finished though. Here is what it looks like at the moment.
The old part of Funchal is a lovely place with lots of squares and some quite old churches and such like. This is the Praca de Municipio.
This last is the interior of a very old Jesuit college that is now part of the University of Madeira. The students are set to work trying to recruit tourists to come in and visit for free (and buy stuff in their gift shop of course). It is an intriguing building and we even bought a t shirt in the shop so they were very happy. The architecture is typical of old Funchal where they have white washed walls with window and door frames made from some sort of very dark volcanic stone. It makes for quite a dramatic look though one that is difficult to photograph well.
Sadly, the rest of my pictures are really not very memorable so I won't clutter this blog up with them. The cloud built up and we wound up spending too much time fending off some scammers pretending to do a survey of why tourists come to the island. Needless to say, we will be going back there.
Today we first went into Machico to do some shopping and also to meet up with Eva Kullgren on Olina who we had previously met outside Cadiz. She is tied up to the wall at Machico and we are going there ourselves. The facilities here at Quinta do Lorde are very good but it is too closed in and exclusive with all non residents and berth holders kept out.
This afternoon we took a bit of a walk out along the peninsula at the eastern extremity of the island. There is an anchorage there called Bahia d'Abra. The foot path skirts round this and then out to the end of the peninsula but we walked to the top of the bay. The photography was a bit better owing to the clouds clearing away.
The Peninsula de Sao Laurenco (the c should have a cedilla on it making it a soft c) is quite dramatic as we found when sailing past it. The walking is relatively easy though you still find some steep bits where you need a good head for heights.
Before people arrived in the thirteenth century, the island was heavily wooded and very fertile. The Portuguese embarked on a programme of systematic deforestation and, in the eastern extremity introduced goats who grazed all the grass off leaving a near desert now!
Nevertheless, the bay itself does look enticing as a place to stop for a day or so. We shall see if we do make it there. This is the rocky bit right at the head of the bay.
We stopped for a rest on the remains of a dry stone wall and found these lizards moving slow enough to be captured by the camera.
Finally, another view of a barren landscape with evidence of heavy water erosion - though it was as dry as a tinder box and any stray light would have caused a serious fire. I really do need to remember that I am not a geography teacher though!
Of course, we are constitutionally incapable of not looking at the harbour facilities in a place we visit. So, not withstanding the fact that we spend nearly all our time on the water at the moment, our first thing in a new place is to rush down to the waterfront and look at the boats there and whether we could get in. Sadly, Funchal is not looking promising. There used to be an anchorage to the east of the very busy marina but that has been entirely filled in. Pictures on the fences show a marina with cruise ship dock outside of it. Goodness knows when it is likely to be finished though. Here is what it looks like at the moment.
The old part of Funchal is a lovely place with lots of squares and some quite old churches and such like. This is the Praca de Municipio.
This last is the interior of a very old Jesuit college that is now part of the University of Madeira. The students are set to work trying to recruit tourists to come in and visit for free (and buy stuff in their gift shop of course). It is an intriguing building and we even bought a t shirt in the shop so they were very happy. The architecture is typical of old Funchal where they have white washed walls with window and door frames made from some sort of very dark volcanic stone. It makes for quite a dramatic look though one that is difficult to photograph well.
Sadly, the rest of my pictures are really not very memorable so I won't clutter this blog up with them. The cloud built up and we wound up spending too much time fending off some scammers pretending to do a survey of why tourists come to the island. Needless to say, we will be going back there.
Today we first went into Machico to do some shopping and also to meet up with Eva Kullgren on Olina who we had previously met outside Cadiz. She is tied up to the wall at Machico and we are going there ourselves. The facilities here at Quinta do Lorde are very good but it is too closed in and exclusive with all non residents and berth holders kept out.
This afternoon we took a bit of a walk out along the peninsula at the eastern extremity of the island. There is an anchorage there called Bahia d'Abra. The foot path skirts round this and then out to the end of the peninsula but we walked to the top of the bay. The photography was a bit better owing to the clouds clearing away.
The Peninsula de Sao Laurenco (the c should have a cedilla on it making it a soft c) is quite dramatic as we found when sailing past it. The walking is relatively easy though you still find some steep bits where you need a good head for heights.
Before people arrived in the thirteenth century, the island was heavily wooded and very fertile. The Portuguese embarked on a programme of systematic deforestation and, in the eastern extremity introduced goats who grazed all the grass off leaving a near desert now!
Nevertheless, the bay itself does look enticing as a place to stop for a day or so. We shall see if we do make it there. This is the rocky bit right at the head of the bay.
We stopped for a rest on the remains of a dry stone wall and found these lizards moving slow enough to be captured by the camera.
Finally, another view of a barren landscape with evidence of heavy water erosion - though it was as dry as a tinder box and any stray light would have caused a serious fire. I really do need to remember that I am not a geography teacher though!
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
On to Madeira Grande
Ten days and we felt we had thoroughly absorbed Porto Santo and it was time to move on. The laundry situation was also getting a bit desperate. The Marina Porto Santo does have washing machines but they are not self service and very expensive. We did one wash to tide us over but now need to do some thorough washing.
Our first sight of the island after the 20 mile passage between the islands was suitably dramatic though the photo makes the weather look much grimmer than it was!
The sail from Porto Santo to Quinta do Lorde which is at the extreme eastern end of the island was a pleasant one with a nice force 5 to 6 on the quarter. It is an odd place being a fairly new "marina village". Everything is pristine but also completely fake. Still, the shelter is good with no surge in the harbour at all though the wind does whistle through with a vengeance.
We will be spending a few days here and do some touring around the island. There is a wine festival starting on the first of September which we will definitely have to stay for.
Finally, the view from our cockpit at the moment.
Sunday, 25 August 2013
Making Bread
One of the aspects of being a long distance cruiser that “they” don't tell you about is the strange and inconsistent way in which you apply the self sufficiency mantra. Sometimes you will happily bemoan the fact that you can't get your hands on good coffee irrespective of the fact that you should have stocked up when it was available in Spain. Other times you will move heaven and earth to get hold of the wherewithal to make something that is generally available in even the remotest locations. An example of the latter is bread.
Of course, almost all settlements will have a baker and the more remote, the more likely it is to be quite good. Put simply, bread is one of the easiest of all foodstuffs to get hold of. However, there is a wealth of information on the web about how to make bread in your pressure cooker, thus saving you the need to burn lots of gas by using the oven.
The argument that we will trot out is that bread does not keep very well and the smell of fresh baked bread while on passage will be lovely. However, the old rule that seventy percent of your time is spent in harbour is probably conservative and most cruisers most likely spend eighty or ninety percent in harbour. The longest passage on an Atlantic circuit is likely to be three weeks at most. That in a one year cruise!
