We have had a lovely few days in Gibraltar, done some sightseeing, gone to the casino twice being up despite losing sixty pounds in three rolls of the roulette wheel at the end!
It is now time to run the gauntlet of Orca and ships in the straits of Gibraltar. It is only a short run across to Morocco and Tanger Bay Marina where we have decided to stop. There is a strong wind from the East which will help us but crossing the shipping lanes will be “interesting” due to the vast amount of large cargo ships that go through this area.
We plan to leave early in the morning which will mean we will arrive in Tanger early afternoon although we have heard horror stories of four hours to check in and difficult customs searches where items get “liberated” mostly alcohol, cigarettes and cash. We try to radio the authorities to tell them we are leaving Gibraltar but despite several attempts on two different channels, we can’t get through to them. We eventually do and they provide advice as to what ships are coming in although we have already checked every ship near our path and found most of them to be anchored. Maria is concerned when she hears one ship complain that a sailing boat is impeding them. Surely that can’t be us, they would know our name and could have contacted us directly. Shortly afterwards we hear that the culprit has been spoken to and no one contacted us so there is some relief. Maria’s luck with dolphins continues as we see a pod of about twenty jumping and swimming quickly across our bow but they decide not to come any closer.
As we head out, I am starting to look at the Chartplotter with all of the ships identified. It looks busy as we head parallel to the shipping lanes trying to choose our point of crossing. In open water, the larger ships have consistently wanted to have at least a mile between us and them and I am seeing a lot of relatively fast moving ships moving in a line. We have sails up and the engine running to ensure a safe crossing. Eventually I decide the time is good. There is a cargo ship off our port quarter, slightly behind us but by the time I have turned to go across the TSS, we will go harmlessly behind him. However, being decide, I decide to call them on the radio to let them know what I am doing and that I have seen them and will pass astern. A couple of attempts are made but they are clearly not listening to the radio and don’t respond. It is time to make the move but before we do, we take in some sail, the wind is blowing over twenty knots which directly behind us is one thing but right on the beam would be a little more uncomfortable. We pass behind the slow moving freighter and are 1.5 miles ahead of the next ship – the first direction has been safely negotiated. Like coming out of a junction in a car, you have to look both ways and can’t just sit straddling the lane with a 200 metre cargo ship bearing down on you. I have selected a good gap on the other side but with two reasonably fast moving freighters coming at us abreast. We should be fine missing them by a similar distance to the one we have just avoided. There is the slight complication of two fishing vessels going round in circles right in front of us. Eventually they sort themselves out and head off in the direction of the oncoming vessels – an interesting decision but we are past them and heading to the safety of the end of the TSS. We get there and turn back towards the west but keep an eye on the fishing vessels which seem to have belatedly seen the two large cargo ships – they have turned and running to safety ahead of them. I assume this is what they do all day if they fish inside the TSS. We are running down the Morocoan coast and the wind is picking up towards the mid twenties. Again no real problem when it is behind us but something to consider when we make our turn towards the marina. The sails are goosewinged with our headsail on one side and the main on the other which works well as long as the wind stays in the same place or you alter course appropriately. A short time later we are taking sail in for the last turn and the few miles to the marina. The turn goes well and we are half an hour to the marina setting up lines and fenders before taking the sails in and motoring in. The staff are friendly and helpful and wave us onto the waiting pontoon where they will help us through the check in process. It only takes a couple of hours although we are forced to surrender the drone and Maria’s spear gun. The later causes some questions – are you sure you only use this for fish? Err yeah, we haven’t killed anyone with it yet…
The customs team come on board and check for any passengers and what we have onboard. This is quite quick while I am away from the boat although the boat is a little lighter when they leave…
The wind has picked up and the marina staff decide that they want us to move the boat the next morning. This sounds sensible although we do have a midday train to catch for our weekend holiday in Casablanca.
The berth they have allocated has a large bollard at the end which we would prefer not to have to negotiate so I request. Minor adjustment to our berth. The next morning the wind has reduced a little but builds quickly and we are having to move Mariadz in gusts of thirty knots.
In my head I have decided to bring her in astern at an angle to the wind but as I approach in forward to make the turn, the wind gusts are huge and we start to get blown onto the ships on the other side. I should have just come in astern the whole way. With a lot of power and some bow thruster, I extricate Mariadz from the situation and take her back into an empty berth further up. This will allow me to turn her around and come in astern. I haven’t told Maria what I am doing which is a little confusing before I make it clear. As we complete the turn and set up for the reverse into our berth, we have a good line. there are a few staff waiting to take lines and quite a wind stopping us so I still have quite a lot of power on as we enter the berth. Lines are ashore quickly, well done Maria, and the guys get Mariadz tied on. We make some adjustments needing both the bow thruster and engine to move Mariadz against the wind – normally you can pull on lines but not today. Another tricking mooring where no one and nothing got hurt – success!
Mariadz is now settled for a few days until our next voyage to the canaries, which will take the best part of a week.
