More from Morocco

Can you tell that food and eating was our main occupation during our stay in the country of contrasts. Besides of having a couple of electronic devices destroyed due to the power surge in the Rabat marina (even if we had a surge protector) and some uncomfortable days and night while waiting out the gale in a very underdeveloped marina in Agadir, it was a great three weeks stay overall. We're glad we had the time and opportunity to see so much of that interesting country. Highlights were definitely one night in Casablanca and the very inspiring first night in the colorful and busy medina. /Taru

Here's more of our pics and stories from Morocco, for new readers.

Updates

When hearing and reading about other peoples Atlantic crossing this year, we are glad that we'll have a late approach for it. The tradewinds were late to establish this year and many of the people we've been in touch with or read about in their blogs, have suffered from seasickness due to poor winds and the rolling of large seas and many seem to have experienced their crossing as a very uncomfortable one. Our original plan was to cross the ocean in early December but as of many unfinished boat projects, we're about one month late to the original schedule. Good like that, and the new plan for the ocean crossing is set to begin after New Year. There are still a couple of things we need to complete on the boat and also a couple of packages to receive and we're scheduling ourselves for a departure towards Martinique on the 10th of January. Let's then all hope for the best and pray for the tradewinds to be working it like they should - and a landfall is wished to be made about 3 weeks thereafter - where we'll be good in time for meeting up a couple of friends on the Caribbean side. Cannot wait for getting started with the crossing, but also we're glad to have made the decision to await for a perfect time to get it all started instead of stressing us through this first part of the tour. By the way, Marina Rubicon where we're staying at the moment has been an excellent stop for us. Peaceful, clean, fresh, great service and good facilities. The price a bit high (23 Euros/night) but over all an excellent marina. We're just about to leave for Gran Canaria and Las Palmas this afternoon where we'll make a quick stop before heading to the Southern parts of that very same island. 

New Year is now due to be celebrated in Gran Canaria, we have no plans whatsoever on how to spend NYE, but I'm sure we'll figure something fun out tomorrow when we arrive. Christmas and New Years celebrations have not been high up on our priority list for this year. But at least we have the fridge full of Champagne for a new years toast. /Taru

Photo from the Atlantic beach of Rabat, Morocco.

Sleepless nights and damaged electronics

The last post was the first one written and sent from the sea with our Thrane & Thrane satellite unit. And this is another one. I hope that the quality of these posts are OK despite the fact that I cannot connect properly to the blog interface and also I had to lower the quality of the pictures a bit so it goes faster to send them over - because as you might know; connecting to the Internet through a satellite connection is still ridiculously expensive. Also I would like to inform you that it might be hard for us to answer comments and emails from the sea, we'll catch up on it all once we're on land again.

The second night on our passage from Rabat was a bit of a painful one. Alex felt sick from something he had eaten so I had to stay on watch for the most of the night. I'm sure he could have taken one watch if he absolutely had to, but I wanted to save him from his pain with a long nights sleep. The wind was a steady 20-23 knots all night long and we literally flew over the ocean towards our destination with an average speed of 6.5 knots. Unfortunately we had some problem to get the windpilot working correctly that day so we needed to depend on the electronic autopilot. The wind increased in the morning to above 25 knots and shortly after we got also our autopilot dysfunctional due to huge impact from the larger waves (the link between the rudder and the autopilot got teared apart). These little steering problems forced us to stand by the helm most of the day yesterday. It was a slightly uncomfortable ride in 26-28 knots of wind and 2-3 meter rollers smashing against our beam. Later on we noticed a change in the forecast and apparently the wind were due to kick up even further in the evening from force 5-6 to 6-7 so we made the grown up decision of ducking into the port of Essaouira for the night. Safer like that. With one man sick and the other one who didn't have a proper sleep for around 30 hours we wouldn't have made much of a comfortable passage. And on top of that having to stay by the helm for 50 more hours. No thanks. C'est la vie, nothing beautiful in life comes without a little bit of pain, right. And how boring wouldn't a painless life be when I think about it.