Still, we have spent ages trying to get the bits together to allow us to make bread. We have the key item which is a pressure cooker. However, you still need a trivet of some type and a suitable container for the bread. It is amazingly difficult to get these things – even finding a pressure cooker can be difficult but thanks to Moreleys in Brixton we have had one for a long time. In the UK, my favourite cook shop is John Lewis on Oxford Street but they let me down and can only now sell bread makers!
Various ferreterias in Spain also failed to turn up the goods. Finally though a Chinese shop in Porto Santo, Madeira had a butterfly leaf steamer and a suitably sized tin.
We took our new possessions back to the boat and I had a go. There are not really any suitable recipes out there but I just poured what looked like enough flour into the bowl, added salt, yeast and some olive oil before adding water enough to make up a dough. I didn't bother kneading it but left it to rise for a while before putting on the pressure cooker. A web site we had found suggested 20 minutes. I added plenty of water to the bottom and turned things on. After twenty minutes we turned off and waited for the pressure to ease.
The result? Well it was bread alright but without a crust of course. Actually, it was really quite nice and we are looking forward to doing it again.
Of course, almost all settlements will have a baker and the more remote, the more likely it is to be quite good. Put simply, bread is one of the easiest of all foodstuffs to get hold of. However, there is a wealth of information on the web about how to make bread in your pressure cooker, thus saving you the need to burn lots of gas by using the oven.
The argument that we will trot out is that bread does not keep very well and the smell of fresh baked bread while on passage will be lovely. However, the old rule that seventy percent of your time is spent in harbour is probably conservative and most cruisers most likely spend eighty or ninety percent in harbour. The longest passage on an Atlantic circuit is likely to be three weeks at most. That in a one year cruise!
Still, we have spent ages trying to get the bits together to allow us to make bread. We have the key item which is a pressure cooker. However, you still need a trivet of some type and a suitable container for the bread. It is amazingly difficult to get these things – even finding a pressure cooker can be difficult but thanks to Moreleys in Brixton we have had one for a long time. In the UK, my favourite cook shop is John Lewis on Oxford Street but they let me down and can only now sell bread makers!
Various ferreterias in Spain also failed to turn up the goods. Finally though a Chinese shop in Porto Santo, Madeira had a butterfly leaf steamer and a suitably sized tin.
We took our new possessions back to the boat and I had a go. There are not really any suitable recipes out there but I just poured what looked like enough flour into the bowl, added salt, yeast and some olive oil before adding water enough to make up a dough. I didn't bother kneading it but left it to rise for a while before putting on the pressure cooker. A web site we had found suggested 20 minutes. I added plenty of water to the bottom and turned things on. After twenty minutes we turned off and waited for the pressure to ease.
The result? Well it was bread alright but without a crust of course. Actually, it was really quite nice and we are looking forward to doing it again.
Friday, 23 August 2013
More Porto Santo
We arrived a week ago this evening and now feel quite at home here. It is a lovely little island well worth getting to know.
Yesterday we took the tourist bus which covers pretty much the whole island in a couple of hours. Of course, I took lots of pictures though not as many as previously threatened owing to the weather being a bit hazy. A highlight of the trip was the Spanish woman we were sat next to. She was from Pontevedra and was absolutely amazed when we pointed out Sarah G to her as we passed the harbour.
Anyway, here are some less than fantastic pictures.
We stopped for a few minutes at the southeastern end of the beach that forms the whole east coast of the island.
The geology of the island is interesting as it is formed of a series of volcanic plugs over which there are sedimentary rocks making up the majority of the landscape. This is one of the obviously volcanic peaks of the island.
The west coast of the island is not settled and very rugged. The chart shows that there is a wide area of shoals so we are unlikely to visit by boat!
There is a lookout point about half way up the highest peak on the island and the bus follows a precipitous and winding road to get there. The views are well worth it though.
Finally, there is some idiot in a hat overlooking the harbour - thank you Audrey!
Yesterday we took the tourist bus which covers pretty much the whole island in a couple of hours. Of course, I took lots of pictures though not as many as previously threatened owing to the weather being a bit hazy. A highlight of the trip was the Spanish woman we were sat next to. She was from Pontevedra and was absolutely amazed when we pointed out Sarah G to her as we passed the harbour.
Anyway, here are some less than fantastic pictures.
We stopped for a few minutes at the southeastern end of the beach that forms the whole east coast of the island.
The geology of the island is interesting as it is formed of a series of volcanic plugs over which there are sedimentary rocks making up the majority of the landscape. This is one of the obviously volcanic peaks of the island.
The west coast of the island is not settled and very rugged. The chart shows that there is a wide area of shoals so we are unlikely to visit by boat!
There is a lookout point about half way up the highest peak on the island and the bus follows a precipitous and winding road to get there. The views are well worth it though.
Finally, there is some idiot in a hat overlooking the harbour - thank you Audrey!
Monday, 19 August 2013
Some initial photos
Just a couple of photos so far. It is a very photogenic place but difficult to get any interesting images of that aren't just postcard type snaps.
This is the view SE from the harbour.
We went for a walk and climbed up to a lookout point above the harbour and got this view to the NE which is roughly where we approached from.
Then we spotted a rather nice blue boat moored in the harbour. Sorry for the vanity.
This is the view SE from the harbour.
We went for a walk and climbed up to a lookout point above the harbour and got this view to the NE which is roughly where we approached from.
Then we spotted a rather nice blue boat moored in the harbour. Sorry for the vanity.
Sunday, 18 August 2013
First Day in Porto Santo
Well, we have now been nearly 36 hours here and are feeling like we are settling in. After a bit of searching around, we found the GNR (Guarda Nacional Republicana or the national police force) who expect you to check in with them as soon as possible after arrival. A slightly dour but pleasant man peered at our passports and tapped some keys on his computer, asked us a few questions about where we had come from and where we were going then thanked us. We used to think that the procedures for arrival in Portugal were a bit heavy when compared with Spain but they are positively perfunctory when compared with Morocco. I dread to think what it would be like in somewhere like Algeria – the cruising guide says it takes a day to get cleared in!
We also found the marina office who took the usual copies of our paperwork though her method of copying the boat registration was to photograph it with a small camera: we can only assume that the photocopier was broken. We wandered into the island's town of Vila Balaieera and found the supermarket where we promptly made a beeline for the wine section and bought a bottle of our favourite rose for drinking that night. Not alcohol dependent us then! Perhaps most importantly, we have now had a shower and are a bit less pongy than we were. We will take a bit of a walk round the island in the next day or so as it is very small. It has a nice atmosphere owing mostly to its small size and the fact that it has a beach. The main island of Madeira doesn't have any beaches so the daily ferry from Funchal disgorges loads of beach bound bodies who return somehwat pinker than when they arrive.
Finally, it is also a very photogenic island and I will be taking loads of pictures.
