We arrive in Marocco !
6 - 10 august 2018
We left Gibraltar at 3 in the morning on the 6th and arrived around noon in Rabat on the 7th. There was almost no wind and we had to motor quite a long time.
The sea state was good with only two metre waves, however 4 of us got really sick. We think we ate something wrong, had some bad water in our tanks or definitely caught a bug because it was very bad…
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| My brother and his smallest treasure were happy 😁 |
We were lucky to get into the harbour of Rabat. At least that we timed well, since access is not easy (often prohibited) when wave heights are more then 2 metres (we entered at exactly 2m 💪). We followed the pilot boat in and the entrance is quite spectacular.
First the police and customs came by. They were very welcoming and the first Moroccan tea was served (I love their sweet mint tea!). The marina of Rabat was almost empty. Everything is new, there are nice facilities, and a plentitude of friendly people. We felt safe, relaxed and had a great time visiting the centre of Rabat. But not before getting our bellies filled up again with a good lunch at a (really) delicious... steak house 😳!
Royal Palace - Chellah - Tower of Hassan
From the Marina in Rabat, you take a beautiful modern tram for less than 4€ with 8! We stopped at the train station and walked towards the Royal Palace.
Impossible to visit the Palace without passports, so hup to Chellah!
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| Very very hot day! |
Chellah is a site full of history. You will find the ruins of an old Roman city and a sacred Moslim necropolis, beautiful gardens and a wonderful view Bou Regreg estuary.
The Hassan Tower is part of an unfinished mosque. A beautiful place and wonderful 'kiekeboe' playground for the kids 😀
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| View of the Atlantic ocean. |
Step 1: Taste it: salty or not?
Step 2: Not salty, ok then you have to find out which connection is leaking.
Step 3: Open up all the bilges and cupboards.
Luckily Geoffrey figured it out quite quickly. Behind our shower a seal got stuck between the connection and had been leaking all along. That must have provoked the first leak also on the passage from La Rochelle to Gibraltar. It’s not every day we go and have a look in he “cellars” of the boat…
Step 4: Stop the leak… apparently there’s not one van to shut down the hot or cold water connections… So impossible to use the other taps or the other shower without fixing this leak. And not having the right tools made it impossible to use the water that night…
Step 5: Back to basics: take a bucket of water from the pontoon, boil some and do you dishes that way…
Step 5: Back to basics: take a bucket of water from the pontoon, boil some and do you dishes that way…
Step 6: Ask help 😂 Another proof of the extreme difference between Europe and Marokko: the next morning Geoffrey asked some tools to the marina. They immediately brought a plumber who looked at the problem, went to pick up the right parts and spend another 30 minutes in an impossibly small whole to fix the problem. A big smile and 18€ later we could use the taps and showers again!
We were warned, and we know it from our first boat, the tool box should not be far... It was first stored in the rear, difficult to acces, later we moved it under the seats close to the kitchen and now it's just next to our bed 🙈
We were warned, and we know it from our first boat, the tool box should not be far... It was first stored in the rear, difficult to acces, later we moved it under the seats close to the kitchen and now it's just next to our bed 🙈
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