Agadir

December 2^nd It was a very uneventful passage really, the Atlantic Ocean was so calm and flat, very little or no wind, just a long lazy swell that ranged from 1.5m to 3metres at the highest for a short period of time. It was no problem just a gentle roll. The worst thing that happened was that Starlet had a near miss with a fishing boat, which gave them a huge fright. The problem with the fishing boats is that they don’t expect you to be there and they are often on autopilot and the fishermen are sorting nets and fish, and not watching where they are going. Of course in the dark it is difficult for us to see what is going on even with radar. Thankfully it was a close call and no damage done.

The other thing that happened was a nutter on the VHF radio, I was on watch, Robbie was sleeping and all of a sudden the comments started. “ I am coming for you”, “Look behind you”, “ I can smell your fear”, and more. This went on for about 20 minutes or more, until I finally got a bit spooked and of course I was looking behind the boat, I locked all the doors and after it still continued, I went down to wake Robbie. I felt really bad as he needed his sleep, but I was a bit nervous. There were a number of fishing boats around us on the radar and I wasn’t taking any chances. Robbie listened to the garbage the guy was talking for a bit and then he turned on the handheld radio, and we weren’t receiving it on the handheld, which meant that it was quite a distance from us. It always seems worse in the dark!

We were approaching Agadir still in the darkness, there were many fishing boats, small and large heading out and it kept me alert avoiding them. As we came near the marina there were about 50 tiny wooden fishing boats with one or two men in them and it took some manoeuvring to get through them. At one stage there were nets with floats and I think we went right over some as they were so hard to see in the dark.

We anchored just outside the marina as daylight was breaking. Starlet did the reconnaissance and went in and checked out the marina. They told us to come on in which we did. It’s quite a small marina but its finger pontoons which is a nice change from a stern tie up. The marina is very attractive, set in amongst a lot of shops and restaurants and is quite a touristy spot.

The staff were very welcoming and helpful. There is a motor boat that has a beautiful husky dog who is still like a puppy and he has piercing white eyes, he’s a looker. Jennifer took Tori over to say to him but trying to get 2 dogs and a human all to look at the camera at once is near impossible. There is a French Yacht next to us and they have two of those cats with no fur on board, they are quite inquisitive and I was able to give one a tickle, it felt really weird.

We went for a walk up onto the main road and then onto the beach and back around to the marina. There is quite a bit of construction going on, and we were surprised to see workmen on the top storey working so close to the edge with no safety barriers. The wind really whipped up strong for a while and it looked like we might get a storm but it was all wind.

We saw a little bit of America with the cars and back in the marina we saw a Riviera motor yacht – this made us feel a bit homesick they are made just 10 minutes from where we lived at Coomera Waters!

Mark and Jennifer invited us out for dinner and we went to a very nice restaurant on the edge of the marina, and had a beautiful meal. Back to Southern Star for dessert ice cream with Baileys. Robbie and Mark played around on the iPad and downloaded a new anchor alarm program so that we can take the iPad to the bedroom with us and we can check it without getting out of bed.

December 3^rd. Slow, very slow, start to the morning, 2 panadol helped with the headache a bit. Jennifer was the only one who didn’t have a headache, she was sensible and didn’t indulge in so many wines last night. Robbie and I cleaned the outside of Southern Star which was covered in dust from the wind yesterday.

 I went shopping while the others walked over to the huge fish markets just next to the marina. They brought fish and prawns for our dinner and I brought a pair of jeans, a shirt and a jumper for 799 dirhams or about 90 $Aus.

We are going to Marrakech tomorrow and staying the night in a hotel. Robbie and Mark sorted out a hire car and Mark and Jennifer organised a dog sitter for Tori. I was on the boat making lunch when a group of youngsters called out to me from the dock. I went out and chatted with them for a while. Turns out there are 3 guys from France and they were with the young girl off the French yacht next to us. They are looking for a passage to the Canaries and the Caribbean. I felt bad but we don’t take crew apart from Peter and Heidi who are coming with us for the crossing of the Atlantic. It was interesting to talk to them, One is a Mountain Guide, one is a baker and one is a sailing instructor. They bicycled here from France and sent their bikes home by freight. They will backpack and travel as long as they can. We will certainly keep our ears open for them if we hear of anyone looking for crew, I have their phone number. Let’s hope they get a boat! Mark and Robbie turned up in time for the photo.

We took the hire car for a spin for half an hour, not far from the marina we went past the King of Morocco’s summer palace, it is huge probably on 20 acres of land on the ocean and beautiful gardens and grounds. It was very heavily guarded with armed guards every 100 metres. We figured he must be there at the moment and thought perhaps we should drop in on him for some minted tea as a delegation from the USA and Australia/NZ – but we ran out of time.

We had dinner on Starlet with the goodies from the fish market. Marks speciality of Prawn skewers and fish coated in Panko breadcrumbs, I made Caesar salad and coleslaw, it was a very nice meal. It is an American habit to eat salad first, which we did then Mark cooked the fish.