I include this to show how ugly some modern boats can be. Apologies to the owner of this catamaran if they are reading this but they can console themselves with the view that beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
We also found the marina office who took the usual copies of our paperwork though her method of copying the boat registration was to photograph it with a small camera: we can only assume that the photocopier was broken. We wandered into the island's town of Vila Balaieera and found the supermarket where we promptly made a beeline for the wine section and bought a bottle of our favourite rose for drinking that night. Not alcohol dependent us then! Perhaps most importantly, we have now had a shower and are a bit less pongy than we were. We will take a bit of a walk round the island in the next day or so as it is very small. It has a nice atmosphere owing mostly to its small size and the fact that it has a beach. The main island of Madeira doesn't have any beaches so the daily ferry from Funchal disgorges loads of beach bound bodies who return somehwat pinker than when they arrive.
Finally, it is also a very photogenic island and I will be taking loads of pictures.
I include this to show how ugly some modern boats can be. Apologies to the owner of this catamaran if they are reading this but they can console themselves with the view that beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
More photos of Morocco
Owing to the difficult broadband, I didn't get as much in the way of photos on here. So, these are a selection of what we saw.
In the twelth century, I think, the Almohad dynasty created a vast wall around Rabat - this is the landward side of it as we walked towards Chellah to visit Sala Colonia.
In Chellah now and we think this is in a bakery and the funny round stone is a grind stone for the grain. When are the BBC documentary makers when you need them!?
The next two pictrures are of what we think was the forum - Frankie Howerd where are you?
We now move into the thirteenth century Merenid/Marinid mosque site.
Some strange bloke wearing blue and a hat. Think of us in long trousers as the mercury (not allowed in thermometers now) was pushing well over 30.
Finally, at the bottom they used the spring which was what decided the Phonecians to set up their trading port there in the first place to water a lovely garden.
You can see my Mother walking along it here.
An example of the flowers growing there.
Mother and I had a very hot walk around the Kasbah and river entrance just after Ramadan had finished (I think it was the day after Eid).
And that completes our visit to a fascinating country. We would like to go back again but at a different time of year and perhaps organise it a bit more before hand. August is very hot in the interior and Ramadan makes it difficult to get food and refreshment on day trips.
We did take the train to Mohammedia a few miles down the coast but the photos were not very inspiring so I won't inflict them on anyone here.
In the twelth century, I think, the Almohad dynasty created a vast wall around Rabat - this is the landward side of it as we walked towards Chellah to visit Sala Colonia.
In Chellah now and we think this is in a bakery and the funny round stone is a grind stone for the grain. When are the BBC documentary makers when you need them!?
The next two pictrures are of what we think was the forum - Frankie Howerd where are you?
We now move into the thirteenth century Merenid/Marinid mosque site.
Some strange bloke wearing blue and a hat. Think of us in long trousers as the mercury (not allowed in thermometers now) was pushing well over 30.
Finally, at the bottom they used the spring which was what decided the Phonecians to set up their trading port there in the first place to water a lovely garden.
You can see my Mother walking along it here.
An example of the flowers growing there.
Mother and I had a very hot walk around the Kasbah and river entrance just after Ramadan had finished (I think it was the day after Eid).
And that completes our visit to a fascinating country. We would like to go back again but at a different time of year and perhaps organise it a bit more before hand. August is very hot in the interior and Ramadan makes it difficult to get food and refreshment on day trips.
We did take the train to Mohammedia a few miles down the coast but the photos were not very inspiring so I won't inflict them on anyone here.
Rabat To Madeira
Although we have done quite a lot of passage making in Sarah G during this cruise, we have not so far, done a proper ocean passage. Two days from Cadíz to Rabat was really just a long coast wise passage. Thus we were approaching our planned trip to Madeira with some slight trepidation. However it has panned out quite well and we are now delighted to be in Porto Santo. It was not he easiest of passages as the trade winds blew with quite a vengeance and for two days we were getting winds of between 25 and thirty knots for hours at a time. Indeed, they only dropped for a few hours from lunch time till sundown – rather the opposite of a sea breeze really!
Of course, with the stronger wind came steeper seas rather than the long rolling waves we were hoping for. In particular the third night at sea brought a vicious cross sea that led to a very jerky and uncomfortable motion. So, for two days we really did not enjoy ourselves! However, we were putting in good daily runs and were averaging around 4.5 knots which equals about 110 miles a day rather than the hundred we normally budget on. Thus the whole passage only took four days rather than the five we expected. The final day at sea was also very nice, the cloud that had obscured the night sky disappeared and the wind did not get up nearly as much being much more what you expect in the trade winds – 15-25 knots. Then to cap it off we got a landfall just as the sun was going down with an ethereal hazy view of the mountains of Porto Santo coming up. We eventually picked up a swinging mooring in the harbour being unable to find a marina berth.
Landfall was truly spectacular with a very mountainous Porto Santo emerging out of the haze just as the sun was going down. The final approach took a couple of hours and then we had a bit of a go around till we picked up the mooring and of all things another boat was arriving at exactly the same time! This photo sort of does justice to the landfall. I make no apologies for the crooked horizon either :-)
Clear skies brought spectacular views of the milky way which was running almost directly over head. Also, being the Persids, there were lots of meteors to see. It would be lovely if the boat were sufficiently stable a platform to set up a telescope though the idea of putting my 130 mm reflector telescope on the foredeck would be an interesting one. Were old Patrick Moore alive he could make some acerbic comment about extreme astronomy.
As it turns out, a race had arrived that night and the marina was nearly full. So, we are on one of their swinging moorings and happier just as we prefer to be at anchor if we can. It is also cheaper!
As for other observations about the passage. UK based yotties will be familiar with how carefully the UK Coastguard patrol the VHF airwaves. Well, down here, when in range of the coast, is a very different affair and there is a constant barrage of silly chit chat and other stuff. One person in the region of Casablanca spent the whole night being “Monkey” and giving instructions for “Banana Port Operations”. Lots of other people would then tell him to shut up but that only encouraged him more. We were getting very puritanical about it all and wondering what the calm officers at Falmouth Coastguard would do about it.
This was one very large tanker that passed quite close to us on one of the cloudy days.
Offshore, the ships keep up a very ugly set of abusive chat between each other. We now know that Philippino and Indian crew all hate each other and trade racist insults on channel 16 but only at night. For the non sailors, there are a whole load of VHF channels all of which have different purposes such as port operations, ship to shore and ship to ship. Channel 16 is the designated calling and emergency channel. You are supposed to keep a listening watch on it so that if any one is in distress, they can make a mayday call and everyone else will hear it. When making routine calls you must keep the usage of channel 16 to a minimum and then move to a working channel. Of course, well out to sea there is very little to do on the bridge of a large ship and no zealous radio officer to tell you to shut up so I can understand the tendency of a bored and underpaid fourth officer to trade insults with the other ships he can see on his radar though it is a bit unpleasant when you are trying to snatch some sleep while off watch.
Still, we are delighted to be here and are definitely ready to do some more! We might turn off the VHF radio though.
