Barbate to Tangier

We enjoyed a fine sail across the Strait, after the unscheduled stop in Barbate waiting for the fierce, gritty east wind - the Levante – to ease. Terry and I agreed that we would never again complain about the gentle breezes wafting in from the south-west or the east in Western Australia. Visibility on the crossing was not great. Radar and AIS helped us to avoid cargo vessels, ferries and especially the many fishing boats along the route, but we couldn’t make out the coast of Africa until just a couple of miles out.

Entry into the harbour was a bit of an ordeal – no radio response from the small marina or port authorities until we had done a couple of laps, when the harbour master called and advised that the only space available was a raft-up next to a German catamaran, behind a huge car ferry up against the harbour wall. After a decidedly hostile response from the German skipper, we moved along and rafted beside a UK registered vessel, Paw Paw of London. This turned out to be a much better option; we had a drink with the friendly and well-travelled crew, and the skipper, Michael Briant (writer, actor and director), was a wealth of helpful information. He reiterated what we’ve heard from almost everyone about avoiding the Red Sea, but his advice was based on personal experience of being boarded and robbed by 18 Somali pirates with AK47s!

Harbour officials and police were friendly and efficient, and there was no hint of baksheesh being required (though we may have missed some of the subtleties). We did discover that there were quite substantial charges for staying in the harbour, despite a total lack of berths or services – yachts are clearly a bit of a nuisance in a busy fishing/ ferry port that has no proper marina or anchorage. So, we won’t be here for long. After a day or two to see the sights, we’ll head east to Ceuta and then to Marina Smir.