Tango2some

We woke to the sounds of a working container ship in port. A quick peek out of our window confirmed what we had been told by the captain, that the container terminal at Fos-Sur-Mer is a long way from the local towns and a very long way from Marseille. We decided just to venture to the Seamen’s Club at the end of the huge wharf, about 1 1/2 kilometres away. The club is closed during the day but there is 24 hour wireless internet access available in the foyer of the building. I needed to access my emails so I convinced Eileen to brave the gangway and we walked the 20 minute route in the hot sun to the small hot building. With our water bottles empty, our emails checked and some blogs posted it was ... read more

Signing up for our freighter travel was a mission! The UK freighter travel agent seemed to put obstacles in our way continuously from our first contact, seven weeks before boarding. We expected we would have to provide medical certificates, yellow fever certificates, various declarations, passports, and visas but we did not expect we would have to provide them repeatedly and after we had been told there was nothing else to provide. Add to this, the difficulty of arranging payment (“No you cannot pay by credit card”), their lack of knowledge of the ships and their schedules, and the (un)timeliness of requesting or providing documentation. Finally, after a month of emails, phone calls and physical effort and with only a few days to spare before boarding (and finally Leigh ‘putting his foot down’), we got the tickets. ... read more

After my first trip to Morocco, in 2010 with my sister Moira, I began regularly cooking Moroccan recipes, especially Tajines. I attempted to buy a pottery tajine in New Zealand but I could find only expensive non-Moroccan dishes. Fast forward two years ... We bought two tajines from a souk (small shop/stall in the heart of the old market) and we went straight to the nearest Post Office but the postal section was closed. Our only option was to haul them to Casablanca and post them from there. When I say ‘haul’, that’s exactly what I mean. The expression on Leigh’s face was priceless when he lifted the carry bag, quickly followed by an expletive (Leigh says he said “golly!”) On Sunday we arrived at the train station in good time to catch the 11am train ... read more

We arrived in Marrakech after dark and were met at the airport by a driver who took us to our Riad. After a welcoming mint tea we went to our room to settle in before having our prebooked evening meal. Eileen visited Marrakech two years ago and loved it, barely venturing beyond the medina for her five day stay. For our visit she booked a Riad for us that is in the medina close to Djemaa el Fna and in a quiet lane. We enjoyed walking through the labyrinth of streets and discovering the wonder of the souks (central market area). I would joke with Eileen whenever we got lost that I was finding my way like an exocet missile. As it turned out we did not have too many difficulties and our Riad was easy ... read more

I viewed this part of our journey with a bit of trepidation; sailing as a novice skipper with Eileen as untrained and inexperienced crew. We had hired a skipper for three days to ‘show us the ropes’ but after that we would be on our own with only mooring assistance at the end of each day. Would we survive? We stayed the night at Cliff Bay Hotel, Palairos; a good spot with a lovely outlook. The owner very kindly gave us a ride down to the marina with our luggage. We had to wait most of the day to board “Lito” because the yachts needed to be cleaned. As each group boarded, the Odysseus team worked to complete running repairs and familiarise each skipper with their yacht. To provide a little more comfort, Eileen took the ... read more