The weeks are flying by, and it’s time for another post. This time, there are many different subjects. In chronological order:
When we arrived here in Tangiers on 27 May 2025, we had a significant Volvo engine oil leak, one that was particularly difficult to diagnose while underway – and repair. Well, in truth I didn’t have any hope in repairing it because I had no idea where it was leaking! Way back in June, I had the good fortune to come across a very good mechanic by the name of Abdelwahid (WhatsApp number +212 661-204886. He was quite busy, both in his mechanic job, and personally , but one day he helped me for 15 minutes to simply find the leak. He wedged himself into a tight spot in the engine room and videoed the oil cooler housing as I increased the engine rpm. At 900rpm, there was no leak, but as the pressure increased at 1500rpm, it started to leak. I was unable to setup a date for him to attend to the repair until we returned from Canada and Marrakesh more than 3 months later.
Finally, he arrived, removed the oil cooler, and took it away to his shop for repair.
He returned a week later, installed it – but discovered it was now leaking in a different place.
He removed it again, and took it back to his shop, returned a week later, and this time it wasn’t leaking, not at all. In the end, I was very pleased with the quality and timeliness of his work, and we were not inconvenienced by the time it took. We were sitting at dock anyway.
While back in Canada this past summer, we discovered that Diane needed some surgery (female anatomy). It was simply not possible to schedule this while we were home, so we postponed it until we returned to Morocco. In summary, Diane discovered an English speaking female gynaecologist and had the surgery in a private hospital within a week after our return. We paid upfront for the surgery, and do not carry any medical insurance. As we have found in many other countries (Wade had knee replacement surgery in both India and Turkey), the private medical system here in Morocco is both affordable and of high quality.
A few weeks ago, over a two day period, we took one of these red hop-on, hop-off bus tours so we could quickly see the sights of Tangiers. Our normal weekly activities take us to shopping malls, supermarkets and hardware stores, but this was a tourist activity. There are actually two separate routes, and one ticket gets you entry onto both (which we did over a two day period).
The first, and longer tour is the Grottes D’Hercule tour. One of the stops was Cape Spartel. This site is just west of the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, 12 km West of Tangier. Below the cape are the “Caves of Hercules”. The cape rises to a height of 326m. at the top of Jebel Quebir where there is a tower. There is another tower nearer to the end of the cape which serves as a lighthouse.
We drove by the Socco Alto Mall, probably the newest and nicest mall in Tangiers (and there are plenty). We drove by Marshan Palace, repurposed in 1957 as a property of the Monarchy, and later became known as the Maison de Tanger (“House of Tangier”).
On that west end tour, we also drove by some evidently affluent neighbourhoods.
The second, and shorter tour is called the Tanger Ville Tour. It starts off by driving right through the centre of the Medina (old city). This view is just opposite the old port, where the cruise ships come in. Notice the pedestrian crossing. The way it works in Morocco is that cars stop for pedestrians crossing the street in those striped areas. However, you need to be actually walking, across the stripes – and eyeballing each car. They will drive in front of, and behind you – but it is safe.
We also drove by the Tangier Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (also called the Spanish Cathedral), the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tangier in Morocco,. It is a striking modern building known for its angular nave and bell tower, and serving as a significant landmark in Tangier’s skyline, and a symbol of the city’s diverse cultural past.
The remaining city tour started by driving right through the middle of the Medina.
The tour continued to rumble through city streets displaying the European influence on building and commerce.
Our young friends Reda and his wife Jasmine came by for a visit (lunch and afternoon tea). They are our best source of information as to Moroccan culture and history. They come from Agadir (in the south of Morocco) and have lived in Tangiers for about a year.
A few weeks ago, we had a toilet plumbing discharge line “issue” and Reda came to help out (he was on a statutory holiday, so he had the day off). A few years ago, Reda actually worked as a plumber’s assistant, and the fact that he is smaller and more flexible than me made the job much quicker. While building JOANA, our son Jonathan was only 9-12 years old, and perfectly fit in one very tight space. Here, Reda shows that he too, can fit in that space under the microwave convection oven.
Since returning from Canada at the end of September, we have experienced quite a bit of frustration with the marina wifi. In truth, it used to be very good, fast and reliable. Suddenly, two months ago it became very poor. The marina blamed it on expansion efforts, but there is more going on than meets the eye. I see now that there are actually 9 Access Points where the marina wifi is broadcast on 2.4 and 5GHz networks. I have been using a Ubiquiti Bullet since 2011 to capture remote 2.4GHz networks. While in New Zealand in 2017, I augmented this with an additional MikroTik Groove for both 2.4 and 5 GHz networks. For the most part, one or the other of these devices has worked very well to bring in marina wifi, or even distant wifi signals over either 2.4 or 5 GHz band over the past 14 years. A few weeks ago, when troubleshooting this poor marina wifi connection, I uploaded a firmware upgrade to our Groove. Shortly afterwards, I realized that this firmware was not compatible with this hardware version of the Groove, and could not operate. I found it very strange that the device actually permitted the uploading of software that was incompatible with the hardware, but, nonetheless, it did. Then, the only option remaining was to take the Groove apart.
The reset button was broken (common fault), so my only remaining option was to buy a TTL-USB converter, and attach four tiny alligator clip leads to four very tiny gold pads – and try to upload a downgraded firmware version through PuTTy on my boat navigation PC.
Despite dogged determination by both me and Grok, this procedure ultimately failed. My fallback is to simply buy a new MikroTik Groove and replace the device – not easily possible in Morocco.
What I see happening now in Tanja Bay Marina is that the Network Administrator has cleverly found a way to bump off these type of devices (amplifiers to bring in remote wifi signals). Their unexplained, and likely rationale is that the high power amplifiers like these can dominate the channels, making access for the ordinary user difficult. From my perspective, I can get a good marina wifi signal in the cockpit, but definitely not inside our boat. Why? Because we live inside a metal boat. Every boater who lives inside a steel or aluminum boat experiences the same issue. We have come to rely on our equipment to grab these signals and pass them to a router inside the boat, broadcasting our JOANA wifi. I have spoken with Marina Management about this many times, and gotten nowhere. It was time to take a different approach.
Therefore, we bought a MIFI “puck” or mobile Internet router from Orange, a large provider here in Morocco. For less than 30 euros a month (pay as you go, not on a contract), we can have 4G wifi at speeds that we find are adequate – and can support two users. So, we connect this little puck directly into our boat router, and presto, we have a JOANA wifi network again, throughout the boat.
To “hedge our bets” and setup for the future, we have also bought a STARLINK mini, but more about that in a future post.
A few weeks ago, we made an interesting observation. There were no dock ladders on our dock, M-dock. Very strange. I asked management how they expected an adult, let alone a child, to get out of the water if they fell in. The docks are floating and more than a metre above the water. The Marina answered, “Oh, they haven’t gotten around to installing those yet”. Well, I found it pretty shocking that M dock has been in use for more than a year and nobody bothered to install these ladders! Anyway, after a week, we suddenly inherited two dock ladders, most certainly robbed from another dock. It is at least somewhat comforting to know that the marina management takes safety seriously, at least after some prodding.
Finally, just before writing this blog post, yesterday we hosted Reda and Jasmine for another visit aboard JOANA, this time they brought his mother, her mother and his niece – all from Agadir. I would be remise if I neglected to mention that again, they brought some very good homemade pastries, cooked up by Jasmine only an hour before. They had travelled to visit Tangiers, and bring family closeness as Jasmine approaches her “due date”.
