El-Jebha, Morroco

El -Jebha

Susannah and Yooannmee moored together

Susannah and Yooannmee rafted at El-Jebha
Originally uploaded by Yacht Susannah

SATURDAY 21 JUNE 2008

Roger and Tudor played with their SSB radios trying to get weather information from the Monaco station. Our SSB radio is not picking up the broadcasts so Roger fitted an earth to it. He also changed the oil and oil filter (in his best fawn coloured shorts) to see if it made any difference to the oil pressure gauge (it didn’t). Barbara and I went to walk around the town which was surprisingly busy with small cafes (always filled by men, not women), small shops selling a variety of goods and stalls on the road selling jeans, figs and plums. We bought some of the lovely Moroccan bread and fruit. All the people seem really friendly and are happy showing you the way without expecting money.

It was very hot, so Barbara and I packed a picnic and Roger helped Barbara blow up the canoe. The friendly young harbour master came to chat to us and told us he had worked as a Fisherman for ten years, working for a few years on an Irish boat where he had learned English. He is hoping the area can be developed a little to encourage more visitors, particularly when they have such a beautiful spot with the Rif mountains overlooking the Mediterranean. He comes from Rabat, where his wife is living, and he goes back for a weekend once a month. The Fisheries boat had gone out into the bay with a Professor on board looking at the viability of starting a Fish Farm as fish stocks are dwindling in the area.

Barbara and I canoed about a mile across the bay to the beach and went for a swim. A group of very pretty little girls came and sat nearby. They seemed shy but wanted to talk to us and asked what we were called. Eventually they plucked up courage to ask if we had got a pen! I had brought two with me and gave them one and they seemed very happy. It seems the boys want sweets, whisky and cigarettes and the girls want pens! It’s nearly always boys who are out playing, and not long after a group of boys came and the girls went away. The children seem intrigued to see foreigners. Barbara lent one of them her snorkel and mask, but soon after the boys were chased away by a man who told them not to bother us.

Barbara and I canoed back to the boat and the boys jumping from the harbour entrance came over and wanted us to tow them. When there were about four on the canoe I couldn’t maneuver it but they let go when asked. We let them jump into the canoe when we got it back to the boat. The canoe is extremely stable as there were about six boys climbing in and out of it and it still did not capsize.

In our absence Roger had taken a walk into the town, hoping to get rid of the rubbish. A small boy followed him at 25 paces all the way into the town and back to the port!

For an out-of-the-way place, surprisingly El-Jebha has a few internet cafes. We took our own computers along as it is very difficult typing on the Arabic keyboards as a lot of the letters are in different places. My computer wouldn’t connect so I used their computer, but it was very, very slow.

There are small eating houses in El-Jebha but they all seemed to be full of men watching football. We eventually found a larger one with a terrace and had an excellent meal for the four of us for less than £20. We had coffee on Susannah and the Harbour Master came over to say goodbye. Barbara and Tudor have decided to cross to Malaga tomorrow as they are meeting up with friends who live in the Mar Menor.