# Day #69 (Porto de Rosario, Fuerteventura) – Bye bye Morocco and five important learnings for cruisers
It has been quite some time since the last update. And this for a reason.
Morocco has been surprisingly exotic, welcoming and adventurous for us. We are so full of impressions and experiences, there is so much to tell. We now struggle to understand, why so many cruisers miss out this place on their way South.
When we considered Morocco the first time as a sailing destination, and we started our planning using the obvious websites (noonsite.com and the like), we remained quite ambiguous, doubtful and we were questioning if Morocco is a good destination for cruising boats.
After four weeks cruising from Tanger to Agadir we are sure – Morocco is a great cruising destination. Depending – of course – on the expectation you have and the benchmark in use.
To be clear: Morocco does not compare to any European country we have visited so far, for the good and for the bad. Here is a good and true story to illustrate this. Morocco applied in 1987 to become member of the European Community, after King Mohammed VI finished an apprenticeship in Jaques Delores’ office. The application got rejected. It was the fastest denial of the EU ever since.
If our expectation would have been to experience the same level of safety and comfort like in Europe, we would better stay away and take the direct route to the Canaries and to the Caribbean. But we are keen for the adventure, the exotic and the different, and Morocco offers the opportunity of time travels through various medieval medinas, souks and authentic oases. I mean – serious oases in the desert!! Where you have the feeling the last caravan has just left.
It takes some days to accommodate to Morocco. But after we have accommodated, it is now time to shine some light on some confusing ‚recommendations‘ we found about Morocco in the internet.
## “There is no way of avoiding “baksheesh” in Morocco.”
Well, you might see it this way… Another recommendation goes: “Five Euros to the Harbour Police will do the job. (i.e. to get admission to an anchorage)” Mate, we got the job done (see Mohammedia post) without paying a single Dirham! Alright, there is some explanation on this sensitive topic. Bribing isn’t just ‘a little trick’ when it comes to officials of the state authorities. Isn’t this disrespectful to the visiting country as well as to the duty of an official? Would we bribe in our home countries? We literally crossed Moroccan borders ten times – in and out of Tangier, Rabat, Mohammedia, Essaouria and Agadir. We filled > 40 (!) forms for entering or leaving Morocco. We have been asked more than ten times whether we have to declare a drone, weapons or ammunition. Our boat got searched four times, with very limited engagement, by the way, on the officials side. The cost of all this to us was 0€. When the customs officers in Tangier, Agadir or Rabat saw our cruising family setup downstairs, they had satisfied their duties. (We sail a 46’ Hanse with a really impressive and tall rigg, no question about our boat). Never we have experienced an unkind word or unprofessional behavior. The opposite: everybody is happy when they are able exchange some words in English or Spanish or French. And there is always a relative back in good old Germany worthwhile to mention. When it is prayer time, you have to wait for half an hour or so. But what is the matter? And most important: Nobody asked us for a gift or money. It was not required. Other crews with bigger boats have been asked. Anyways, I would urge to refrain from recommending bribing on the Internet as the ‘little trick’: It remains illegal. Bribing is poison for a state because it drives a vicious cycle, where the losers at the end are the ‘no-haves’. Website administrators should check if they want to publish statements that explain bribing as ‘part of their culture’.
## “There are a lot of fisher nets and traps on the Moroccan coast”.
Yes, there are a lot of fishers on the Moroccan coast. They go out on the Atlantic to make a living under very simple conditions. Imagine an open 6m-boat with a 15hp outboard engine and five fishermen, 10sm off the coast of Tangier. And yes, they don’t have lights, their nets are not litten, and of course they neither have an AIS or VHF. For the VHF would not be a lot of use because they speak Arabic and Berber only.
What they catch you can buy the next day on the fish markets. The fish markets in Salé or Essaouria, for example, appear medieval, in the complete absence of any deep freezers or packaging. A broad variety of small quantities of all kind of species offered for a little change. This is pre-industrial fishing, definitely.
Sailing down the Moroccan coast from Tangier to Rabat we used Radar, because we had a lot of fog. As soon we could spot them we always gave them a wide berth – they are out for work, we just for pleasure. We never got in trouble with our 8,5 feet/2,6m draft. It happen several times, that we passed a fisher buoy in a distance of a few meters – no problems occurred, since the attachments are deep enough to not mingle with our keel or ruder. Sometimes you might experience, that a fisher boat is running straight into your course or just behind you. They wave hello and disappear. Don’t worry about the ‘Moroccan net tale’ – it is no worse than for example off the Spanish coast. The recommendation we read in one of the blogs to „stay 100sm off the Moroccan coast“ ist just HILARIOUS and only good to scare other cruiser fellows.
## „There are only a few marinas, and they are not to a Western standard.“
You can see all over the country an impressive amount of brand-new infrastructure, ranging from high ways, high-speed train links, ports, industrial complexes, new housing projects. We saw it in the North as well as in the South, not speaking about the Rabat/Casablanca area. Tanger, Rabat and Algier have brand new marinas, just opened recently. Essaouria appears as a medieval fisher port without any marina-like service, but the harbor is safe and has been dragged in 2018 to 3m (we had 5m under the keel during spring time).
