Baleeira and leaving Europe

Rather than travelling 20 miles east to Lagos after rounding Cabo Sao Vincente (the most South Western point of Europe), we stopped in a small bay at a place called Baleeira overnight. We had planned to move on the next day so continuing to Lagos was going to gain us nothing and Morocco was calling! The 210 miles from  Baleeira to Mohammedia in Morocco was rather uneventful. The sea was more akin to an inland waterway, there was no wind and apart from a couple of hours as we passed across the main routes in and out of the Med, we saw very few ships.

Lesley at Dawn leaving Europe
Lesley at Dawn leaving Europe

Our destination was set to be the small fishing village and oil terminal Mohammedia, some 210 miles and 32 or so hours away. Once again there was no wind so we were set for another diesel burning session on flat glassy seas.

Sunrise as we left Europe
Sunrise as we left Europe

 

Coming onto springs the moon was full and the sky mainly clear so the night was not even particularly dark. Being so far South it was even warm overnight no longer requiring much in the way of clothing to keep us warm. It was so still that we brought the TV up to the cockpit and treated ourselves to a dose of Die Hard from our film store as it went dark.

After 31 hours we dropped anchor outside the port of Mohammedia and took the dinghy into the harbour to check in. Being our first check in, in Africa we were not sure what to expect, but we struck lucky and found some English speaking French people who lived in Morocco and knew the staff at the port. A quick phone call brought the very helpful port staff to the pontoon and they suggested that we could moor Mediterranean style on the end of one pontoon which would have sufficient depth for us and they would arrange for the authorities to come to the boat to check us in.

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