This, even greyer, picture was taken about half way. I have a note in the logbook to say that Porto Santo was 235 miles dead ahead!
Of course, with the stronger wind came steeper seas rather than the long rolling waves we were hoping for. In particular the third night at sea brought a vicious cross sea that led to a very jerky and uncomfortable motion. So, for two days we really did not enjoy ourselves! However, we were putting in good daily runs and were averaging around 4.5 knots which equals about 110 miles a day rather than the hundred we normally budget on. Thus the whole passage only took four days rather than the five we expected. The final day at sea was also very nice, the cloud that had obscured the night sky disappeared and the wind did not get up nearly as much being much more what you expect in the trade winds – 15-25 knots. Then to cap it off we got a landfall just as the sun was going down with an ethereal hazy view of the mountains of Porto Santo coming up. We eventually picked up a swinging mooring in the harbour being unable to find a marina berth.
Landfall was truly spectacular with a very mountainous Porto Santo emerging out of the haze just as the sun was going down. The final approach took a couple of hours and then we had a bit of a go around till we picked up the mooring and of all things another boat was arriving at exactly the same time! This photo sort of does justice to the landfall. I make no apologies for the crooked horizon either :-)
Clear skies brought spectacular views of the milky way which was running almost directly over head. Also, being the Persids, there were lots of meteors to see. It would be lovely if the boat were sufficiently stable a platform to set up a telescope though the idea of putting my 130 mm reflector telescope on the foredeck would be an interesting one. Were old Patrick Moore alive he could make some acerbic comment about extreme astronomy.
As it turns out, a race had arrived that night and the marina was nearly full. So, we are on one of their swinging moorings and happier just as we prefer to be at anchor if we can. It is also cheaper!
As for other observations about the passage. UK based yotties will be familiar with how carefully the UK Coastguard patrol the VHF airwaves. Well, down here, when in range of the coast, is a very different affair and there is a constant barrage of silly chit chat and other stuff. One person in the region of Casablanca spent the whole night being “Monkey” and giving instructions for “Banana Port Operations”. Lots of other people would then tell him to shut up but that only encouraged him more. We were getting very puritanical about it all and wondering what the calm officers at Falmouth Coastguard would do about it.
This was one very large tanker that passed quite close to us on one of the cloudy days.
Offshore, the ships keep up a very ugly set of abusive chat between each other. We now know that Philippino and Indian crew all hate each other and trade racist insults on channel 16 but only at night. For the non sailors, there are a whole load of VHF channels all of which have different purposes such as port operations, ship to shore and ship to ship. Channel 16 is the designated calling and emergency channel. You are supposed to keep a listening watch on it so that if any one is in distress, they can make a mayday call and everyone else will hear it. When making routine calls you must keep the usage of channel 16 to a minimum and then move to a working channel. Of course, well out to sea there is very little to do on the bridge of a large ship and no zealous radio officer to tell you to shut up so I can understand the tendency of a bored and underpaid fourth officer to trade insults with the other ships he can see on his radar though it is a bit unpleasant when you are trying to snatch some sleep while off watch.
Still, we are delighted to be here and are definitely ready to do some more! We might turn off the VHF radio though.
This, even greyer, picture was taken about half way. I have a note in the logbook to say that Porto Santo was 235 miles dead ahead!
Saturday, 17 August 2013
Arrived Madeira
The laptop battery is almost flat so I will put a longer posting up soon. Suffice to say we arrived in Porto Santo at 0045 this morning after a four day passage from Rabat.
We are very pleased to be here and enjoying cold beer in the cafe.
We are very pleased to be here and enjoying cold beer in the cafe.
Saturday, 10 August 2013
Last Posting From Morocco
This is likely to be our last posting from lovely Rabat. We are planning on taking our departure on Monday 13 August destination Porto Santo in the Madeira Archipelago.
We have really enjoyed the difference of not being in Europe though next time we come here we will make sure to come either earlier or later in the year and also ensure that it is not Ramadan either. The difficulty in getting food at lunch time makes day trips a bit of trial for us though it does fill us with admiration for the practising muslims here!
Consequently we have not done as much travelling around as we would have wished. At least we made it to Mohammedia a few miles down the coast today and had lunch in a beachside cafe! Below is a description of our visit to one of the major attractions of Rabat.
One of the atractions of Rabat and indeed a lot of the towns along the Atlantic coast of Morocco is the long history that these places have. Rabat for instance, was first settled by Phoenecians thousands of years ago. Their settlement was known as Sala Colonia and was subsequently taken over by the Romans. The roman town has been preserved even though it was also used by the Merenid dynasty during the twelth century. Now known as Chellah it sits just ouside the city walls of Rabat and well repays a visit being both fascinating and good value at only 10 Dihrams.
Probably one of the best aspects of it from a European's perspective is that you are free to clamber over all the ruins without being roped off. I expect that this will accelerate the damage to the remains of course but it makes for an immeasurably more immediate experience. You can really imagine what it must have been like for the baker when you can walk into his building and touch the grindstone. Once we had identified the forum we were all beset with images of Frankie Howerd even if we weren't looking at Pompeii. Another observation that forces itself on you is how much smaller than us were the ancients. I suspect that we would all tower over them given the size of their rooms and how low the ceilings were.
I'll do some more photos when we have more access to wifi!
We have really enjoyed the difference of not being in Europe though next time we come here we will make sure to come either earlier or later in the year and also ensure that it is not Ramadan either. The difficulty in getting food at lunch time makes day trips a bit of trial for us though it does fill us with admiration for the practising muslims here!
Consequently we have not done as much travelling around as we would have wished. At least we made it to Mohammedia a few miles down the coast today and had lunch in a beachside cafe! Below is a description of our visit to one of the major attractions of Rabat.
One of the atractions of Rabat and indeed a lot of the towns along the Atlantic coast of Morocco is the long history that these places have. Rabat for instance, was first settled by Phoenecians thousands of years ago. Their settlement was known as Sala Colonia and was subsequently taken over by the Romans. The roman town has been preserved even though it was also used by the Merenid dynasty during the twelth century. Now known as Chellah it sits just ouside the city walls of Rabat and well repays a visit being both fascinating and good value at only 10 Dihrams.
Probably one of the best aspects of it from a European's perspective is that you are free to clamber over all the ruins without being roped off. I expect that this will accelerate the damage to the remains of course but it makes for an immeasurably more immediate experience. You can really imagine what it must have been like for the baker when you can walk into his building and touch the grindstone. Once we had identified the forum we were all beset with images of Frankie Howerd even if we weren't looking at Pompeii. Another observation that forces itself on you is how much smaller than us were the ancients. I suspect that we would all tower over them given the size of their rooms and how low the ceilings were.
I'll do some more photos when we have more access to wifi!
Monday, 5 August 2013
Some Photos
I will put a few pictures up here of Morocco so far.
