Update from Christina Lee, October 2006

Update from Christina Lee 30 Oct 2006

Greeting friends!

Graham has finally decided to use a BLOG to post newsletters! This first entry dates back to 2006 and more past newsletters should start appearing soon. Photos will also be added as connections allow.

Gay and I have spent the last four weeks sailing between Morocco, Spain and Gibraltar. Our friend Jane (Cobby’s better half) was with us for nearly two weeks. We sailed down to Tangier where we took a train inland to Meknes having met a couple from the US in a 48’ sloop while in Ceuta. They came with us to see some of Africa before they sailed down to the Canaries. Tommy and Mary-ann were great fun and the most educated Americans we have had the patience to endure. Mary-ann was a typical Californian and not the type you would expect to find on a yacht but she had a great sense of humour and her use of the English language was quite refreshing. They were both in their mid sixties and not short of a bob.

The five hours sat on a train gave us ample time to chat and get some background on our new friends. Tommy was retired from his mining corporation but still on the board, they had no kids and Mary did some voluntary work?

Having found our way finally to the place Gay had selected from her ‘Alister Sawday book of flash places to stay for rich foreigners ‘, we settled in. As we were the only ones there at the time we had the choice of several opulently decorated rooms in the Riad. Jane chose a Berber tent themed room with walls of cloth and a grand iron bed. Gay and I had the Blue room as pictured in the book with a canopied bed and lots of furniture and a bath! The Americans were next door in a Moroccan themed room that they liked. Rooms were 750 Diram per night, that’s €75.00. B&B for two people.

As it was Ramadam, food was not as available as would normally be the case in Morocco. We ate in the Riad on our first night but were not best impressed. Our disappointment was more the fact that alcohol was off the menu. Mary-ann liked her drink and was suffering withdrawal!

During the holy month of Ramadam, Muslims are expected to worship every few hours so the calling to prayer happens throughout the night. The sound of an Arab calling through a PA system can only be likened to a two stroke wailing up a hill in the wrong gear. Some can be quite melodic but they are mostly painful to the untrained western ear. Add to this disruption the fact that the locals stay up late eating as they have been fasting from sunrise to sunset, their children playing out in the streets to all hours and not forgetting the barking of wild dogs and cockerels crowing leaves little time for a nights sleep.

Meknes is not a large tourist town as compared to Fez, just up the track and it’s all the better for it. It retains much of it’s old world character as a new town was built across the valley to look after 21st century commerce and housing. The presidential palace and grounds are walled in and not open to the public sadly but we did get to see the old granary and stables for ten thousand horses. It was an amazing feat of engineering but mostly in ruins now despite being a WH site.

We also took a cab out of town to the roman ruins of the city called Valoubilis. Had a few mosaics and some stone arches but it was still under reconstruction following some foreign investment but it was no comparison to European piles of old rock....

A good three days was had before we returned to Tangier with Mary-ann leaving us with Tommy to go to Casablanca alone. We met up with our friends Ali and his wife who live in Tangier on Sunday to do some shopping in a supermarket out of town, very European and French owned. I managed to buy a house battery for the boat as one of them was dead. We were invited for dinner with them and they were kind enough to invite our American friends as well, hows that for global warming. Ali’s Welsh wife, Aylsa, made a curry (enough to feed an army) and we had a very amusing evening. Ali is a great orator and had us in stitches with anecdotes of Moroccan life and culture.

Sadly we had to leave as Jane was to fly out on Tue and Tommy had flights booked from the Canaries, back to San Francisco. We were lucky to get SW wind pushing us back to Gib with the tide under us. I had promised Jane 10 Dihram (1 Euro) if we did not see any Dolphins on the journey back. First creatures we met were a pod of Pilot whales, they came pretty close, then when we were in the middle of the traffic separation scheme, we met a pod of about 200 Dolphins. There were so many they were never out of sight as they came leaping past heading west. An amazing sight!

It had been raining most of the way back and our chart plotter decided to stop working. So much for waterproof. Jane took it back for repair under warranty. We are now stuck in Queensway Quay Marina for a bit. I have a cold and don’t wish to travel till its gone. Have to go back to plotting on a chart. Never mind, need the practice....

We managed to hire a Nissan Micra on Saturday after much mucking about. The car hire places only open when the planes are due in at the airport so for the most part the place is closed and you cant get them on the phone? I left a message but got no reply till sat morning by which time we had almost given up and were considering taking the bus. Anyway Budget came good and we headed off back to Portugal to see our friends from Rota, now living up the Guidiana river. Graham and Trish are good hosts and we needed a couple of night rest from the swell in Queensway Quay. Needless to say we got a bit plastered on Sat night. Sunday was the last round of the Moto GP so we sat in a bar overlooking the river and got started on our Sunday Session. Having been disappointed by Rossi falling off and handing the title to Niki Hayden we retired back to the boat for an afternoon of Vodka and sunshine.

Despite the time of year the day trippers still come up the river on a mini booze cruise, stopping off at San Lucar for a couple of hours. We could hear the boat coming up the river before we even saw it, the sound system was so loud. The foredeck full of pissed up Spainiards dancing and waving. When they left to go back down the river I gave them the customary English naval salute, a full moon.

We got lost on the way back and took the scenic coast road past Tarifa. As there was very little wind the hundreds of turbines were all standing still like they were dead, most odd. We will be leaving here tomorrow, may sit on our anchor for a while before going back across to Morocco. Nothing confirmed.....

Love to all, Graham & Gay.