Crossing the Straits to Tangier

Our friends, Reg and Phoebe, arrived from Canada enthusiastic to crew on Songster.  It was great to see them again and we spent hours catching up on all our news and sharing sailing and travel experiences.  We hadn’t seen each other since sailing in company around the Greek Dodecanese islands in 2016.

Reg and Bob relaxing at anchor before we leave to cross the Straits of Gibraltar

The first step on our way across the pond was to cross the Straits of Gibraltar.  After nearly 5 years doing cappuccino cruising in the Mediterranean with no tides or currents to speak of, it was time to dust off our navigation skills and think about tide time tables, wind directions and strong currents. 

Approximately 1 million cubic metres of water from the Atlantic flow into the Mediterranean every second through the narrow 7 nautical mile wide Strait.  This combined with tides can produce up to a 4 knot current going from west to east.  Then with a prevailing westerly wind, a small sail boat does not have a chance of getting out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic.  So it is essential to pick a good weather window with an easterly wind and the tides countering the prevailing currents.

It is a busy waterway

The long term forecast was for strong westerlies for the next ten days, except for Friday when a light westerly was predicted.  No easterly winds were in sight so we decided to go with Friday (despite the sailor’s superstition to never leave port on a Friday) and catch the tide three hours after high water in Gibraltar as recommended.  

Early morning departure from Gibraltar

We crossed perpendicularly to the busy shipping lane towards the African coast and then followed the currents west.  There were impressive tidal races off the Belyounach point.  The engine was running at 2500 rpm which normally would give us 6 - 7 knots and we were only making 2 knots. 

Tidal race off the African coast

Finally we got the current in our favour and zoomed along the coast into the new marina in Tangiers.  This marina was being built when we were in Morocco 4 years ago and the entire waterfront then was a noisy construction site.  Now there is a very pretty marina and open public space which attracts the young people, families and elderly couples every evening for their twilight stroll. 

Moroccans enjoying the marina area

Songster along side at the marina

 We spent two nights in Tangier revisiting some of our favourite spots and exploring the new areas. 

Reg, Bob, Phoebe and Eileen relaxing at the Hotel Continental

The streets of the Kasbah

Morocco seems to be going from strength to strength.  It is still maintaining its old Arabic charm but modernising without crassness.  Four years ago on our road trip through Morocco, the desert was covered in discarded plastic bags.  From a distance we thought these were some kind of cactus bloom and were horrified to see that the specks of colour were plastic rubbish.  Plastic bags have now been banned in Morocco and replaced by paper fibre bags.  There is very little rubbish in the streets and Tangiers is looking very nice.

The busy streets of Tangiers