Once we left Marina Smir we sailed down the Moroccan coast until we reached Oued Bouchia with it beautiful and picturesque village.There I drop the anchor just in front of a beautiful beach. There I went for a swim and after dinner I got to sleep around 10PM.
Just before midnight we got awaken by wailing sirens and bright spotlight shining on our boat.
After thorough review of all our documents and search of the boat I was told that I either go back to Marina Smir which was 6 to 7 hours away or I had to leave Moroccan waters as it was not allowed to anchor on ones own
From what I know Morocco tries hard to attract tourists by their tourism seems to be Cuban style; you can only visit places they allow you to.
So I picked up our anchor and went straight to Spain. I’ve survived on those 2 hour sleep plus a number of 15 to 20 minutes power naps while keeping the watch. We’ve reached Spain after 17 hours of sailing.
Morocco is a police state where you can get in trouble for taking photos of any of king’s palaces. BTW on out 20 minute ride form marina to Tetouan we encountered two of those palaces.