where to visit in North Africa?

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mike_bryon

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We would welcome advice on where to visit along the north African coast and what we can expect with regards to bureaucracy. The Kabola drip feed oil heating is on, the cockpit enclosure and fore-main boom tent are up (Dark Horse is a schooner) and we are planning our next summer sail.

The very rough plan from Gibraltar is – the island of Aboran – the Tunisian town of Tabarka – then SW Sardinia. Where do you suggest we should stop in between?

If you are wondering why Tabarka and SW Sardinia, it’s because in the C18th Ligurian’s freed from Slavery from Tabarka founded the town of Calasetta in SW Sardinia and we though it might be interesting to follow their route. If we do it Calasetta have promised to bring out the town band!

Thanks in anticipation
 
Tangier is wonderful! A few years since we were last there but had a great time. Hired a local to take care of us and visiting kids around town and it was well worth the cost, showed us places we would never have found for ourselves. Even managed to only buy one small carpet in the souk.........pretty good going we thought!
Easy sail from Gib and straight in to a very different world.
 
No not Gibraltar yet, we’re wintering in Cowes!

Sorry I was not clear. We plan to go down to Gibraltar for mid July, we are trying to work out were to visit on the way from Gib to Sardinia in a roundabout kind of way (we will then spend the next month sailing onto Venice where we will live for a few years).

Tangiers sounds just the sort of place. We won’t go where our insurance co will not cover but the pilot lists a number of new marinas along the coast so I guess someone is sailing there?

All accounts of relevant experience welcomed.
 
Tangier is my favourite port in all of the Med... Tabarka is lovely but a little too well kept and tidy - Spent some very pleasant times there... If you head out of there down the Tunisian coast toward Carthage and no - just day sailing you will see and experience the best of North Africa and perhaps the med.. the history is wonderful, the ancient sites are well kept and preserved and the people a pleasure to be with... I cannot understand why people visit the dull and boring Greek Islands when Tunisia is so beautiful and available..

Michael
 
[ QUOTE ]
I cannot understand why people visit the dull and boring Greek Islands when Tunisia is so beautiful and available..

[/ QUOTE ]

No offence but that reminds me of the joke:
"What are they saying? It's not only one car going wrong way in the highway, it's hundreds!!!"
 
I cannot understand why people visit the dull and boring Greek Islands when Tunisia is so beautiful and available..

Could it be because most people dont like the thought of getting robbed or their throat cut? Dysentry aside /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Re: where to visit in North Africa? Re: Davy S

I think you may be confusing Tunisia with er well anywhere, from all reports I've read Tunisia is a v.friendly place and mugging is quite rare.
 
Thanks for the suggestions of Tangiers and sailing down the Tunisian coast towards Carthage. We will look into them.

Incidentally we have found the Italian nautical almanac published by ‘Bolina’ to be really useful – not just for Tunisia. It’s updated every year and looks and feels much like a Mediterranean Reeds. We consider it great value at €10.50. They add a new country every year and the coverage is getting quite extensive. Obviously it is in Italian.

Gerry and Michael – how did you find the clearing in/out procedure, and was security an issue?

If anyone really knows of a risk of our throats being cut or dysentery then please do provide a fuller response.

regards
 
Sorry Mike, my comments were slightly tongue in cheek! Many years ago we had our bags stolen in Monastir, plus dysantery, that came free. Nothing of any real value was stolen and I suppose it was our own fault for not being careful.
It was enough to put me off the place though.
Where I live in Greece, my car is left unlocked, my house and windows the same, plus if I left my camera outside a bar, it would still be there when I returned. Maybe that explains my defense of Greece.
 
I never found security an issue in Tangier - apart from anything else it is a 'free port' so the gates to it are guarded and only people with passes or passports can enter. I would wander round Tangier at night with perfect confidence. No more dangerous than La Rochelle or Maidenhead.

Clearance in is fairly fast - maybe an hour tops -- out just depends on if the customs guy in charge is around, not doing his thing with ferry's or is having a nap.. In a lot of North African ports a pack of cigarettes or two or another small gift can speed things up... You could send a couple of hours getting cleared out without the gifts... but its all good fun and since when were we is such a hurry?

Michael
 
You may be more up to date about Alboran but my Pilot says " Facilities are non existent and, officially, in order to visit, permission must be obtained from the Naval commander in Almeria". Almeria is not very convenient for Gib. This is why we have sailed past it many times.

Tunisia, IMHO, was a bit of a pain. We called into Bizerte about four years ago en route East. We were visited by four different sets of officials on a Sunday afternoon. Very pleasant, very smiley, showing photos of kids etc. After about an hour of listing everything with a serial number they say "So, what do you have for us then?". No problem except that what we had was not good enough for them. Our cheap Spanish fags and gin were rejected as they only wanted Marlborough and Red Label. They left, and we thought that was it. However, we were pestered for the next three days by more officials who did not believe us.

