Waiting for the wind to blow from the Mediterranean through Gibraltar was finally worth it. The wind has turned, now we just have to wait for the tides, which create a strong flow of water from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and vice versa. I move to the anchorage, the barge is filled with oil, which is cheap in Gibraltar, only 73 cents a liter, I bought some food and water to sail. I decided to stop in Rabat, Casablanca and Agadir along the way.
I wake up early in the morning, check the weather forecast, and raise the anchor. Nervously I look around the anchorage, all the boats are still here. I wonder if I have the wrong tide data or if I’m just so very early that everyone else is still asleep. I remember Jasmin sending me pictures from a book about currents in the Straits of Gibraltar and I quickly found them. Everything is as it should be, the timing is right, only I was the first to wake up and, as usual, the first to leave the anchorage. I leave the bay and sail through the middle of the strait. Behind Cape NW Africa, the wind swirls and I decide to wait in Tangier. I calculate the route and time, at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon it should be already in front of the port. However, due to the favorable wind and the current that carries me to the Atlantic, I work an average of 9 by boat and moor to the customs pier as early as 12 noon.
All formalities at customs take three hours and after inspecting the boat I can move to my berth, but due to the strong wind the marineroti remark that I should wait until evening. Of course a strong wind, but what else, I think, I untie the boat and park it with the stern between two other boats, right where I was assigned a place. The Marines wonder how I can park a 10m boat alone in this wind. Well, probably with experience, because I live on a boat and I move with it wherever I want, so that’s just the way it is. To welcome, the first mariner invites me on a date the same day, which completely shocks me and makes me laugh. Of course, this is Africa: women have an arranged marriage, and for men, if they do not have a wife or their parents have not provided for them, the proverb “anywhere, he would be everywhere” applies. The marina is newly built and on the other hand is still expanding. The office is more beautiful than our parliament, everything is in white marble, everything is shining, there are 20 piers in the marina and there is one mariner on each pier. Well, I came across the one who immediately “proposed” to me. There is a beautiful beauty working in the office, so I asked her directly if she might not be married … I do all my obligations, she kindly shows me the whole map of the marina and the city.