On the Road to Morocco
Trip Start
Apr 04, 2008
1
19
108
Trip End
Jul 03, 2009
Casablanca,
Morocco
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Our route is northward back to the African coast, which as with most things we do, is the opposite way of others. However, determined to stay on that path less travelled we have set our sights on Casablanca. This should be a three day and three night sail with winds forecast to be reasonably favourable (we'll see?). It sounds exciting and exotic and we do hope not an unsafe place to take the family. There is a yacht club there, so we hope to arrive some time Wednesday and stay a day or so before the last overnight sail up into the Straights of Gibraltar
Casablanca Sky Line
.Day 2 of the sail and the weather takes a turn again. Nothing as bad as before but not as pleasant as the first day out. It's Tom sweet 16th birthday and we celebrate in typical daggy Crossley tradition with balloons, party favours, a nice meal, cake and presents. We tried to tell Tom that this was the rockingest birthday ever. I don't think he appreciates our humour.
Day 3 seems to be the most frustrating sail ever. We are heading into north winds and swell again and it's a day of having to hold on. The weather is overcast so inside is the place to be. I think because we are at the end of what has been a tedious journey we are all just a little anxious to be there. There are only so many movies you can watch in one day.....
Day 4 After an all night stint by Pete at the helm dodging ships, fishing boats and hundreds of the flaming fishing nest littered along the coast we sail up to the coast of Morocco shrouded in mist as we make our way towards Casablanca. Pete tries to call the Yacht club only to be informed that it is closed down and we need to travel another 11nm north. Aarrrggg. At least it's not south...
Celebatory Dinner
Arrived in Mohammedia and received a warm welcome from the Marina manager. Our fears of how welcome we would be here were allayed. After a quick clean for our visitors The Glover Family, we made our way to the train station and head by train into Casablanca 25 minutes away.
We had no idea were we were so we saw a Novotel hotel and walked in pretending to be guests and asked for a map of the city. They also organised a taxi for us to the markets. Casablanca is a unusual mixture of old and modern, strict dress and relaxed. It has a great vibe with people everywhere. Cool city. We finally met the Glovers at the station with a mixture of joy and relief that we had finally managed to connect. We then went to a restaurant recommended to us called Squall in a beautiful building in the old city. Gorgeous nooks with tables and vine covered trellises. Food was ok too. Wow what a great city. People everywhere, and such a huge convergence of cultures. There were traditional dressed Muslims walking side by side with those dressed in fashionable western clothes. The city was dynamic with numerous coffee bars along the street side and amazing markets that were woven into the narrow streets of the ancient city of Medina.
Our first morning together and we head for the supermarket to provision for the next part of our journey
Glovers Get Into The Act
. The supermarkets are the same as at home except the have large sections of spices and herbs which look and smell wonderful and give you a middle eastern type feel. After a big shop we all caught the train into Casablanca and hit the Old Medina markets. They were great, like walking into an old time markets with narrow streets and stalls filled with rugs, lamps, knives and little leather shoes. Walked for hours and met a few interesting characters, learned all about Argan oil and bought a cute pair of blue genie type shoes that I will probably never wear... The boys (including Pete) bought Jesus robes to lounge around in. Rule number 1 always wear underpants. Connie bargained hard and the only problem was she didn't buy enough. Hannah bought teapots and Brett bargained for things he never intended to buy. Frustrating the hell out of the stall keepers. After finally finding our way out of the Median which is not an easy thing we succumbed to the old familiar McDonalds for dinner before heading back to the boat.Next morning we are to set sail for Ceua but Connie and I decided to do a mad dash before leaving to Assoud's Patisserie to spend the last of our dirhams. We were lucky to get a taxi just outside the port gates but unlucky to get someone who couldn't understand us, after much miming he finally took us to the wrong shops, we then tried to direct him around the town to no avail. We gave up and got out to try a new taxi. The second guy was not that much better but eventually caught on and said Amoud's Patisserie which he took us to and was only just around the corner from where we had started. Oh well. We asked him to wait as we went inside to spend. This Patisserie was gorgeous, beautiful patisseries and so beautifully presented and most of all cheap. We squealed like pigs and set about spending every last sent we thought we could afford
Wandering the the Old Medina
. So off we go back to the port in the taxi loaded up with a ridiculous amount of goodies and we watched in horror as the metre seemed to double and triple in the space of seconds. Our problem was we had estimated how much the taxi would cost based on previous experience and somehow this went way beyond our expectation so I had to leave Connie as hostage and run back to the boat for more money. Thinking I had more than enough I raced back to find out the metre was still going up at an astronomical rate and had barely enough to cover Connies ransom release. A lucky escape for her.... So off we set sail for Gibraltar, north winds and swell again, bumpy bumpy bumpy. Connie, Brett and Hannah all feel the effects soon after, Hannah more than anyone. No dinner, tried to watch Captain Ron to initiate them into the sailing groove but to no success. 
