With a favourable weather forecast we decided upon an overnight sail to the small fishing port of El Jadida. Arriving in the morning, we went ashore to complete formalities with the harbour master, police, customs and immigration. There was an interesting Portuguese fort with ramparts overlooking the harbour and another ancient Medina. We stayed for a few days, sheltering from large waves before continuing down the coast to the large commercial port of Safi.
We spent a few days exploring Safi, visiting the pottery quarter which was interesting but very touristy. There was a large Medina surrounded by ancient city walls, it was quite easy to loose sense of direction wandering around the narrow streets and under archways that supported the tightly packed buildings. Our friend Matt had to leave us in Safi to fly back to Bristol, we had enjoyed his company and sailing expertise.
A large French catamaran was moored alongside us for a couple of nights, but when the waves increased we both had to move due to likely damage. We motored round the harbour for a few hours avoiding tankers, tugs and finishing boats. Then we tried to re-moor alongside the wall, but picked up some fishing net around our propeller and very nearly drifted onto the inside of the stone breakwater. We had just enough power to reach one of the basins and anchored, where the following day a diver cut the nets to free the prop. We completed formalities in numerous offices and were very glad to be on our way to the Canary Islands.
