While preparing to leave Agadir Marina, I found our Yanmar freshwater pump leaked beyond repair and needed replacement. With only 7 Schengen days left on our visa and Spain’s Canary Islands at high season with packed marinas, I decided to take my chances with what I read was a difficult Moroccan Customs. First my experience, then how I should have done it.
Morocco does not allow yacht owners to import parts free of duty “yacht in transit” unless the part is coming in as part of an insurance claim and the yacht’s insurance agency works with one of the many pre-approved Moroccan insurance partners. Although the US vendor was cheaper, I privately ordered a pump, bolts, plus a spare and all gaskets from dieselpartseurope.com $825 US. Both DHL and FedEx have offices in Agadir. Dieselpartseurope.com shipped FedEx, 3-4 days, Netherlands to Agadir for $165. Within 48 hrs, the packaged arrived in Casablanca where Customs held it.
Packages above $20 do not transfer within Morocco automatically, and having clients refuse to pay customs fees, FedEx will no longer accept in advance on your behalf and pass on the charges to the recipient at acquisition. Note also that mechanical parts costing more than $1,360 (including freight, insurance, tax), must come with an additional importation permit. Two days after the package arrived in Casablanca, I received a FedEx notification of Customs’ withholding. I called FedEx Casablanca for clarification. I’m glad I speak some French. FedEx offered me three options: come to Casablanca and deal with it by myself, hire a broker to deal with it on my behalf, or pay FedEx $60 to broker it on my behalf. I opted for the latter. They asked for a copy of my passport, a copy of the invoice with my ‘ship to’ name and marina address, a photo image of the parts, and a parts description in French. I lost an additional two days due to some minor inconsistencies with my invoice, but fortunately dieselpartseurope.com and I were in similar time zones and they made the necessary modifications. Then FedEx Casablanca asked for a bank transfer to cover the Customs’ costs (23.5% ++, of total invoice including taxes, freight, packing, and insurance), $275. FedEx Casablanca would not accept a credit card. As an American, not easily able to transfer funds as the rest of Europe does, I discovered I could instead pay the FedEx office in Agadir. I paid in cash but I think the Agadir office might have accepted a Visa credit card. Two days later, Casablanca had the package. The next day they shipped it to Agadir and the next day it arrived, 12 days after it arrived in Casablanca. I then had to pay FedEx a Customs’s storage fee based on weight and duration of $17, not FedEx’s charge.
Recommended procedure: contact FedEx or DHL office Agadir in advance for a list of recommended brokers and see how much they charge, or deal directly with Agadir’s FedEx or DHL in advance and pre-arrange payment options, asking them to alert you ASAP of customs duties, taxes, and fees owed. Exchange with a representative’s contact information, phone and email. Provide them with the tracking number, a copy of your passport, the invoice, photos of the parts, description of the part in French and why you need them. Make certain the “Ship to” invoice is to your name, with the marina as an address, not the recipient. My hope would be that by doing this in advance, you’ll save 5-7 days.
One more option: go through the commercial Yanmar dealer in Agadir. They’re located in the commercial port where foreigners don’t have access, but Youssef Ajewher, a kind local yacht service person, a former merchant ship engineer, working privately at Agadir marina would be glad to assist you. The Yanmar dealer is said to provide you with a quote including freight, time frames, and customs’ costs estimates within 2-3 days. I didn’t go this way only because on day 1, I had a quote in hand from dieselpartseurope.com, with FedEx 3-4 day. I don’t know what the cost or experience would have been had I waited for the quote from the Agadir Yanmar dealer. I may have jumped too soon. I do not know.
The day before our departure to the Canary Islands, I discovered an irreparable leak in our engine’s fresh water pump. It would take more than 2 weeks before our replacement would arrive in hand. Moroccan customs are notoriously painful. Thus we remained berthed in Agadir Marina for more than 4 weeks, a great place to be “stuck” and here’s why:
Finding it was not immediately obvious when we came into the marina, here’s the entrance waypoint: 30°25.2 North, 9°37.0 West.