I guess it is a fair statement, that the aspiring Moroccan middle class has not yet discovered boating as a key pleasure time activity. Thus, services in marina are not the same, when it comes to food stores, laundry, ship chandleries and the like. Any business in a marina need to be sustained from the international cruiser community – that to a large extent . Which still appears to be hesitant to visit Morocco in the large fleets similar to the Canaries, for example. My take from our visits: don’t worry about draft, water quality, diesel quality and the like. Prices (except Mohammedia) are a very good value deal. We paid around 20€ per night for a 46’ monohull.
One remark to Diesel: As long as your boat is not equipped with a ‘car-like’ after exhaust treatment (like SCR), problems with the fuel quality are unlikely. Marine engines got there technical ‘genes’ from engines for vehicles (excavators, tractors and the like = no sophisticated exhaust gas treatment required). Moroccan diesel contains more sulphur compared to EU5/EU6 diesel in Europe. The higher sulphur levels causes malfunctions in recent EU5/EU6 diesel car engines. But not in typical VOLVO/YANMAR/Perkins diesel engines. There is even a positive side effect, since higher sulphur inhibits the ‘diesel fouling’. Just be aware to clean up your filters to remove suspended sediments.
Another remark about Moroccan boaters and marineros: they are in average pretty inexperienced. Bear this in mind while maneuvering. Don’t expect any support from the outside. Be skeptical about the boat handling skills of your neighbor on the pontoon. Advise your crew not to follow the requests of the marineros while berthing.
## „Western food is expensive.“
Morocco is a perfect place for restocking supplies. The best place we found is the double-town of Salé/Rabat (easy to memorize „sale & rebate“). Western food, compared to the local price level and purchasing power, is imported, taxed and more expensive. The Moroccan food industry – if we want to call it that way – consists from very short delivery chains. Usually, Mom and Pop grow some fruits, crops, vegetables, keep some chicken or goats and sell their produce directly for a couple of Dirhams on the market in the city, the souk, inside the Medina or just directly on the street. This trade feels very authentic and like a hundred years ago. It lacks all the fertilizers, pestizides, freezed warehouses and other productivity and availability enhancer – they only can sell what they got, inshallah!
This medieval concept of nurturing got rediscovered in the Western World just recently: ‚Get your food from your local farmer‘. The food is labeled ‚bio‘ or ‚organic‘ or ‚slow‘ – and you get this back home paying a premium. Proper food cannot take advantage of all the productivity enhancers, that make our processed supermarket food so cheap. If you are up for the Moroccan fresh food, it is fresh, affordable and probably healthy.
If you are still in need for the processed food of an supermarket, because for instance it is packed and much more easily storable, you will find it in one of the few Western supermarket. They have imported and taxed food of all kinds.
One word to the cleanliness: Well, Moroccan cleanliness has many faces, and sometimes it achieves scary dimensions of almost non-existence. It is obviously not live threatening – the average life expectancy is with 76 on par with EU countries like Slovakia or Hungary. Stay away from the places where you feel uncomfortable, the number of alternative traders seems to be endless, such are the possibilities to get excellent quality food for a bargain. With some effort, you will find always a trader, a hotel, a restaurant that pays decent attention to cleanliness and might in return ask for a little higher price. It is worth it.
## „Don’t travel with pets to an Arabic country.“
It easy to enter Morocco with a pet. We have never been asked for our dog’s documents during our ten boarder crossings. (requirements are listed for instance on [pettravel.com], but they are similar to other countries). Traveling around Morocco is more difficult but doable if you are sensitive about some specifics. Cats are all over the place and Moroccans feed cats in the streets. But with dogs they have a split relationships: some are afraid of dogs. Especially elderly women wearing the traditional hidschab – just give them a respectful wide berth with your dog on the leech. Some others just hate dogs – give them a wide berth, too, because they might try to kick your dog. A minority have dogs at home – you can have endless conversations with them. The vast majority of Moroccans are curious, friendly and interested in dogs. Kids loved our dog and it always was a big ‘hello’ walking Vu in Morocco.
What makes traveling with pets difficult in Morocco: You cant have pets in public transport or taxis. Rental cars are the best mean of transport with a pet. A few restaurants might not accept pets inside. Walking with a dog through a souk with all the dead animal parts on the streets is a sensational firework for the dog. Other constraints: dogs shouldn’t be in the vicinity of religious places.
## Morocco will soon get more popular amongst cruisers
Our experience in Morocco was: all people we met have been very friendly and probably to their standards very open. Almost every place is worthwhile a visit, as long as you have the time for a break, long enough for a mint tea, a ramble through the souk and an observation of the people passing by.
If you got the patience and openness to talk to the stranger on the street, you will find a lot of things in common with the Moroccan people. Everybody cares about their family and friends, etc. There is always stuff to talk about. And you will always find somebody, that speaks your languages – even in the remotest places in Morocco.