Think the one on the right is a shop lifter.
Well Algeria has turned out to be a pain in the arse , so won’t be spending Christmas here!
Had a pretty good sail over. 57 hrs mooring to mooring. Usual story wind changed in later stages so tacked off shore rather than head into a strange new port with out a visa at nighttime. Next day beautifully clear and calm sea so motored into Cherchil fishing port .
Obviously no one answers the radio but was directed into a clear space along side in what was a congested working fishing harbour.
Then the fun starts. 6 booted blokes board followed by two camo’d police and a plainclothes. Pieces of paper were duly filled in with the same information for each different group. Photos of boat licence and questions about my last 10 ports Mothers name and such like. Then it was a question of where I could stay because apparently the military said I couldn’t stay in this spot. Diesel was the next issue and at one point they were going to fill me up for free. That didn’t materialise and mean while police arranged a port up the coast . Then that was full so Sidi Fredj was suggested but I remember that I’d put a cross through that option. Why? Because the harbour mouth silts to 1 metre. Correctly, the coastguard with good English noticed my book was two years out of date and said it was a proper marina with boats much bigger than Kat now. So after one and a half days at sea and 3 hrs of fannying about . I moved to the suggested , 30 miles away at 6.30 pm . After a tricky approach at night and going slow as my option is always to tight turn and get out if required; I grounded on the silt 1.3 meters deep. Went backwards eventually but got stuck going forward on the turn . Got out of that and was pondering while floating around the harbour, so decided to top up the tank from reserve canister. Half way through, another coast guard decided to check my documents. I was still fairly patient but highlighted the erroneous info their colleagues had given me. Again everything was in good humour and their suggestion was to head to Algiers port and contact the coast guard there. That was 4 miles away apparently , actually 15 and by this time it was about 3am.
Obviously no one answers radio there either. I’m drifting around the inner industrial harbour thinking the high wharfs will be no good to me then I see a cruiser pull in. Bear in mind it transpires that there is no real sailing - marina life style here this was incongruous, so I went where he was going . A Brit doing the Schengen tax dance! 5 more Jack boots invaded from various departments, by this time my patience was long gone.6.30 am they all left .
No Wi-Fi phone signal , diesel had to be paid by bank transfer not the Dinahs I bought over and I needed an agent to arrange it. A few hours later talking to a bloke he made contact with an agent and fuel truck which I’m waiting for, all for €270 for 100ltrs !! Paid in euros and dinah because agent decided he could take cash. More than cost of 100 litres in Spain from an oil producing country- great , but I was had by the short and curly’s. .Interestingly the coast guard bloke asked a different question. Any flares or smoke canisters ? Are they in date? Answer yes and no, so with a great show of responsible concern he relieved me of 6 hand held flares leaving me with about 10 other pyrotechnics all out of date with the warning that he would mention the small misdemeanour in his report but the last Europeans were fined over € 300 for same offence.🤪Without visa I’m not allowed out of port area so mooching isn’t an option. Wind supposed to be good tomorrow for a while so I’m heading back to Spain . The wind shall dictate!
Forgot to mention , there’s a Ruski boat next to me looks like a tanker but as the crew are being taken on trips by the local military the agent suspects its military probably one of their spy vessels!
Still on my passage after an interesting day and night. 30 kts of wind in the right direction set me up for an exciting run home. Up to 8 kts ground speed , I was on for a record! Predictably the wind changed to a northerly earlier than forecast so only got 35 miles from that. The swell picked up,at highest 4m and lasted all night, the wind stayed at about 22-30 kts so we were crashing through the waves deck awash and unusually a minor flood in the cockpit from waves breaking abeam.
Aware that there was already some water in my bilges I noticed the pump light on - no pumping. A bit of running around and I theorised that where we had been heeling over, water was ingressing from some where it shouldn’t. Spare container, small pump fitted to battery drill ,engine hatch removal 30ltrs of bilge carried up gang way at night in rolling sea in two goes. I was knackered and not feeling great.
When dockside in Algiers talking to some one I felt odd and think my sleep has been so intermittent that it’s taking its toll. To be honest there was chaos on the boat , I was staggering about then discoverd the head was flooded. Fortunately the lowest point is the shower bowl so that was easily pumped out as designed . I’m theorising but think that the deck air vents were overwhelmed by the breaking waves, hopefully this is the reason but need to look in to that when berthed!
Apart from that I did stumble on deck and got a scare but no real damage .
Now mooching along at 4.5 kts in sunlight with the sea a lot calmer but still 80 to go. Knocked Ibiza on the head due wind change. Shame as I liked the marina there. Going back to Alicante which is nice.Hopefully I can upload two short videos of passage when I get Wi-Fi . It doesn’t really give the real picture. Certainly not of what came later.
It wasn’t a wasted trip I had a great sail , overcame a few hiccups and set foot on a foreign land having covered about 400 miles. It was was never a forgone conclusion I’d get in and I didn’t get impounded ,imprisoned or fined 🤪
Happy Christmas readers.🎄🎅.