We called two days in advance by phone from Mohammedia to insure they had space for our 12.7m monohull (+212 (0) 5 22 79 84 84). They did. Apparently, although they monitor channel 9, they don’t reply. Upon our Friday morning arrival, we hailed the marina on VHF channel 9 with no reply. As we arrived, we were waved toward our berth and assisted in tying off bow first, our preference as we have a windvane. The dock pontoons are low and short. The distance between pontoons is large enough for catamarans. When a heavy swell comes, boats sway with great force. Chafing gear and extra lines are recommended. The staff does what they can to assist.
Water (reportedly potable – although we still filter it) and power are included in the slip rental, as well as toilets, a hot shower, and WiFi. Water requires a pipe thread to garden hose adaptor. The meager toilets and shower stalls are locked behind a single door, with the key hidden outside. The toilets (2) are sit down with toilet seats, but bring your own toilet paper. The poorly maintained single shower has enough hot water for one and half showers and is clean enough for those who aren’t particular.
Morocco houses Immigration, Customs, and National Police at the marina office, 24/7. There sole role is to process pleasure craft. I think they hear us hailing, but don’t always reply. Once you’re tied up and settled in, they come immediately to your boat and process you quickly and professionally. We offered them coffee which they seemed to like. They filled their forms, we provided them copies of our ship’s documents, and they took our passports to be stamped and returned 1-2 hours later. They asked for a blue customs form from Mohammedia, which we never received. They accepted our explanation without issue.
Speaking French helps, but English is fine. Note: they asked if we had a drone. If we did, they would have held it in their office until our departure. There were no charges for processing.
Checking into the marina office was casual. Check out is the same. They want to see your ship’s document for measurements. Their credit card machine doesn’t usually work, so be prepared to pay cash when you plan to leave. An ATM nearby usually works, but other ATMs are not far away. Make sure your statement reads “Paid in Full” to eliminate any potential misunderstandings. Let officials know when you plan to leave, at least 12 hours ahead, or the night before if you wish to leave early. They do break for lunch and they do have shifts, so best not to wait until the last hour to check out. Note: the marina office is closed on weekends and holidays, but you can pre-pay your slip fees. They are very accommodating.
Security is excellent, 24/7. The common gate leading to the pontoons is not locked, but closely monitored. We left our boat to travel to Essaouira and Marrakesh. The free WiFi in and around the office is adequate for basic needs, including phone and video chats. We were able to slowly upload short videos and handle all Facebook and internet needs for communication back home. For decent phone and data service, go to Telecom Maroc and buy a sim for 20 MAD. Once you have your sim, head over to a local tabac or convenient store to top up on phone and data service…50 MAD buys you 5 gigs of data.
A nearby fuel dock offers diesel, gasoline, and cooking gas at normal local gas station rates. We gravity fed our own propane tanks at the station’s boat yard using our own adaptors.
Here is an instructional video we made while hanging out at the marina on the subject:
Light provisions can be found close to the marina, but a 20-minute walk there and a 20-40 MAD (Moroccan dirham) taxi ride back from Carrefour and/or Uniprix, or from the main Souk (closed Mondays) is worth the time and incidental cost. Marjane is a super modern supermarket near Mr. Bricolage (Home Depot), accessible by the #98 bus (3.5 MAD pp, one way) discussed in more detail later. Car rental agencies occupy one block near the marina (we liked Lotus), or the marina can arrange one (we did this too). We paid about $33/day for a 4-seater small diesel car. When we first took possession of the car, it had almost no fuel, so our first stop was the station to top it up. Parking on the street or in a lot where there are attendants is normally 2-5 MAD, not 10! Apparently, some insurance is automatically included within the rental rate. Good thing as we were broken into (small back passenger window) while parked at a beach. Nothing was stolen, but insurance covered half the window replacement; we paid US$70. The window was replaced in a couple hours.
