Cadiz - 36 32.48N 006 17.05W

OOJAH's AWESOME ODYSSEY
Peter & Christene Tanner
Tue 4 Sep 2012 15:05
We've spent 2 nights here so far. The old town is quite lovely with narrow (& therefore shady) cobbled streets & 3 or 4 story early Victorian (or older) town houses in differing pastel shades & states of repair. There's a lovely atmosphere about the place & shops, street bars & restaurants to suit every taste. It's also our last significant stop in Europe for provisioning & maintenance.

A couple of yachts going North have advised us to think carefully about going to Tangier, our planned landfall in Morocco. Despite the pilot book referring to a visitors pontoon there's apparently nowhere to moor & you could land up against a rough wall or fishing boat. There are currently strong Easterly winds in the Straits of Gibraltar which is a bad wind direction for the harbour leading to a lot of swell inside so it doesn't look like a good bet. Morocco is anyway a challenging place to take a yacht with few harbours, many of which are shallow & unsafe to enter in on shore winds. There are few facilities & the bureaucracy is time consuming & may involve back handers.

We have met a delightful Dutch couple with 3 young daughters aged 1, 4 & 6 also heading for Gran Canaria via Rabat & Lanzarote in their Halberg Rassey 46 - brave!

Peter & Christene