Bizerte and Tabarka Tunisia, July 23-26

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Bizerte.

Leaving Golfe de Tunis, we sail up and around to Cap Blanc where we stop for the night at a small harbor with the main population being fishing boats (again). It was a good 9 hour sail. The winds were varied most of the day and out of the North-East never giving us a good opportunity to sail with the Spinnaker. Winds of 10-25 kt gusts had us sailing with a furled jib most of the time. We arrived in Bizerte, Tunisia almost at dark(sorry, no pictures due to our quick stop there) and did not plan to do any “looking” around because we had to leave early in the next morning for Tabarka. Fred and Ken went with the customs person that had greeted us to do the normal paperwork, and Molly went off with our ice bag in search of some ice for our “still not working” refrigerator. The fishing buildings were close and so she did not have to go far. We were in a very exposed area just along the beginning edge of the jetty where many, many locals were fishing. Unfortunately, Bizerte harbor was littered and dirty and did not entice us to go out to venture.

Sailing to Tabarka would also be a long day with much the same coastal view. Arrived in Tabarka and found a nice sized harbor complete with naval ships, and a bustling community along the quay. Very little options for docking we pulled along the quay what turned out to be reserved for the coast guard boats. When we first circled into the harbor, a man was waving at us and motioning that we should tie up along side another sailboat.

This was the French sailing boat that we first saw in Sidi Daoud harbor. The owner and his wife were not on the boat and we did not feel comfortable tying up without their being available to assist, but as it turned out it was our only option and soon proved to be a good decision. When the couple returned they were most gracious and helped us with many logistic questions on the area. They had been in Tabarka before and were planning on staying for several days. During our stay the captain lent his hand-cart and water jug to us which we used to fill our water bottles with. The only hose that had good water was at the beginning of the harbor and a bit of a walk so the hand cart came in handy.


Our French Boat neighbors with some of their friends


Molly filling our water bottles

With several days from our last good shower and good night sleep Ken suggested I go look for a hotel for the night. I found a small, clean hotel (Hotel la Plage) for 70 denar that SAID they had internet, but I never got it working, even in the lobby so again, connection with home had to wait. Not having a good access to laundry, we used our bathtubs in the hotel as our laundry and then took our wet clothes back to the boat to hand and dry.


Drying our laundry on/and in the boat (threat of rain)


Vacationing Tunisian family

Algeria, City of Collo

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Collo harbor, South of Cap Collo, has a “greeting” dock complete with Coast Guard station. Apparently, all boats, must be acknowledge by the Coast Guard before coming in or going out. Leaving the harbor, they just have to “flagged” an acknowledgement by the Coast Guard and then they can go on with their business.
Once tied up, we were visited finally by the local Police, Coast Guard, and the Algerian Navy officials. We were never completely sure who was in charge as they all had their set of requests. During some of the paperwork and questioning, I was asked by the Algerian Naval officer to show my camera. He wanted to see what pictures I had on my camera. I turned on my camera and scrolled through my countless pictures of the Algerian water and shorelines, plus I think there were also some pictures of dolphins. I think he was satisfied that I did not have pictures that would damage the Algerian countries integrity. Some of our additional questioning was focused on our missing Visa’s that were required to go beyond the harbor and the fact that Molly’s husband was not sailing with us. The authorities did not understand why a married woman would be on our boat and her husband was not along with her. They asked repeatedly, “where is your husband”? I think they are still wondering about that!

Once we were settled, we then negotiated for ice, fuel and water. The harbor “master” (or the one who seemed to be in control of the fuel dock and such) arranged for me to get a big bag of ice and some fresh water. He then invited Fred and I into his office. He was quite proud of his pictures of Mohammad Ali and Che Guevara and the many pictures of Collo in the early 1900’s. He asked Fred and I to sign his “guest book”, and with pleasure we did and realized we were the first to sign in the book! Later, Ken and Fred traded one Grateful Red hat and one GR tee-shirt for 20 liters of diesel.