If you need any assistance buying parts, getting supplies, or with repairs, Youssef Ajewher, a kind local yacht service person and former merchant ship engineer, working privately at Marina Agadir would be glad to assist you. He helped us with many issues, including medical, getting recommendations, driving us around, bargaining and translating for us. He even knows where to dine. Having him care for us was a great relief and time saver. He accepts whatever you think his services are worth. If it were a simple errand, we paid him a little more than twice what a round trip taxi would cost because he knew where to go, who to talk to, and how much to pay. Sometimes, he spent nearly the whole day when we had a medical issue, making sure we knew what was what, and advocating for us. Obviously, we paid him more when he spent so much time, and he was grateful. I love that guy! Youssef Ajewher, +212 (0) 6 77 45 68 87, email: aj************@gm***.com
Agadir is a great place to visit and an excellent base from which to visit, Paradise Valley, Essaouira, and Marrakesh. We enjoy the sights, sounds, and scents of Moroccan souks (open marketplaces). Agadir’s souk is huge. Be sure to explore the nooks and crannies. Again – note that the Agadir Souk is closed on Mondays!Spices, olives, dates, almonds, walnuts, fruits and vegetables, butchers, bakers, souvenirs, electronics, cleaning supplies, clothing, it’s all there. The freshly peeled prickly pear cactus fruits are fun and wonderfully sweet and tasty. Expect to bargain, and even then, to pay more than a local. Bargaining is not our strength. Inside Agadir’s souk are wonderful micro cafés with inexpensive and delicious Moroccan dishes. Don’t be afraid to try out a café or two. On Fridays, couscous is served with vegetables, chicken, or beef. A portion serves enough for two and chicken couscous is 20MAD ($2.20 USD) which comes with additional sauce/broth. I recommend getting the bag of sour milk, a sort of buttermilk that marries perfectly with the couscous if your stomach handles dairy. They serve the milk with a bowl of plain couscous to mix with into a paste as an additional separate treat. I tend to leave an extra 5MAD as a tip. To get to the souk from the marina, walk awhile or take a taxi for about 30 MAD, or take a bus for about 4 MAD each.
Another souk a bit further away from town central, more rustic and active than Agadir’s, can be found in the town immediately south of Agadir at the end of the #98 Bus. Catch the bus just north of the marina (just north of the large round about by the fish market) and take the 98 bus to its terminus. It’s also your bus back. As you exit the bus, facing in the same direction as the bus, walk a few blocks further up and to your right. Ask around for the souk or “marche.”
This part of town survived the 1960 earthquake and its souk feeds the south of Morocco, selling mostly in bulk and wholesale. Chickens, turkeys, goats, cows, and camels are slaughtered between 5-8 a.m. The whole thing is an extraordinary experience sending you back in time.
Our favorite Agadir promenade restaurant is Herguita (aka Hurguita), a little place located just south of the La Coupole restaurant. It’s a wonderful stroll alongside locals and tourists. The Herguita breakfast and lunch/dinner combos can’t be beat for price, taste, service, and location. Breakfast of fresh squeeze orange juice, café au lait, Moroccan pastries is 20MAD. A two-egg a la carte cheese omelet is 16MAD. One lunch/dinner menu: soup or salad, brochettes or tajine, ice cream or mint tea for 60 MAD ($6.60) serves two of us. The avocado-date-milk drink is Bryce and my favorite Moroccan smoothie type drink.
Take a taxi before sunset up to the Kasbah overlooking Agadir for a wonderful view. They offer camel rides up there too, but we just took in the view of twinkling lights coming to life.
Bryce Rigney atop the deteriorating Kasbah wall
Kasbah of Agadir
Agadir Kasbah view overlooking the city
Through travel agency ‘AdmireMorocco’ located on the Agadir promenade relatively close the marina, we booked a local sand dune sand boarding trip located near Tamri (north of Taghazout right on the coastline) that included a traditional tajine lunch in the home of a Berber family; the three of us loved it.
One bummer about Marina Agadir is its proximity to the sardine fish packing plant just north. The smell and occasional dead fish floating around your boat can be a bit much for some. It doesn’t bother me, but then I don’t shower enough to notice.
PARADISE VALLEY is less than an hour’s drive from the marina. We rented a car. Don’t be fooled by the first beautiful stream-side date tree orchard with a Paradise Valley sign. Continue to take the ‘highway’ (currently under construction) much further into the valley, hugging the majestic sedimentary rock wall faces, layers of rock resembling pages from an enormous geological book. Keep going until you come to a ‘parking lot’ from where you can hike up, then down into the quaint picturesque valley. Little “resto’s” are everywhere along the 2-3 km trail, ready to serve you fresh juice or even a tajine lunch.