First of all - we didn't get much sailing in on the passage down here but when we did it was quite magical. The highlight for us was that the water became that deep aquamarine blue that is the hallmark of "blue water sailing". This picture almost does it justice as well!
After a day to catch up on sleep and then a day to find our feet, this picture of the Grand Mosque de Rabat proves we are not in Spain any more - Hooray! Not that we don't really like Spain of course.
This is the picture postcard view of the Kasbah des Oudiyas which sits right at the mouth of the River Bou Regreg on the edge of Rabat.
This is a wrecked version of the hundreds of tiny fishing boats that operate along this coast. We met several while over 20 miles off the coast.
Inside the Kasbah is a very beautiful and restful garden complete with very aloof cats who decline to be photographed. Instead I tried to get a nice picture of the plants against the castellated walls!
The marina does not run to laundry facilities so we have been doing lots of hand washing. I should point out that the AWB (average white boat) behind me is not ours and we are still very happily esconced on Sarah Giddings!
There are lots of these white heron like birds all over the place including sitting on mooring ropes. We haven't identified them yet. If any ornithonologists can identify them ...
In an earlier post I mentioned the Hassan II tower and ruined mosque. This is the view from it over towards the sea. It is now next to the Mohammed V mausoleum which contains the remains of the King who won Morocco her independence from France and Spain in 1956.
I will put some more photos up soon I hope.
First of all - we didn't get much sailing in on the passage down here but when we did it was quite magical. The highlight for us was that the water became that deep aquamarine blue that is the hallmark of "blue water sailing". This picture almost does it justice as well!
After a day to catch up on sleep and then a day to find our feet, this picture of the Grand Mosque de Rabat proves we are not in Spain any more - Hooray! Not that we don't really like Spain of course.
This is the picture postcard view of the Kasbah des Oudiyas which sits right at the mouth of the River Bou Regreg on the edge of Rabat.
This is a wrecked version of the hundreds of tiny fishing boats that operate along this coast. We met several while over 20 miles off the coast.
Inside the Kasbah is a very beautiful and restful garden complete with very aloof cats who decline to be photographed. Instead I tried to get a nice picture of the plants against the castellated walls!
The marina does not run to laundry facilities so we have been doing lots of hand washing. I should point out that the AWB (average white boat) behind me is not ours and we are still very happily esconced on Sarah Giddings!
There are lots of these white heron like birds all over the place including sitting on mooring ropes. We haven't identified them yet. If any ornithonologists can identify them ...
In an earlier post I mentioned the Hassan II tower and ruined mosque. This is the view from it over towards the sea. It is now next to the Mohammed V mausoleum which contains the remains of the King who won Morocco her independence from France and Spain in 1956.
I will put some more photos up soon I hope.
Visiting Fes And A Few Other Things
As ever, access to secure web sites is blocked at the marina here in Rabat so I am keeping a bit of a diary and may get it up later on. My Mother is staying in a Riad (a private house that has been converted to a hotel) and they have good wifi though I feel it would be a bit of am imposition on their hospitality to start hogging their bandwidth by uploading photos.
We have been doing the tourist thing in greater earnest for the last couple of days. It was great to welcome my Mother at Rabat-Sale airport last Thursday. We duly got her delivered to the Riad and then retreated back to the boat. There is no public transport to the airport so we had our first experience of getting a grand taxi and experiencing Moroccan roads. Taxis here are not as straightforward as they might be. Basically there are two types of taxi: Grand Taxi are typically rather beat up Mercedes and do longer distances including inter city transport. They are licensed for up to six people and there are a set of fixed charges. Thus when a driver has six passengers for a given place, they will split the fare between them and away it will go. Petit taxis on the other hand are typically beat up fiats or Peugeots and are strictly for local work and behave like a European taxi. Their local nature is underlined by the fact that the blue cars of Rabat are not permitted to cross the bridge to Sale and vice versa for the yellow cars of Sale. For westerners, the most disconcerting aspect of riding in the taxis are the seat belts. No one wears them though I have noticed that drivers in private cars do wear them. The wearing of seatbelts has now become so ingrained in our driving habits that it feels very strange to be looking through a cracked windscreen knowing that there is nothing to stop your head adding to the cracks should the car suffer even a minor shunt!
Anyway, on Thursday last, we duly engaged a rather taciturn man in a taxi and agreed the 150 Dihram for the 8 Km to the airport. We didn't feel like sharing so forked out the whole lot ourselves! Mother's flight arrived OK and a much more friendly young man Abdel Kader brought us back. We deposited Mother in her Riad where she was welcomed effusively and we used Abdel to deliver us back to the marina.
The next day was of course a slow one though we gleefully unpacked all the goodies Mother had brought down for us – things like oil filters which we have not been able to get anywhere! We also of course bored her with all the photos which are not good enough to inflict on the long suffering readers of this blog and waved various charts showing where we spent this or that night weather bound or where this or that powerboat annoyed us with their music and jet skis.
Finally, the time for some real tourism had arrived and we took train to Fes (or Fez). Moroccan trains are quite good though not the best at being on time. They are cheap though and the nearly three hour journey to Fes cost us 180 Dihram each which is the equivalent of about £13. The only trouble was that the train up was completely packed and we all had to spend some or even most of the journey standing in the corridor which we found intensely frustrating. Still, we did all get seats over time and by the time the train left Meknes, I had got one as well.
Fes is a large and very ancient city and was the capital of Morocco under the Merinid dynasty in the twelfth century. As with all Moroccan cities there is a Ville Nouvelle built during the French colonial period outside of the old Medina and then the original Medina is left in tact outside the classical French feeling city. This enlightened style of colonialism was pioneered by the first governor – a guy called Marechal Luyteney who must have been quite an Arabophile. Thankfully, his policies outlasted his time and Morocco never seems to have suffered under the French as other of their colonies such as Algeria did.
The practical upshot of Luyteney's town planning policies in Fes is that there is a well ordered city with wide boulevards and then, some kilometres away, you find a bewildering array of Medina with their Souks. Being inland, the temperature soars and also, being Ramadan, the taxi drivers are all rather tired and fractious. Still, after a two rides, we did find ourselves outside the Medina and we scuttled into the shade of the Souk. We were quite close to the very famous Merenid Kairouan mosque. We even found it but as it is slap bank in the middle of the Medina, it is impossible to get a view of the outside of it though the time it takes to walk around gives you some indication of its size. We wandered around the Souk some more and marvelled at the donkeys walking through as they seem to be the preferred method of bringing goods in still. Then, having exhausted those amusements, we took ourselves out into the glaring sun while trying to decide what to do next.
Being Ramadan, all the restaurants and cafés were closed and the only alternatives seemed to be to either try and persuade a taxi that we wanted to see another souk or to retreat to a hotel near the station and get some lunch. The second option won out. We therefore found ourselves a less grumpy taxi driver who took us on a typically breakneck race back to the Station. We found an Ibis hotel and rather shamefacedly partook of their highly international (read bland) lunch and even had a couple of sneaky beers into the bargain.