After a 12 hour ultra comfortable sleep in the bustling and very interesting fishing harbor of Essaouira, we left with a bit better mindset and little bit more energy and we are now underway towards Agadir where we'll stay until we get the autopilot working again. At least we have solved the windvane issue for now.

So these last days we have got five electronic things damaged so far. The autopilot, the SPOT tracker, the 220 W power supply for the fridge, the Mac charger AND the Camera charger (all those three last ones due to power surge in the Rabat Marina. ((Is it called surge? I have no possibilities to check it from here so forgive me if it has another word. What I mean is that there was a huge electricity failure on our pontoon and all our things got over-charged)).) Thank god we still have some equipment left!

Luckily I still have the other camera working, although there is no video function on it. Hopefully we're able to find a charger for the new camera in the Canaries. In Rabat they had the charger for Mac luckily, but not for the large camera. And when talking of electronics, if anyone know of anyone who works at the Garmin International, please do let me know - I have something I would like to discuss with them and I can't seem to find my way through to the correct people on their website.

Over and out. /Taru

Day 2 crossing Morocco-Canaries

Hi there,

First I want to inform you that our SPOT tracker has stopped working for some odd reason and you should not freak out if you can't find ourprogress on the Spotwalla website. That machine have driven us crazyalready so we're thinking of getting rid of it for good. The thoughtof throwing it in the water is oh so tempting. Maybe I'll wait untilwe get into deeper waters so I know it will be gone down as far aspossible.

We are now around 120 NM from Rabat and we're on our 24th hour of sailing towards the Canaries.

The wind was light and made for a comfortable evening ride last night. We were wonderfully accompanied by a couple of dolphin families on two different occasions and I recorded a video with the amazing creatures which I will put up here for you to view once we're on land again. I would say that dolphins nowadays are as common to us as maybe ducks orcats are to most landlubbers, but nonetheless they still take our breath away when the graciously dance around our boat. Yesterday we also had the chance to witness them making another type of play that we haven't seen before, one where they jump straight up from the water and land hard on their sides one after another - whatever that trick is called. I have a bit of that show on the video as well. Shortly after the first dolphin appearance, we caught our first fish, or only fish so far, a 4-5 kilo bluefin tuna as shown on picture which we first enjoyed grilled in the night after sunset and today as a sushi lunch. Tasted like heaven, just like it always does when preparing fresh fish straight off the boat. The night sailing went pretty smoothly, we shifted watches after each two hour and around 9.30 am we were both upfor breakfast in the early morning rise. Our Sailomat windpilot works really good and we're glad to not have to use the electric autopilot as much as it's sucking down the batteries fast. Also we're glad thatthe wind has been pretty stable around 15-22 knots so that we do not have to run the engine at all. Now around 500 miles more to go and if we keep on like this we'll probably land on one of the islands on Saturday lunch or so. Ciao. /T

Leaving Morocco

We're half dead today after only been sleeping for 4-5 hours - although it was much worth it. We hired a car and a driver last night for taking the opportunity to experience Casablanca - at least for a couple of hours. There were apparently no yacht marina established for smaller vessels in Casablanca at the moment so we had to take the roads to get there. It was a lovely night on one really amazing restaurant which I will show you pictures from later on. Now we're getting ready to leave Bouregreg and Morocco and head West towards the Canaries. Weather looks good with a calm sea and light wind and we're expecting to land on one of the islands in maybe four days from now. I don't know how our satellite connection will work along the way but I'll keep you posted if I have the chance to get connected. This will be our longest passage together so far and it is good that we're well prepared with loads of food, fresh veggies and fruits, tons of good books, good music in the ipod's, new sails and perfect weather. All we need really. See you on the other side. /Taru