ESSAOUIRA is a picturesque well-kept old fortified seaport that can be a day visit from Agadir. Two and half-hours by car, buses are a likely option as well since the old town is small enough to tour entirely on foot. The excellent wood crafting is not to miss.
For MARRAKESH, reserve seats on a CTM or similar bus for 200MAD round trip per person. Take a red-colored taxi from the marina for 40 MAD to the Gare Routier (bus station). I don’t know how often a bus fills up, but tickets can be purchased in advance and paid with by credit card at the Agadir station.
The bus is very comfortable but no onboard toilet. The bus makes one toilet stop. Note: 2MAD is the standard fee for a toilet visit. It’s about 80MAD (maybe less) by taxi from the Marrakesh Gare Routier to the center of the old town. I recommend pre-booking a Riad in old Marrakesh (bed’n breakfast type accommodation). They are inexpensive, private Moroccan/exotic guest homes designed with a garden patio in the center, centrally located within walking distance of nearly everything, and include a delicious breakfast. Some have pools; all have roof top terraces. The beds are often hard and our room’s shower didn’t have hot water (no morning coffee required!), but we only paid $40/night for three adults at Riad Chennaoui. We booked the night before through Booking.com.
Bedroom Entrance
Bedroom
Breakfast
Two to three nights should be adequate time to enjoy most of Marrakesh, but there’s no rush either. A guidebook like Lonely Planet is all you need. Not necessary to hire a guide.
Marrakesh Jewish quarters
Marrakesh donkey cart
Streets of Marrakesh
Bahia Palace, Marrakesh, Morocco
Bahia Palace
Bahia Palace
Bryce Rigney, Bahia Palace, Marrakesh, Morocco
Bahia Palace
Bahia Palace, Marrakesh
Saadian Tombs
Leslie & Bryce Rigney at the Saadian Tombs, Marrakesh
Bryce Rigney, Marrakesh
Marrakesh Museum – renovated palace
Koutoubia Mosque & Minaret
Majorelle Gardens, Marrakesh
Relaxing at Majorelle Gardens
Eric Rigney at Majorelle Gardens, Marrakesh
Leslie & Eric Rigney at Majorelle Gardens
Moroccan dancer
Marrakesh streets
Dyer’s Souk
Handmade Moroccan leather shoes
JAMAA EL-FNA – In Marrakesh’s main square called Jemaa el-fna, we found a food tent, #31, serving only Moroccans. We ate there twice. The Café Glacier rooftop is the best way to experience the square as the sun sets; great photo ops, day and night. From there, you can enjoy the street performers (snake charmers, African drummers, acrobats) without their aggressive demands for money. Some sailors found Marrakesh to be an aggressive, overly populated, tourist trap. We avoided traveling there on the weekend and found it to be a treasure worthy of its worldly acclaim.
SURFING: And the main reason why we came to Agadir was for the local Atlantic surfing scene. There are several spots north and south of Agadir that are good. A 20-minute bus ride (just 7 MAD) north from Agadir on either L31, L32, or L33 is a favorite spot due to the nice accommodations at Richie’s Cafe located at K11 on the beach front route just south of Aourir and Banana Beach. It’s generally a beginner wave, but fun when Anchor’s Point, further north off Taghazout is not pumping. Taghazout is a surfer hangout surrounded by up-and-coming tourist resorts. Even more north just south of Tamri village is Boiler’s Spot where a big ship’s boiler can be found rusting in the wave break. It is a more intermediate to advanced break where Bryce had a great time when the swell was strong. Wetsuits starting in October are generally used.
Some things we didn’t do that sounded like fun:
1) Fez, just too far for us even from Mohammedia.
2) Book a camel trip to a desert Bedouin tent adventure. Sounds great, but we did camels in Egypt, and everything we were finding here was a bit too expensive for us. Those who did it, loved it.
3) There’s also a renowned film studio, but it’s a bit of drive from Agadir. Ouarzazate is the most famous where Lawrence of Araba was filmed and more recently: The Sheltering Sky, Last Temptation of Christ, Alexander, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven and Prometheus to name a few.
Whether planned or not, an extended stay in Agadir proved of great value to us. Hope our insights help you get more out of this friendly corner of Morocco.