The train ride back was a much nicer affair. We were in plenty of time so managed to get ourselves some seats. It was also a lot less crowded though it was more or less full after leaving Meknes. I found the scenery fascinating. Fes is locating on quite a high plain between the Rif and Atlas mountain ranges which explains why it was so hot – it was touching 40 all day. The plain continued as far as Meknes though they seem to be able to cultivate vines up there as we passed a lot though the primary crop seems to be olives of which there were endless groves.
After leaving Meknes the train started a long descent down to the coastal plain. There was quite a narrow valley initially and with a river running through the valley providing dramatic greenery compared with the dry and brown fields where a few sheep were grazing. I was intrigued to see that there were still quite a lot of entirely manual farms down the valley with people using scythes and donkeys. Later on, the coastal plains held much larger and more mechanised farms.
The other highlight of the trip was that just as we were pulling into a station, the sun officially went down and silence ruled except for the rustling of bags and a concentrated munching sound of people thankfully breaking their fast!
We have been doing the tourist thing in greater earnest for the last couple of days. It was great to welcome my Mother at Rabat-Sale airport last Thursday. We duly got her delivered to the Riad and then retreated back to the boat. There is no public transport to the airport so we had our first experience of getting a grand taxi and experiencing Moroccan roads. Taxis here are not as straightforward as they might be. Basically there are two types of taxi: Grand Taxi are typically rather beat up Mercedes and do longer distances including inter city transport. They are licensed for up to six people and there are a set of fixed charges. Thus when a driver has six passengers for a given place, they will split the fare between them and away it will go. Petit taxis on the other hand are typically beat up fiats or Peugeots and are strictly for local work and behave like a European taxi. Their local nature is underlined by the fact that the blue cars of Rabat are not permitted to cross the bridge to Sale and vice versa for the yellow cars of Sale. For westerners, the most disconcerting aspect of riding in the taxis are the seat belts. No one wears them though I have noticed that drivers in private cars do wear them. The wearing of seatbelts has now become so ingrained in our driving habits that it feels very strange to be looking through a cracked windscreen knowing that there is nothing to stop your head adding to the cracks should the car suffer even a minor shunt!
Anyway, on Thursday last, we duly engaged a rather taciturn man in a taxi and agreed the 150 Dihram for the 8 Km to the airport. We didn't feel like sharing so forked out the whole lot ourselves! Mother's flight arrived OK and a much more friendly young man Abdel Kader brought us back. We deposited Mother in her Riad where she was welcomed effusively and we used Abdel to deliver us back to the marina.
The next day was of course a slow one though we gleefully unpacked all the goodies Mother had brought down for us – things like oil filters which we have not been able to get anywhere! We also of course bored her with all the photos which are not good enough to inflict on the long suffering readers of this blog and waved various charts showing where we spent this or that night weather bound or where this or that powerboat annoyed us with their music and jet skis.
Finally, the time for some real tourism had arrived and we took train to Fes (or Fez). Moroccan trains are quite good though not the best at being on time. They are cheap though and the nearly three hour journey to Fes cost us 180 Dihram each which is the equivalent of about £13. The only trouble was that the train up was completely packed and we all had to spend some or even most of the journey standing in the corridor which we found intensely frustrating. Still, we did all get seats over time and by the time the train left Meknes, I had got one as well.
Fes is a large and very ancient city and was the capital of Morocco under the Merinid dynasty in the twelfth century. As with all Moroccan cities there is a Ville Nouvelle built during the French colonial period outside of the old Medina and then the original Medina is left in tact outside the classical French feeling city. This enlightened style of colonialism was pioneered by the first governor – a guy called Marechal Luyteney who must have been quite an Arabophile. Thankfully, his policies outlasted his time and Morocco never seems to have suffered under the French as other of their colonies such as Algeria did.
The practical upshot of Luyteney's town planning policies in Fes is that there is a well ordered city with wide boulevards and then, some kilometres away, you find a bewildering array of Medina with their Souks. Being inland, the temperature soars and also, being Ramadan, the taxi drivers are all rather tired and fractious. Still, after a two rides, we did find ourselves outside the Medina and we scuttled into the shade of the Souk. We were quite close to the very famous Merenid Kairouan mosque. We even found it but as it is slap bank in the middle of the Medina, it is impossible to get a view of the outside of it though the time it takes to walk around gives you some indication of its size. We wandered around the Souk some more and marvelled at the donkeys walking through as they seem to be the preferred method of bringing goods in still. Then, having exhausted those amusements, we took ourselves out into the glaring sun while trying to decide what to do next.
Being Ramadan, all the restaurants and cafés were closed and the only alternatives seemed to be to either try and persuade a taxi that we wanted to see another souk or to retreat to a hotel near the station and get some lunch. The second option won out. We therefore found ourselves a less grumpy taxi driver who took us on a typically breakneck race back to the Station. We found an Ibis hotel and rather shamefacedly partook of their highly international (read bland) lunch and even had a couple of sneaky beers into the bargain.
The train ride back was a much nicer affair. We were in plenty of time so managed to get ourselves some seats. It was also a lot less crowded though it was more or less full after leaving Meknes. I found the scenery fascinating. Fes is locating on quite a high plain between the Rif and Atlas mountain ranges which explains why it was so hot – it was touching 40 all day. The plain continued as far as Meknes though they seem to be able to cultivate vines up there as we passed a lot though the primary crop seems to be olives of which there were endless groves.
After leaving Meknes the train started a long descent down to the coastal plain. There was quite a narrow valley initially and with a river running through the valley providing dramatic greenery compared with the dry and brown fields where a few sheep were grazing. I was intrigued to see that there were still quite a lot of entirely manual farms down the valley with people using scythes and donkeys. Later on, the coastal plains held much larger and more mechanised farms.
The other highlight of the trip was that just as we were pulling into a station, the sun officially went down and silence ruled except for the rustling of bags and a concentrated munching sound of people thankfully breaking their fast!
Friday, 2 August 2013
A Week In Morocco
This is a running commentary on our stay so far in Rabat. Sadly, the wifi connection at the marina is not able to accept any web connections that require secure connections so I have been unable to update the blog. My Mother arrived yesterday evening an her hotel has good wifi but I don't want to trespass on their hospitality so far as to put pictures up at the moment.
We arrrived in the Marina Bouregreg this morning after a two day passage from Cadiz. The sail was a bit frustrating on account of a lack of wind. When looking at the chart, it shows a painfully slow progression down the coast to the Straits of Gibraltar where we picked up a sea breeze along with the typically stronger winds in the Straits – not a levanter or poniente though. Subsequent to that, the wind dropped and we motored through the night and most of the day. We had worked out it would be slow so only motored slowly. However, at about three ships time a sea breeze gave us a nice sail to within 30 miles of Rabat before dying away again.
