It absolutely poured with rain on Friday and Saturday 25/26^th so we never did get to the old war time tunnels and were pretty much stuck on the boat. PM Saturday the weather eased slightly and we were able to get the tent stowed and the boat ready for departure on Sunday morning. Anita was a little concerned that we would have trouble getting out of the very congested berth and releasing all the lines but it was straightforward and we were heading down the side of the runway by 1000 having cleared customs and immigration at the marina. The marina were very good to us and charged us the long term rate rather than the more expensive visitors rate so including electricity and water we paid £20 per night which is pretty good considering one of the other boats there had come from the Majorca where he had been charges £180 per night!  We decided to motor across the Gibraltar straights rather than leaning the boat over under sail and risk Anita grabbing hold of something with her bandaged hand. For once the Straights were benign and we had a pleasant trip over with many dolphin and as we approached Morocco a pod of whales which surfaced right alongside the boat. One of them was slightly larger than Osprey and only 50 ft away from our starboard side – quite close enough when you see their size that close!  We ran into a large number of racing yachts off Ceuta and spend half an hour dodging them before arriving off Smir at about 1200 local time. We were all ready for a single handed berthing but Miguel’s team were on the customs dock to help us and we were tied up and cleared customs in very short order. They also came across to our berth on the other side of the Marina to help us tie up there. There are obliviously advantages in having a wounded female on board as it attracts all sort of assistance that would not otherwise have surfaced! We berthed alongside rather than stern into the quay as there was space available and it makes it a lot easier to remove and fold the sails and awning as well as packing up the boat for the winter. Once we were berthed we got in contact with Mohamed taxi and arranged for him to pick us up at 1000 on Monday and take us for a trip to Tetuan then we made a start on packing up the boat and had dinner ashore in the Café de Paris which has become our favourite of the selection of café’s at the Marina. The marina itself was starting to fill up with boats coming in from their summer cruise and preparing for winter lay up. Smir is obviously a popular place and is deceptively empty simply because the boats based there are out cruising during the season. Mohammed workshop confirmed that they would lift us out on Friday and we went through the list of work for them to do during the winter. This consists mostly of cleaning off the hull, re-painting our blue line at the waterline and then applying a coat of ablative.

Mohammed Taxi collected us on schedule Monday morning and we spent a great day in Tetuan going around the Old Medina (Old Town). Despite our best endeavours we ended up with a guide attached to us which was probably fortunate as the place is an absolute rabbit warren – very narrow – 2 metre wide alleyway’s which are crammed with traders. We visited a number of traders which the guide had arrangements with including an outlet for a local carpet co-operative where we were given Moroccan tea and a show of all their carpets and other products. Anita purchased a throw over for one of our beds at Woodlands after half and hour of negotiating – haggling! The Medina is fascinating to walk around and has hardly changed in 700 years – it really is amazing that they still live in such cramped conditions. Once we left the Medina we were looking for a café where we could sit and have a drink but it quickly became apparent that they were men only so we gave up that idea and headed back to meet Mohamed taxi. We were back at the boat late afternoon and spent a quiet evening with Anita starting to pack up her bags ready for the trip to the airport in the morning.

On Tuesday morning Anita provided some one handed help to John in getting the sails off the boat onto the quay and folding the up. We decided to leave them on the wharf for as long as possible as otherwise they would be in Johns’ way whilst he packed up the boat. Mohammed was on time as usual and by 1215 Anita was on her way to the airport in Tangiers for a 1540 flight to London where Kuki was schedule to pick her up at Gatwick. John spent Wednesday and Thursday giving the machinery a basic service, checking zincs and cleaning intakes as well as stripping all the external equipment off the boat ready for the lift out in Friday. The move from our berth to the lift out facility proved to be interesting as several boats had berthed stern to on either side of us in the interim. Without the wounded Indian on board to attract support, assistance was in short supply so John was lucky that there was an off the berth wind to assist and was able to let the wind blow the boat off the quay before turning and heading for the lift out berth. The operators at the lift out berth proved to be very skilled and there was no trouble either getting alongside or positioning the straps for the lift and we were out and in our storage position in a couple of hours. We then had to sit in the straps overnight as the yard did not have the correct size of boat stands available and they had to be assembled and painted before they could be used. The hull was pressure washed and looked in great condition with a minimum of growth on the Micron ablative. The prop had more growth as it has no anti fouling but it was acid washed and shining again in short order. John finished closing up the boat by 1800 and moved into the Sofitel for the night leaving a minimum to be finished in the morning before heading for Tangiers. The hotel was good but nothing special considering its normal rate was approaching 200 euros a night. We had negotiated a much reduced rate. John fell asleep before he could contemplate dinner at the hotel but breakfast the following morning was pretty good. A couple of hours finalising the boat on Saturday morning saw everything packed away and tidy and the boat now on its new stands and out of the crane slings. She looked very bare having been stripped down completely on deck. We still have an annoying rust stain which keeps appearing on the starboard bow. It runs down from the pulpit and we have yet to find the source. Fortunately it cleans up pretty easily and the only solution seems to be to remove the pulpit when we next have the mast out which is no small job!

Mohammed Taxi was his usual prompt self and collected John at 1200. We were in  Tangiers for 1400 so this time there was plenty of time to relax before the Royal Air Morocco flight to Gatwick. We have come to appreciate this airline – it is no frills but very well equipped and efficient with good comfortable seat spacing. Absolutely nothing to complain about and unlike their British and European counterparts there are no hidden or supplementary charges. Tangiers airport is also simple and efficient which is more than can be said for Gatwick where we have learnt to expect a wait nearly as long as the flight for the bags to arrive in the hall. Oh well a fellow traveller commented – it is a Saturday and in England you can’t expect all the staff to some to work on the weekend.

We have used Osprey a huge amount over the past 24 months and have decided that we will leave her “parked” in Smir until March. John will go down a couple of times to do some work and we are looking at the feasibility of driving down in January although initially it looks as though the ferries to Santander do not work at that time of the year. The yard in Smir are quit happy for owners to work on their boats whilst in storage which is a pleasant change and we may well spend a couple of weeks there in the new year catching up on the varnish as well as doing a major service. Although we have made the decision to explore the Mediterranean next we are going to miss the Caribbean and Antigua as well as the ability to get out of the European winter whenever we wanted.