Leaving Morocco

Malua
Harry Watson Smith
Sat 3 Nov 2012 11:18
Malua is at 33:14.16N 09:11.09W at 12:00 on 3/11/2012
The weather finally abated in Mohammedia after the big blow which saw 41 kn of wind as our warps strained and the rain came down thick and frequently.  On the night before we left the Marina organised a “beach Party” for the visiting yachts.  Bring your own grog and nibbles so the marina staff and other can eat and drink.  It was the normal gathering of yatties – where have you been, when will you leave and did you hear this one.....
We decided to leave despite a not great weather prediction because it looked to me that it was not getting better for more than a week and the close one got to the Canaries the better the wind became.  So after getting the ships papers and having our passport stamped we retrieved all the lines, moved forward taking up the anchor and hopping it was not under some pontoon block.  Luckily it came up easily only covered in a thick black mug which took some tome to wash off.
We motored most of that day south down the coast.  By nightfall the wind had come up on the nose as predicted and we settled down to tack and tack our way south.
I put out the fishing lines as soon as we cleared the harbour and before dark we had two nice bonitos which we cut up and had fried with rice for supper.  A good start for the fishing season.
At sunrise there was no change except the wind dropped off but not enough to motor to our destination.  After breakfast the wind came up and now we are steaming along at 7.4 knots in a general southerly direction.