We sailed on to Pantelleria.

I have no problem with countries who need the income from us to survive. They clearly sell on the gear from visiting boats and that is fine. However, we have spent most of our lives in societies like this and have had enough. For that reason we shall not return. If you are not sensitive about that sort of thing you may well enjoy the place.

Good luck.
 
We are currently based in El Kantaoui, on the Tunisian East coast outside of Souse. We cleared in at Kalebia, and where processed within about 3 hours from arrival. The officials where all friendly and helpful, and changed Euro's into Dinars at a good rate. THe people who had slight difficulties, which were all resolved amicabley and swiftly were people turning up without ships papers, passports or insurance. We have found Tunisian's friendly and helpful, although we have heard of exceptions to this, but have not experienced it ourselves.
Dysentry?, I can not comment on a medical condition, we have all had cases of stomach upsets, but washing hands before eating anything, seems to be the order of the day, and avoid contact with the local cats.
Apart from a lack of chandlery, I would recommend Tunisia to anyone who asks.
 
different strokes for different folks... possibly depends on the way you behave.. I only found good manners, helpfulness and friendly people in Tunisia and I have sailed up and down the entire coast a couple of times..

Morocco likewise except the officials seem to take longer.. to carry out their duties but what the hell? I was never in a hurry. In fact I almost never give 'gifts' but do understand that the economy is to some extent based on an official receiving 'gifts' in return for his service rather than the state paying him a proper salary.

I think there is nothing to fear except fear itself within most of North Africa. Wild horses would not make me sail into Somalia or some other similar African states and the officialdom of Egypt drive me crazy, so I am not as tolerant as I may appear.

I think many pilot books are the experience of just one man - so it depends on what sort of guy the 'writer' is..

Michael
 
Thanks everyone for all the info. We really like places with no facilities. We once spent 3 days getting papers to visit the Selvagen islands north of the Canary islands. Just one warden and 20,000 shearwaters -an amazing place. My wife speaks Spanish (and 5 other European languages!) if any one can get a pass to visit Alboran she can.

We have experience of Portuguese officials and the officials on most small islands where things can be slow and it does not worry us very much at all. We take the kids along and that always helps. But paper work and officials can make the suggestion of day sailing a little impractical. Or is there a cruising pass or some other way to get around this?

We will get some Spanish Marlborough – we don’t smoke so they are welcome to them but the red label we find a use for that me thinks.

So come on Dreamcatcher and absit omen where are the not to be missed places along the north African coast?

Regards

Mike and lola on dark horse
 
[ QUOTE ]
different strokes for different folks... possibly depends on the way you behave..

[/ QUOTE ]

I shall disregard that rather patronising remark although my Chinese Singaporean wife who has lived on the local economy in Malaysia, China, Indonesia.........etc feels differently.

MichaelE has sailed along the coast of North Africa many times. Just as well, we were told that we were not permitted to anchor. We were also told that we must notify the authorities of our departure from Bizerte with our next Port of Call and ETA. This was, of course, "for our own safety".

Again, I say Good Luck. Not our scene but clearly appeals to some.
 
[ QUOTE ]
We were also told that we must notify the authorities of our departure from Bizerte with our next Port of Call and ETA. This was, of course, "for our own safety".


[/ QUOTE ] in fact most countries outside the EU require you to state your next port on their clearance documents. The ETA is reasonable enough as well - The port officials can not be expected to know the cruising speed of every craft they clear in case it goes reported as missing... Lots of people sailing in UK waters do the same with the coastguard. To be fair North Africa will not suit everybody - which is why it is relatively unvisited - different strokes for different folks

Michael
 
Most reports

seem to agree that Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are OK.

Be warned off Libya, not dangerous as the typical paranoid would have us believe, but boring and an enormous weight of insatiable officialdom. This officialdom can only be exceeded by Egypt.

On the whole N Africa is probably less petty-crime-ridden than the European coast.

Oh yes, baksheesh - but it's a part of the way of life!!
 
Re: Most reports

[ QUOTE ]
seem to agree that Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are OK.

No experience of Morocco or Tunisia, but Algeria is definitely a "No go".
I lived 12 years there, and still have some contacts - although less and less frequent - and I wouldn't recommend to anybody to land in Algeria.
This country is in political turmoil, and can be very dangerous for europeans.
The last time I sailed there, a small fishing boat tryed to stop and board us. Good luck, we had a good wind and could bravely run away!
Thus my advice is even not to sail near the algerian coast. It's a pity, because the coast is very spectacular, and have a lot of nice places where to anchor.

I wouldn't try Libya either, although not really dangerous, rather unpredictable.
One may be very welcome one day, and treated like a criminal the next day.
The libyan coast is a continuation of the desert, and is unspectacular, even boring, except for some (actually many) roman sites, with very well kept monuments.
BTW I lived in Libya as well.

Paul.
 
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