Dear Jeff (Jeff Jordan is a high school friend whose second job is traveling the world and may be joining us as a line handler in the Panama Canal),
Actually, we don’t know if Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca is still owned by an American…we never looked. We enjoyed very much our experience there. It maintains an international flavor. We went upstairs to watch the ‘Casablanca‘ film for 15 minutes. I had never seen it. BTW – did you know that the Casablanca movie was never filmed in Morocco? Eric believes it was filmed entirely in Southern California.
The exterior of the restaurant was nondescript same as most buildings we have seen in French Polynesia, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Eritrea, Egypt, Sudan, and now Morocco. We have discussed that matter with locals and their feeling is this: they don’t want to draw attention to their dwelling on the outside because they don’t want others to know their actual wealth and to steal from them or to expect unearned generosity. Today, a Moroccan gentleman explained to us: “If your neighbor needs something, you are compelled to give it to them over your own needs; your neighbor takes precedence over yourself and your own family.” Yet in my mind, we are all human, aren’t we? Such generosity is difficult to conjure even in myself. Sigh!
We’re finding Agadir great. Now that we are forced to remain here to await special bolts and a new water intake pump for the engine, we are finding Morocco more and more charming – desert dust and all. Sadly, the more time we’re spending inside the city (out of the resort areas) we’re experiencing a lot more beggars and homeless. Such an interesting human/global problem since forever, I think. My parents related during their five weeks with us that San Francisco is becoming quite the pit of filth, drug addicts and rampant homelessness. Not good for attracting international tourism!!!
We have meet wonderful people and not so wonderful people as we travel. At a local surf hangout called Richie’s located at highway marker K11 on the beach just south of Aourir (30 min busride north from Agadir), we met a wonderful young woman serving tables. For not ever having lived outside her country, her English and accent is excellent!!! I was so impressed with her and her artistry that we invited her to our boat and then she invited us to her home to share couscous. Hadjar’s generosity was so great that she insisted on giving us one of her paintings. Wow! We gave her a couple things too, but her favorite was a California flag!
Freelancing at Marina Agadir, we met a wonderful Muslim gentleman, Youssef Ajewher, a retired military ship engineer who provides yacht services. Along with many boat maintenance issues, he has also provided us many personal services too.
He helped me locate and visit a woman’s health/dermatologist (Clinique IBN SINA Avicenne) for some black spots that I was nervous about on my chest thinking they might be the beginnings of cancer – which the kindly middle-aged female dermatologist declared were deep seated blackheads and removed with a bit a trouble having to use her scalpel to cut open the skin. She did a good job and now, most importantly, I am no longer worried. We spend so much time in the sun, that I want to make sure to catch things early on. I was nervous about waiting 8 months to return home before addressing the issue.
On the other hand, we had a little issue with our laundry. I was so upset, I wrote a story about it in the raw the day the day I got back the laundry…couldn’t bear to go out for 24 hours as I felt personally attacked. Waiting a few days, yesterday, with Youssef, we took 5 ruined pieces back to the cleaner and presented them to the owner. He was apologetic. The man who had enacted the damage was there too, shamefacedly. The owner said he would try to mend them wanting us to come back in a couple days. I forgive the naughty man now, but at the time I was thoroughly put-out.
Since we are waiting around, we have made arrangements to take a bus to Marrakesh, the capital city of Morocco, on Monday with a reservation through www.booking.comat an inexpensive yet decent centrally located Riad (old private home turned into a Bed’n Breakfast: Riad Chennaoui) – for two nights. Our 2 new water intake pumps (2ndone is a spare), ordered from the Netherlands, will arrive sometime on Wednesday. Eric will get busy replacing the pump (he’s become quite the mechanic!) while I get to work cleaning, laundry in a bucket, etc. Bryce has some chores too to keep Kandu looking ship-shape. If all goes efficiently with shipping and customs, the plan is that we depart in a week or so for the Canary Islands.
Truly, moving from one culture to the next is always exciting yet a little daunting. I was nervous coming back to a Muslim country after our difficult experience in Egypt…which we haven’t really wrote about yet…I’m still too raw and I don’t want to sound mean nor like a spoiled brat, which sometimes I see myself as when wandering around poorer countries. Sigh….again!
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