It was nearing time to leave Morocco, this maddening, confusing, dusty, smelly, noisy, other world of a country. It had certainly been different and even though we had barely scratched the surface of understanding the recent history and political machinations it had almost without our knowing crept beneath our skin. Being back in Tangier we felt that we could negotiate most of the frustrations of everyday life and were getting quite comfortable with the contradictions. We are very conscious that we can only ever be visitors. The reality is that we will never fit and are only ever to be tolerated as income generators. So it goes. We can live with that.
Back in the marina we were not surprised to see a couple of O.C.C. Boats arrive, from America and the west coast of Australia. We enjoyed a superb evening of hospitality and conversation , not to mention a fair bit of drinking .Many thanks to the skippers and crews of Taipan and Sequoia.
So, leaving Morocco, what will I miss and what not?
There are many similarities between Spain ( Andalucia ) and Morocco, history tells us us why.
BUT, and its a big BUT, the differences go so deep as to need some serious thought. I had serious issues with the disparity of wealth. The monarchy has to all intents and purposes absolute power ( and wealth, far more than our own monarchy), this is also complicated by the king being the religious leader. Since the Arab spring the entire country is in a political religious and social leap forward. The present and previous kings are certainly bringing in reforms but certain bits go forward faster than others, female literacy being a case in point. The Muslim world is struggling to escape its medieval roots in the same way that the Christian church was forced to do. Morocco is a very tolerant and in many respects moderate example of a Muslim country. It also, particularly among the younger elements seemingly embraces most of the more worrying aspects of western society like mobile phones, social media and most annoyingly Rap music. How things will develop is difficult to say there are so many built in contradictions, it remains however a fascinating and beautiful country, watch this space!
Having scared Lynne to death on the crossing six weeks ago I studied the forcasts and chose a day where winds and visibility were not such a problem . Although this was still a major shipping area we were just outside the TSS ( traffic seperation scheme ) the rumb line to Barbate would cross the approaches as close to 90° as would make no difference. We crossed the initial lane ( Left to right) without problems but 5 miles further on the left to right lane had an enormous bulk carrier that we radioed to make sure we had a safe closing distance. CPA ( closest point of approach ) was less than a half mile. As Africa vanished in the haze Spain emerged reluctantly, the coatline down towards Tarifa never became visible and apart from a couple of yachts we had a lovely gentle sail in the warm South Westerly winds.
Slowly the coastline of Barbate to Trafalgar came into view along with a Tuna factory ship at anchor, the Lady Tuna.
Here was our first clue as to the raison-detre of Barbate. The charts indicated the presence of several huge ( huge as in, miles long) tuna nets. These are present throughout the summer months. We hoisted the Spanish courtesy flag and the ‘ Q’ flag, just in case. I felt quietly confident that the almost perfect crossing would have restored my crews faith in her skippers judgement, turns out she was just glad to be back in Spain!
Without any hard information as to the state of play regarding the huge tuna nets we approached cautiously towards the Tuna factory ship ‘ Lady Tuna’ my thinking being that being at anchor her swinging circle should be free of hazards.
The nets are known as ‘Almadraba’ these are normally in place during May and June and for 3000 years or so people have been harvesting the blue fin tuna as they migrate from the Atlantic to the Mediteranean.
Passing close to the factory ship the smell was enough to persude us that fishing was still ongoing.
We were directed into the marina after having negotiated the buoyed channel approach. The marina it has to be said is not the most attractive being based on the concrete bomb shelter school of architecture.
However much like Morocco it has a great colony of feral cats......
Its a bit of a hike around the fish dock to get into town and on the way its possible to see the huge anchors used to secure the ‘Almadraba ‘ nets.
Walking along the front the reverence for Tuna continues with every restaurant having Tuna on the menu ( Tuna tartare, anyone?) There is also this rather wonderful sculpture, or should I say mobile as it is in fact a windvane. Built by Pedro L Barberá Briones, its a 4 metre high bronze wonderment.....
The town of Barbate up until recently was known as Barbate de Franco as the dictator Franco used to holiday here ( apparently a keen fisherman), the name was changed in 1998 after the rise of the Junta of Andalucia.
The pilot is fairly dismissive of the marina and town describing them as ‘ souless’ this is unfair and just plain wrong. The marina is indeed a concrete bunker but any town which has been around since the phonecians deserves a bit more respect.
The town hall square and old town are typical Andalucian spaces and are quite charming. We also discovered a plethora of supermarkets Lidle Aldi etc. Lynne was just smiling all the time........so many goodies!
There was a sculpture in progress on the town hall plaza.......tuna obviously, its a bit of a theme.
Luckily for us there was a rather nice beach very close ( just to the west) of the marina and the bathing passed all Lynnes tests. Ok it was warm water.....
The echoes of the VHF in the Gibraltar straights and Tarifa radio constantly warning of inflatable boats with 40 people on board, gave me a sudden shiver.......,
Spain has accepted over 16,000 refugees, or illegal migrants this year alone. To put this in some kind of perspective, another 5000 and they will equal the population of Horwich where we used to live.
Meanwhile thousands die attempting the crossing to a better life, the official line is to offer no help but report the position of the immigrants to the authorities. Help would be seen as aiding and abbetting illegal immigration and we as mariners would be prosecuted for offering assistance. What kind of a world are we living in?
I state here and now, I will offer assistance to whoever needs it, anywhere. If I save a life I will go to jail a happy man.....,,,and more importantly with a clear conscience. I recently talked with some American citizens who said they would not pick up migrants for fear of getting shot. I think this says far more about Americans than migrants. We all inhabit this Earth, we are all entitled to live upon it, by right. You people who profess to believe in God, well if you are a Jew or a Muslim, or a Christian , its the same God you all believe in.
I don't believe, but I think that people should not have to die in an effort to make their situation better.....because they are people.
The Jewish Tzedakah, or possibly more relevant Gemilut, is a charitable obligation, in Islam one of the Five pillars is zakãt, another obligation. I am sure there is a Christian obligation to charity, other than a brief mention in Leviticus but I dont know where to look for it.
Sorry for the rant but some things need saying......,,,
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