We decided not to chance a night entrance but tried heaving to initially. This would have worked well if the wind hadn't died to nothing again leaving the sails slatting and banging in a way that prevented all chance of a sleep. Next, we took all sail down and tried lying ahull as it is called. Usually, this is a storm survival tactic, as is heaving to really. However, this left us with a vicious little roll and set everything below rattling and banging instead of the sails. Lastly, we started the engine and motored very slowly so as to arrive in daylight.
There was a bit of thrill as we headed in when a school of dolphins played around us. Obviously, we didn't see as much as when they visit in daylight hours but it was neat to see them.
The entrance to the Oued Bou Regreg is what is known as challenging. Thus, it has the potential to be dangerous in the wrong conditions. The big issue with this coast is the Atlantic swell. Swell is often generated hundreds or even thousands of miles away so is not directly related to the weather conditions nearby. We had a flat calm but there was still a one meter swell running. Thankfully, this only makes the entrance a bit hair raising rather than dangerous. There are two break waters either side of the mouth of the river and then a corner. It is at the corner that things really happen as the river shallows a lot and the swell is concentrated in a narrow channel. So, it does what all waves do in this situation and the wave climbs, steepens and even breaks. By the time you are here, you are committed of course so have to take what is dished out to you.
We were fine or lucky if you prefer. A couple of larger waves both preceeded and followed us giving us a painless passage through. We had intended on using the pilot boat service offered by the marina but could not get through to them so did it on our own. Once past the initial stages, the river is easy though surprisingly busy with small fishboats and a passenger ferry just below the marina entrance.
Once in the marina, we had our first example of clearing into a non EU country. Being an EU resident gives you a large effectively border free cruising ground where there is the minimum of officialdom to deal with. Portugal is of course a bit different but even there it is easy. Here, you have to fill in about five sets of forms with basically the same information. Immigration are of course interested in you and want all your passport information but also want to see the boat registration and insurance. Then the police want all the same information as well as more information on the boat itself. This caused us some problems as we are only what is called Part Three or Small Ships Registered which maintains a minimum of information on the boat. Thus they ask where the evidence that your home port is Plymouth or that the beam is 2.94 meters. My French is emphatically not up to explaining that the UK authorities do not deem this important for pleasure vessels so don't record it. Makes me wish I had gone for the full Part 1 registration. Oh well, the whole thing is done with good humour and politeness. The policeman warned me not to get involved in any politics and asked if we had any guns aboard.
Finally, the sniffer dog was brought down. He was a rather pudgy black labrador and happlily sniffed round the cockpit and decks but baulked at descending the companionway steps so our interior was not checked at all. We had even gone to the trouble of getting our collection of prescription drugs ready to prove they were genuine just in case. We gather that Bruno will have to decline to descend our steps again when we depart in case we have stocked up on Kif for the clubs of Madeira.
Finally, after about an hour we were permitted to tie up to our alloted berth and then provide all the same paperwork to the marina office. At least the price will be a lot less than in Spain! They have quite a good wifi service here but it doesn't seem able to do any https work so checking email and anything else will be out until we find an internet cafe or some such. If all else fails, this will be a monster post when we reach Madeira!
28/07
Well, we have settled in now and have caught up on sleep. We have even managed a bit of a walk around. There have also been a surprising, in some ways, number of other boats visiting including several Portuguese boats. The rest are generally French or German though there is one Swiss boat and also a Belgian one arrived yesterday. Brits are very under represented though. One other one arrived a day after us and are on a similar cruise to ourselves. Chris and Karen of Moonstone came across for a drink yesterday evening and very kindly supplied the cold beers as we have not yet got our hands on any ice.
While looking at their very smart Ebbtide it was always in the back of my mind that I had seen the boat before. And, sure enough, they used to keep it in the Exeter canal basin where we wintered our old Hurley 22 Kemara. They even remembered Kemara after we reminded them! Sailing really is a very small world.
28/07 cont.
After a lunch aboard, it does seem that Ramadan means that all restaurants are closed in the daytime we went for a wander round the Kasbah des Ouidias in Rabat. This is the characteristic fortified town right at the mouth of the river. It has the longest history of the whole city and makes for a dramatic entrance into the river as well. It is quite typical of these old Aarab towns in that it is a maze of very narrow winding alleyways. It has been kept in good condition and painted blue and white along all the walls. Sadly, you can't get up to the battlements where the canons are.
After leaving the Kasbah, we found our way into the souk. Once again, it was a quintesentially non european experience. Very narrow streets with goods for sale on all sides. Some of it was tourist tat of course but there were still good clothes and food vendors though. In fact, Audrey was able to pick up a couple of long sleeved tops that she has been wanting for ages. Assuredly we will be going back there again.
Rabat has an unusual history though a characteristically long one for this coast. The Phonecians settled it first and the Romans further developed Sala Colonia as they called it. After the Arab conquest in the seventh century it developed a lot under the Almohad dynasty but then fell into a bit of a decline as the authors on 1066 And All That would have phrased it. The city's fortunes were revived after the Spanish reconquista of Andalucia when refugees from Granada and Badajoz settled there. This inaugurated an extraordinary period when piracy became the mainstay of the town and the Pirate Republic of the Bou Regreg was set up. They became known as the Sallee Rovers and raided european ships widely even travelling as far at Plymouth.
Of course, the piracy declined over time but was apparently only finally stamped out in 1910! Now, Rabat is the capital of Morocco as, apparently, King Mohammed V did not want to get into an argument with either Fez or Marrakech as to which should be his capital after he gained independence from France and Spain in 1956.
01/08
Well, we have been a week in Rabat now and are starting to get a feel for the city or rather two cities. Technically, Rabat and Sale are two separate cities but really the latter is a suburb of the other. That said, they do have their own distinctive characters. Rabat is quite a cosmopolitan feeling place with lots of restaurants and cafes in the Ville Nouvelle and a thriving souk in the Veille Ville. Sale is a much more traditional feeling place though I think that more people actually live there. The areas just over the bridge on the Rabat side are I think, where the diplomats live so it is probably very expensive.
We took a wander through the Sale souk this morning but it was mostly closed though. To be fair, we found the same thing when we crossed over the Rabat souk was closed as well.
They have a very new and clean tram system operating and for 6 Dihrams – approximately fifty pence you can ride on it. We have used it several times now. Makes you wish London Transport was the same sort of price and as clean!
My Mother is due to arrive at the airport this evening so the pace of tourism will pick up a bit for the next week and a half after which we will most likely be heading for Madeira unless we change our mind and head straight for the Canaries.