Our plans were to leave around 11PM to do our overnight to Spain (Palma Mallorica) and so we contacted the Coast Guard dock to let them know we would be leaving then. There were other fishing boats going out at night so the Coast Guard dock was active and well lit. We said our good byes and headed out to a night of motoring with the Jib sail up. Over the night our shifts were sail one hour, watch one hour and then off 3 hours. By this time I am very tuned to overnight sails although, I will be happy not to do any more in my life if possible . . . well, don’t think that will happen!

ALGERIA, August 26-27, 2011 City of Chetaibi

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Algerian Water border patrol checking us out

Tuesday’s sail gave us no wind, but lovely sunny skies. Tabarka is located close to the Algerian border and it wasn’t long before we were actually in Algerian waters. This was made clear to us with the approach of a very large military boat complete with guns on the deck. We had been ready for our arrival in Algeria by putting up the Q flag on our port side shroud and the Algerian flag on the Starboard. As we watched this large boat approach us at a fast speed, I tried to take some pictures without being too obvious.

The military boat circled us and hailed us on VHF. Ken had a very pleasant conversation on VHF answering their questions regarding our destination, and nationality of the entire crew. After bidding us a good day, they were gone! Tuesday’s sail gave us no wind, but lovely sunny skies. Tabarka is located close to the Algerian border and it wasn’t long before we were actually in Algerian waters. This was made clear to us with the approach of a very large military boat complete with guns on the deck. We had been ready for our arrival in Algeria by putting up the Q flag on our port side shroud and the Algerian flag on the Starboard. As we watched this large boat approach us at a fast speed, I tried to take some pictures without being too obvious. The military boat circled us and hailed us on VHF. Ken had a very pleasant conversation on VHF answering their questions regarding our destination, and nationality of the entire crew.

After bidding us a good day, they were gone!

We were able to fly the spinnaker in the morning, but by afternoon, we were motoring again. It was a sleepy day with little to do but read, motor and look for dolphins. We arrived in our first Algerian harbor in the city of Chetaibi around 7PM. Tying up along the quay was a bit of a circus and the longer it took, the larger the audience became. Not very often you see an American, RED sailboat come into your small fishing harbor. Language being the biggest challenge, we had several attempts to get the boat secured without hitting bottom along the quay. One gentleman assured me that it was 2 meters deep along side, but we knew we were touching several times. After a few odd try’s, Ken finally dropped anchor with the bow out and we secured the boat alongside a cement fishing dock. We had most of our fenders alongside to protect the boat, and of course, by this time it seemed the entire village was watching our progress.


Our evening audience


The young girls had so many questions for us (ladies)

There was a younger Coastguard representative that helped with our paperwork and soon became our boat guard. It was soon apparent that many wanted their pictures taken in front of the boat and several families tried to place their small children on our deck for this photo opportunity. We had to keep our gateway closed and kindly ask them to stay off the boat. This happened through out the evening and even in the morning before we were up. (in the morning, I awoke to hearing someone on the deck and when I went up, found several young boys scampering off with the Coast Guard rep watching. I think after I asked them to respect us, he kept others from getting on board.

That first night in Algeria, Ken and Fred walked to town to try to secure some food for dinner. Molly, Paula and I stayed behind to “protect” the boat. The entire Quay was filled with people enjoying the evening and watching us. The men did not have any luck getting dinner due to our lack of Algerian
funds and they did not want our US$. After a boat-dinner, Molly, Paula and I walked down the Quay and
had several lovely conversations with some of the younger crowd. They had wonderful questions for us and one particular young girl was very anxious to talk about women’s rights and freedoms. We found our entire reception very warm and they seemed delighted we selected their village to stop for the night.

In the morning we untied early to an almost empty Quay, and motored slowly out to start our next days sail. It was about 7:30AM when we left and we found we were able to sail with the Jib most of the day. Molly and Paula were at the helm most of the day taking us to our next destination, Collo, Algeria.