Leaving Europe for Africa

We arrived in Sidi bou Said after a 3-day sail from Malta. We had seen lots of thunderstorms along the way and hadn’t had much sleep. Tired, we carefully navigated our way to the fuel dock in the entrance of the marina. We normally avoid marinas, especially ones that are shallow like this one, but we had to check into the country with the authorities.

It took a few hours altogether to get checked in, police clearance, and fuel up. The marina is quite small and crowded, and it turned out that the only spot that Spacegrazer might fit in was right at the end of a complicated path through the marina, which we would have reverse along on because there was no space to turn the boat near the berth. Max had hardly slept for three days and didn’t feel up to the challenge so we decided to just get out of the marina and anchor out in the bay.

We were a bit frightened because the port police came out to see us and strongly urged us to come into the marina for safety. We politely explained that this would be very hard for us to do so we’d rather stay where we were. With all the hatches and door locked we went to bed at night, were not stolen from our beds, and decided we were safe.

Sidi Bou Said itself is a beautiful town, perched on a hill. All houses are painted white with blue accents. Most of them also have beautifully decorated wooden doors.

Tea and Birds

We wandered through the pedestrian streets for a little, then had delicious tea with mint and almonds in a traditional tea salon – with milkshakes for the kids. Walking around town later that afternoon, someone plopped a falcon on Kai’s shoulder. We all took turns taking photos, except for Beau…