We arrrived in the Marina Bouregreg this morning after a two day passage from Cadiz. The sail was a bit frustrating on account of a lack of wind. When looking at the chart, it shows a painfully slow progression down the coast to the Straits of Gibraltar where we picked up a sea breeze along with the typically stronger winds in the Straits – not a levanter or poniente though. Subsequent to that, the wind dropped and we motored through the night and most of the day. We had worked out it would be slow so only motored slowly. However, at about three ships time a sea breeze gave us a nice sail to within 30 miles of Rabat before dying away again.
We decided not to chance a night entrance but tried heaving to initially. This would have worked well if the wind hadn't died to nothing again leaving the sails slatting and banging in a way that prevented all chance of a sleep. Next, we took all sail down and tried lying ahull as it is called. Usually, this is a storm survival tactic, as is heaving to really. However, this left us with a vicious little roll and set everything below rattling and banging instead of the sails. Lastly, we started the engine and motored very slowly so as to arrive in daylight.
There was a bit of thrill as we headed in when a school of dolphins played around us. Obviously, we didn't see as much as when they visit in daylight hours but it was neat to see them.
The entrance to the Oued Bou Regreg is what is known as challenging. Thus, it has the potential to be dangerous in the wrong conditions. The big issue with this coast is the Atlantic swell. Swell is often generated hundreds or even thousands of miles away so is not directly related to the weather conditions nearby. We had a flat calm but there was still a one meter swell running. Thankfully, this only makes the entrance a bit hair raising rather than dangerous. There are two break waters either side of the mouth of the river and then a corner. It is at the corner that things really happen as the river shallows a lot and the swell is concentrated in a narrow channel. So, it does what all waves do in this situation and the wave climbs, steepens and even breaks. By the time you are here, you are committed of course so have to take what is dished out to you.
We were fine or lucky if you prefer. A couple of larger waves both preceeded and followed us giving us a painless passage through. We had intended on using the pilot boat service offered by the marina but could not get through to them so did it on our own. Once past the initial stages, the river is easy though surprisingly busy with small fishboats and a passenger ferry just below the marina entrance.
Once in the marina, we had our first example of clearing into a non EU country. Being an EU resident gives you a large effectively border free cruising ground where there is the minimum of officialdom to deal with. Portugal is of course a bit different but even there it is easy. Here, you have to fill in about five sets of forms with basically the same information. Immigration are of course interested in you and want all your passport information but also want to see the boat registration and insurance. Then the police want all the same information as well as more information on the boat itself. This caused us some problems as we are only what is called Part Three or Small Ships Registered which maintains a minimum of information on the boat. Thus they ask where the evidence that your home port is Plymouth or that the beam is 2.94 meters. My French is emphatically not up to explaining that the UK authorities do not deem this important for pleasure vessels so don't record it. Makes me wish I had gone for the full Part 1 registration. Oh well, the whole thing is done with good humour and politeness. The policeman warned me not to get involved in any politics and asked if we had any guns aboard.
Finally, the sniffer dog was brought down. He was a rather pudgy black labrador and happlily sniffed round the cockpit and decks but baulked at descending the companionway steps so our interior was not checked at all. We had even gone to the trouble of getting our collection of prescription drugs ready to prove they were genuine just in case. We gather that Bruno will have to decline to descend our steps again when we depart in case we have stocked up on Kif for the clubs of Madeira.
Finally, after about an hour we were permitted to tie up to our alloted berth and then provide all the same paperwork to the marina office. At least the price will be a lot less than in Spain! They have quite a good wifi service here but it doesn't seem able to do any https work so checking email and anything else will be out until we find an internet cafe or some such. If all else fails, this will be a monster post when we reach Madeira!
28/07
Well, we have settled in now and have caught up on sleep. We have even managed a bit of a walk around. There have also been a surprising, in some ways, number of other boats visiting including several Portuguese boats. The rest are generally French or German though there is one Swiss boat and also a Belgian one arrived yesterday. Brits are very under represented though. One other one arrived a day after us and are on a similar cruise to ourselves. Chris and Karen of Moonstone came across for a drink yesterday evening and very kindly supplied the cold beers as we have not yet got our hands on any ice.
While looking at their very smart Ebbtide it was always in the back of my mind that I had seen the boat before. And, sure enough, they used to keep it in the Exeter canal basin where we wintered our old Hurley 22 Kemara. They even remembered Kemara after we reminded them! Sailing really is a very small world.
28/07 cont.
After a lunch aboard, it does seem that Ramadan means that all restaurants are closed in the daytime we went for a wander round the Kasbah des Ouidias in Rabat. This is the characteristic fortified town right at the mouth of the river. It has the longest history of the whole city and makes for a dramatic entrance into the river as well. It is quite typical of these old Aarab towns in that it is a maze of very narrow winding alleyways. It has been kept in good condition and painted blue and white along all the walls. Sadly, you can't get up to the battlements where the canons are.
After leaving the Kasbah, we found our way into the souk. Once again, it was a quintesentially non european experience. Very narrow streets with goods for sale on all sides. Some of it was tourist tat of course but there were still good clothes and food vendors though. In fact, Audrey was able to pick up a couple of long sleeved tops that she has been wanting for ages. Assuredly we will be going back there again.
Rabat has an unusual history though a characteristically long one for this coast. The Phonecians settled it first and the Romans further developed Sala Colonia as they called it. After the Arab conquest in the seventh century it developed a lot under the Almohad dynasty but then fell into a bit of a decline as the authors on 1066 And All That would have phrased it. The city's fortunes were revived after the Spanish reconquista of Andalucia when refugees from Granada and Badajoz settled there. This inaugurated an extraordinary period when piracy became the mainstay of the town and the Pirate Republic of the Bou Regreg was set up. They became known as the Sallee Rovers and raided european ships widely even travelling as far at Plymouth.
Of course, the piracy declined over time but was apparently only finally stamped out in 1910! Now, Rabat is the capital of Morocco as, apparently, King Mohammed V did not want to get into an argument with either Fez or Marrakech as to which should be his capital after he gained independence from France and Spain in 1956.
01/08
Well, we have been a week in Rabat now and are starting to get a feel for the city or rather two cities. Technically, Rabat and Sale are two separate cities but really the latter is a suburb of the other. That said, they do have their own distinctive characters. Rabat is quite a cosmopolitan feeling place with lots of restaurants and cafes in the Ville Nouvelle and a thriving souk in the Veille Ville. Sale is a much more traditional feeling place though I think that more people actually live there. The areas just over the bridge on the Rabat side are I think, where the diplomats live so it is probably very expensive.
We took a wander through the Sale souk this morning but it was mostly closed though. To be fair, we found the same thing when we crossed over the Rabat souk was closed as well.
They have a very new and clean tram system operating and for 6 Dihrams – approximately fifty pence you can ride on it. We have used it several times now. Makes you wish London Transport was the same sort of price and as clean!
My Mother is due to arrive at the airport this evening so the pace of tourism will pick up a bit for the next week and a half after which we will most likely be heading for Madeira unless we change our mind and head straight for the Canaries.
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