Casablanca, Tuesday 28 September

As mentioned in the number of Dream Times we were a bit slow getting away from Lisboa because a heavy swell was running and then later because we only had a light breeze from the south.

We succeeded in getting away Tuesday 28. We took in supplies and everything on board was secured for sea because we expected a confused swell, we have learned our lesson.

Well prepared we went out of Doca de Alcántara and with tense expectation we reached the mouth of the river using the engine. On our way out we met a Cheloniidae turtle lounging in the surface of the water. We all took pictures. It must have been an old one because it was moss grown all over. Reaching the sea we could all breathe again, the sea was calm. A fair wind from west was blowing and Dream made 5 knots.

Wednesday we made the long-felt left turn to the Algarve coastline. The point, Capo de São Vicente, is very impressive. We were met by 50-100 metres precipitous cliffs, which brutally were refusing the great Atlantic waves lashing towards the crags. It sounded like thunder. Shortly after entering the entrance to Algarve the wind dropped and we decided to find an anchorage for the night. We chose to stay at Sagres, a little idyllic village. NP and Flemming went ashore while Mikkel and René made themselves ready for a night dive. They put on snorkel and jumped into the water, which was filled with phosphorescence and a luminous adventure awaited them. The sandy sea floor was 4 metres below. Here they turned off their diving lamps. By movement you actuate the phosphorescence, which is a sort of plankton, and the mechanical energy in the phosphorescence is changed into electrical energy which makes the plankton send out light. In the glimmerings of the phosphorescence the two water dogs were illuminated so strongly that it was possible to read the manufacturer's mark on their wet suits. When you were swimming forward the luminous corpuscles were hit towards your diving glasses like thousands of shooting stars. A fantastic experience and everyone who has the opportunity must try it. When NP returned to the ship he had to go into the water to try it.

The next morning, Thursday 30 September, we had lots of diving activities. At this point we all agreed on dropping Cadiz and go straight to Gibraltar.

The next days we had changeable and varying navigation due to an unstable wind caused by the high barometric pressure. At the first moment we made 7 knots and then suddenly the sea was dead calm and we had to use the engine. It can be frustrating when you at so many times are becalmed. Skipper was about to wish for a gale instead. Mikkel made a header from the horns of the cross trees, he was the first to do so.

We could not reach Gibraltar in daylight so we cast anchor at Tarifa, 15 miles west of Gibraltar. We spent a lot of time diving in the submerged caves together with lots of fish, crabs, lobsters and all sort of plants. When you dive during the nights the fish are almost paralysed by our lamps until you are no more than 10-20 centimetres away. This gives you a fabulous opportunity to study them.

At noon, Saturday 2 October the course was set for Gibraltar and Michael made 9.9 knots but it was not enough to beat Dennis´10 knots.

The old Crown Colony, Gibraltar, is nowadays duty-free which makes it interesting for sailors but our treasurer, René, did not approve more electronics purchases for Dennis but in the end Dennis managed to get a small converter which could change our 12 volt to 220. According to Dennis a nice little piece. Mikkel bought a new diving watch and Michal and NP put some money in a new camera.

We had a few things to fix on the boat because we could get replacement parts. Flemming is our chief gas fitter and plumber and got the task to make the toilet completely watertight. NP started to chip off the rust and paint. René and Michael checked the intake of seawater for the engine, which had been leak and our big military general, Mikkel, changed the generator belt and Dennis checked the wind rudder, which actually counts for our seventh crew hand. Now everybody could choose when to do their task.

Tuesday NP, Mikkel and Dennis went diving and Flemming and Michal wanted to visit The Upper Rock by foot. A very exhausting trip. At the top they were met by lots of monkeys.

NP, Mikkel, René and Dennis decided to have a real dive. They found a local diver, who was an exciting combination of Popeye the Sailor, John Wayne and Jacques Costeau. He knew of a wreck,, that sunk in 1912. The ship was to be 70m long and 30m wide. Mikkel and Dennis went down together and René and NP were partners. It was a real nice wreck dive with excellent visibility. Roselyn, the wreck, was still nice with doghouse and holds you felt quite honoured to be able to be agravic over this enormous ship. It was an imposing sight. From the stem we slid into the hold where we saw lots of broken iron girder.

Wednesday 6 October we left Gibraltar heading for Casablanca. We only moved slowly forward because of a heavy counter current in the Straits of Gibraltar but it helped a lot when the current changed in the evening. Dennis and NP succeeded in trimming the sails perfectly and when we reached the coast of Morocco the good ship made 11.3 knots which is a new and unrivalled record set by the partnership Thuesen & Østergaard. Someone would claim that it was pure luck and aleatoric but the two shipmasters´ statements to the editorial office stress the fact that it was scheduled strategy. During the night René and Flemming rounded the point of Africa at Cap Spartel and then they steered a southerly course.

The next couple of days it was almost calm. The spinnaker went up and down about half a dozen times so everybody on board kept a good touch with the spinnaker. Skipper is no longer roused to lead the when we rig and unrig the sails. We spent the quiet hours swimming and René also made a perfect header from the cross trees which artistically would give a 9. At this time Dennis and Michal really got started fishing. That is now they started catching fish instead of losing spoon baits. They caught one big dorado (Coryphæna ) and two tuna fish at 5 kilo a piece. They were all cleaned and cooled down because we would be in Casablanca at supper time and then we would put the tuna fish steaks on the grill. Everybody was in high spirits looking forward to taste the fresh tunny.

On our way through the entering to Casablanca we met a big custom ship. They stopped and a custom-officer came on board and checked our passports and the ship's papers. He was very concerned about us smuggling people ashore. There were no problems and he bid us a welcome to Morocco. We now hoped to have an inward clearance but no. As soon as we came alongside the quay 2 persons wearing dark green uniforms came onboard. We thought it was the immigration police because they wanted all kind of information – everything: name of parents, brothers, sisters and their addresses also, what kind of communication equipment we had and then we were allowed to go to the harbour police and have our permission to enter.

When this inward clearance bureaucracy was over we enjoyed a delicious dinner and cold beers. Even Mikkel who usually is not fond of fish enjoyed the well-prepared tuna steaks.

When we arrived Friday evening we come alongside a private floating quay about 15 m away from the so-called marina. There were about 15 boats moored to more or less tumble-down jetties. We realized that there were not many boat owners in Morocco. The chap who beckoned us to come in seemed to be a nice bloke and wanted to help with everything. According to him he was able to the whole lot do but when he demanded 100 dirham( about 10$ ) for one night we all turned sceptical. We were 3 ships side by side so we had to pass 2 boats, a homemade concrete bridge and a ramshackle suspension bridge in order to get ashore and then go through a narrow passage before you got away from the private property. In addition there was only water in jars and very poor property current (only 190 volt). He would not reduce the price and moreover he became rude because we did not pay him at once so we moved the boat into the "real" marina and now we have water and current at our disposal and in addition a shower room- only cold water- but nice anyway.

NP has a friend, Glenn, who also has worked with Dennis, he lives in Casablanca and works for A.P. Møller. After exchanging of E-mails we got contact and Saturday he came to the boat. We had a chat over a beer and Glenn invited us to a restaurant where we had the best meal we had had in months. Glenn lives in a lovely house on the other side of Casablanca and offered that his house-keeper could wash and iron our clothes, which we jumped at immediately. Thanks a lot Glenn MacArtney!!