Nomad's Travels: Dakhla Morocco

Nomad arrived in Dakhla Morocco after an uneventful four day sail from Los Cristianos Tenerife at night, as usual. The sun had set while sailing south around the extensive shoals off the peninsula that Dakhla was located on. Motoring about the bay in a twenty knot breeze looking for a place to anchor or land at night can be challenging as there is no details of the inner harbors on the charts. After checking out the whole length of the wharf and seeing no protection from the one meter waves rolling down its face I was turning around to seek an anchorage and saw a car flashing it's headlights. Manuevering carefully between two ships and their mooring cables to get withing shouting distance of the dock, we were told to follow them around the wharf and they would show us the way into the small craft harbor. Cautiously hugging the wharf and steering directly towards the shallow areas, we were directed into a basin that was much larger and deeper than indicated on the chart and tied to a tugboat where we were met by all the officials. Having been to a number of Moroccan ports before, I knew what to expect and had everything ready. Formalities were completed and the passports stamped by 2200. The wharf in Dakhla is some distance out in the bay connected to the shore by a long causeway making every trip into town a long hike although we got the occasional ride. As the sun rose we were greeted by another fishing harbor with a dusty,windswept desert landscape very different from the other Moroccan ports we had visited. Over the next six days we visited the town taking in the sights and sounds of a desert town in the western Sahara that gets few visitors. Nomad's galley was well stocked with the culinary delights of Moroccan cuisine that we knew would not be available again as we made our way down the African coast.The port charges were the same here as in other ports, it is a standard rate, "lets see what they charged in the last harbor...", paid in Dirhams. We had to shift the boat three times to allow the tug to get out, but this allowed us easy access to the wharf without having to adjust out docklines for the two meter tides. Nomad made a late afternoon departure with the tide and had cleared the Dakhla sea bouy as the sun was setting, sailing for Dakar Senegal.