Oriental dancing

I have been trying to find a proper Moroccan cabaret for days now. You know: a smokey, reddish gem where you can smoke water-pipe and admire voluptuous females dancing in their bright colored costumes full of coins and bells making for a rhythmic musical symmetry. But as soon as I or we have asked anyone for suggestions on where to go to experience this, the Moroccans have looked at us like we just were saying something similar to "excuse me, do you know of any place where we can find naked, dead people and dance around them in circles" - you know that kind of look. They are really religious over here and these kind of things are not OK, at least not to talk about in the public room. So the search for an innocent belly dancing place have came to an end, at least in this city as I have no time to run around and look for it myself, through town. Therefore I figured, just like in many areas and situations in life, that I have to take the command to get things done, as oneself is the only one to trust if you want to get things done properly - so I bought some sexy oriental clothes and am now planning on giving my man a private belly dance show, at least. I really love the greenish color of this hip scarf, makes such a nice contrast to tanned skin. You think he's gonna like it? /T

On Caos last night

One of my old childhood/school friends that I haven't seen for ten years showed up here in Rabat yesterday with the boat* of his friends in which they three are sailing around the world. What a lovely surprise! We invited them over for drinks and shared sailing stories and other stories all night long. Roger, one of the boat owners, is Finnish just like me and they brought the famous lakkalikööri** with them. One of the best things from my home country. Mmmm delicious. Not for my head today though. Alex is one lucky man who doesn't drink alcohol for sure. /T

* Allegro 27
**Liqueur made of the wonderful cloudberries - which you'll find tons of in the cold Finnish forests.

Deck in progress

This is how you'll find me today. On my knees, putting tape all over the parts of the deck that is not finished so that Alex can fill the gaps between the teak planks with Sika. It is a long job, but glad that we at least are in the sun and warmth to finalize it. Everything is so much more enjoyable in warm weather, right? Even the hard physical work seems like a piece of cake. Alex have been walking around all day smiling, I don't know if it because he sees me working on the deck or what it is, but sure is that the sun have given our spirits new, refreshing energy.  

Ok, back to work, Captain (gestapo) is calling for me to proceed with my work. Laters. /Taru

Checking off the list

For us it was important and very good to stop here in Morocco for an extended time as we still had a lot of things to do before heading for the long Atlantic crossing. The boat must obviously be safe and ready would we get stuck in rough weather far from land and Morocco has been the perfect place for finalizing some of those boat projects. Rabat has been generous with perfect dry weather, it has been cheap to hang around here and mentally it has been a perfect break, rather than staying around more in the cold Gibraltar or the Canaries, which we feel is too similar to where we left from. Basically we needed to see something different and we got positively surprised by this place. Also we've done so much stuff on the boat this week that it's ridiculous. Now only these few things left before we're ready to hit the long passage (although we'll most probably make a super short stop in the Canaries as well):

- More teak (never-ending story that goddam teak) - almost done.

- Clean out more things. Would love to throw out around 100 kilos more so we at least can see the waterline again. 

- Install the Gps antenna for the MaxSea.

- Finalize the watermaker installation.
- Find a long range wifi receiver. Any ideas on which one to choose? Hopefully we'll be able to find one in the Canaries.

Done with work for today and we'll proceed with something similar to what this beautiful Moroccan man above is doing; we'll take a break, go to bed and read a book. Tomorrow is another day and we'll exchange our vehicle from boat to train for some hours. Let's see how far we get.

Hasta la vista and good night. T&A

Inspiring architecture

In the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, like in many other places around here, you'll get stunned by the fantastic architecture and the wonderful attention to detail. The colors they use, the patterns in the carpets and fabrics, the amazingly detailed woodwork and the colorful mosaic that Moroccan design is built up with are such a joy for the eye that you begin to question yourself: What in the world have I been decorating my life with earlier, when there is this to get inspired from? This Mausoleum from where the photos are taken, is by the way one of the most famous of Moroccan monuments, as it holds the tomb of the founder of modern and independent Morocco - the father of the nation - King Mohammed V and his son. 

