And suddenly this flipping Moroccan Navy cutter comes out of nowhere, powers up to us with the blokes on deck gesticulating wildly in terms that we generally interpret to mean 'we are boarding you'. We take the sail down and wait. Nothing happens.
Now we've been rushing all day, trying to squeeze that last little bit of speed out of Phantom Lady in order to get into the harbour before dark. We don't have a pilot book or a chart but it looks straightforward on the Google Earth maps.......
Still nothing happens. Captain says get on the radio and ask them what happens now. So I did and they basically told us to bugger off and get outside the 4 mile limit. WTF????
So we did. And it's getting dark.
And we waited. And waited. Then we called them and said what now?? No reply. So we waited. And waited..... and I called them and called them. Nothing.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, they eventually told us to call the Port Pilot (for those who aren't boaty types the Port Pilot is basically in charge of all traffic, usually big ships, that use a port)
When we eventually got him on the radio he was a little amused to say the least and told us to proceed unaccompanied.
By this time it's dark and we've now got to negotiate a strange harbour thats tucked in behind a massive commercial port with fishing boats everywhere. No pilot or charts......
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| hope the customs guys don't wonder what this is tee hee |
Well, we got in eventually with no problem. The marina was half empty. Is it any wonder with the welcome committee they've got haha
No sooner were we tied up than a veritable posse of officials all very smartly dressed trooped down the pontoon to take our details and scutinise our paperwork to ridiculous lengths. Having said that they were all absolutely charming and polite, if a little pedantic.
When they had finally departed a good nights sleep was had by all aboard :)
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