Morocco is definitely one place which we have to return to later on to collect things for the building and decorating of that house and restaurant in French Polynesia that we have on our to-do list for the next five years *dreaming*. /T

More world tour

If you wanna see more pics from our journey, add us as friends on Facebook - where we'll publish pics every once in a while when there's no time for the blog. This is also the best place to get in touch with us, if we're late in responding emails. See you there! xx

Wine sampling

Just like an alert reader already commented on: It seems like the only thing we're doing is eating. And yes, that is almost truth. Not the entire truth but close to it. Because what would life be without delicious food, new interesting flavors, tasteful preparations and in my case: characteristic and flavorful wines. Not much, huh. 

Talking of wine: As I've understood; Morocco is supposed to have the best natural potential in West Africa for producing wine due to the high mountains surrounding the country in combination with the cooling influences of the Atlantic winds - and despite the paradox of having 98% of it's population forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages, Morocco does produce and export an massive amount* of wine each year. So naturally I had to try a couple to compare with my own preferences - and I've found some simple favorites. The traditional Medallion is an excellent everyday wine in my taste and they make it good in both red (Cabernet Sauvignon) and white (Sauvignon Blanc). Wine sampling (and drinking obviously) is a passion that grows within me more for each year and I'm trying to collect my favorites in every new wine-producing country we get to. The Italian ones I picked up this summer in Sardinia are slowly running out so new replacements will be done in form of Moroccan. Not quite comparable but still they are alright. I don't drink much white wines in general but if you like em', allow yourself to try the sweet Medallion next time you have the chance, also Alex thought of it as palatable - and he usually doesn't like the taste of wine at all. For me it was perfect when chilled  - served with the wonderfully prepared sushi we had the other night and I'm definitely going to pick up a few of the small version** for our boat.  /Taru

* Morocco grows 310.000 tons of grapes annually, ranks 30th in wine producing countries worldwide.

**375 ml comes in a stylish, thin bottle as shown in picture - perfect size for one person and takes less space in the boat.

Here's by the way a short text I wrote about my absolute favorite wine, all categories - in my other blog for some year ago or so - for the ones who're interested.

Marina Bouregreg

For all of you who have wondered: This harbor is one of the best we visited so far on our journey. Super secure with security people patrolling day and night making it feel very safe leaving the boat and going out in town. They offer great service and the fee is ultra cheap. We're paying 108 Moroccan Dirhams (9 Euros or 12 USD) per night and this is the price for all yachts between 9.50-10.99 meters. Electricity, water, wifi and taxes included. It takes us about 6-10 minutes to get to the Medina, to the old city and to the center of town with taxi (also ridiculously cheap). The harbor is pretty quiet now in off season which we are very happy for, although there are some great qualitative cafés and restaurants just on the quay.

We can much recommend this place and it is, at least for us, a perfect stop in between Gibraltar and the Canaries. 

A walk in the Kasbah des Oudaias

Kasbah des Oudaias is the charming little town inside of the fortress overlooking the Atlantic ocean. It is filled with winding streets scattered with low houses painted in blue and white and the streets are full of life in every corner. Kids are running around laughing and playing behind different doors, you'll find cats relaxing in the sun in the grass and the beautiful Andalusian garden, in the middle of it all, is full of students and loving couples, men reading newspapers and more kids running around and playing games in the scent from full-bloomed flowers and roasted nuts from the old man selling them off his wagon in the park. Inside of this labyrinth of houses and streets, it feels like you are one step closer to the real everyday life of Rabat, one breath closer to the core of the city - and somehow you get a feeling of that whatever happens in between these heavy ochre colored walls, has nothing to do with the rest of the world and vice versa. /Taru

P.S 1: A short movie from inside this town can be found on our Facebook.

P.S 2: Obviously I wore a scarf around my shoulders as we're in a muslim country, just not for the photo.